SPORTS
By Mitch Lehman

San Marino High School’s track team sent its biggest contingent in more than a decade to last Saturday’s CIF meet thanks to a thrilling set of performances at the Rio Hondo League Finals on Friday, May 2 at South Pasadena High School.
While the Tigers ran away with the team title, the Titans more than did their school proud, sending twelve competitors in seven different events, a significant improvement in performance for first year varsity head Coach Andrew Gayl. In recent years, the Titans have sent only three or four runners on to CIF.
Leading the way for San Marino was senior hurdler Michael Hsieh, who qualified in both the 110 high hurdles and the 300 intermediate hurdles by finishing second in both events.
Two other Titan boys qualified in a pair of events: senior captain Cristian Raether and junior Johnny Blanchard both qualified in the 400 meter dash and as members of the 4 x 400 relay team.
In the 400 meter race, Blanchard (:51.02) blasted out of the blocks and held the lead for almost the entire race, while Raether (:51.22) and South Pasadena’s Jason Whaling (:50.98) battled for second. Coming down the final stretch, Blanchard, Raether and Whaling had pulled into a dead heat as the huge crowd came to its feet. At the tape, Whaling edged out both Titans. Less than three tenths of a second separated the top three finishers.
San Marino’s boys 4 x 400 relay team also performed well. Kevin Lu, Josh Neale, Raether and Blanchard recorded their best time of the year 3:30.16 in finishing second to the Tigers.
The breakout performance of the night came from sophomore Sean Silva in the 1600 meters. Silva has been running stronger and stronger each meet this year, and Friday night was a quantum improvement. Not only did Silva qualify for CIF, he ran the best race of his life. His 4:41.75 was nine seconds faster than his career best two weeks previous, and marks him as one of the best runners at this distance in the area.
Silva wasn’t the only Titan metric miler to qualify. Junior Nicole Miller set a personal record – 5:36.36 – herself, narrowly missing winning the league title behind Monrovia’s Riley Ward.
The other qualifying group for the Lady Titans was the Girls 4 x 100 meter relay team.
Led by speedy Kathy Cheung, the girls (:51.88) took third in the league title run and easily qualified. Joining Cheung on the team were senior Nicole Chan, junior Kelly McCloskey and sophomore Betsy Scannell.
The most courageous performance of the evening, however, had to go to freshman Seve Woods.
Woods has been afflicted with increasing painful shin splints since the soccer season and was finally told by his doctor to stop running, forfeiting the final two weeks of league dual meet competition. Woods returned for league frosh/soph prelims the prior Monday, and qualified for the finals in four events: the 4 x 100, the 400 meters and the 300 intermediate hurdles.
After finishing a dazzling second place run in the 300 Hurdles, he was in such pain that he was barely able to walk. Hobbled and grimacing, Woods had to be helped to the car for the ride home.
Despite bringing its biggest contingent to CIF since 2000, the Titans came up short once again on Saturday, May 10 at Warren High School in Downey to get a single competitor through to the CIF Finals.
The highlight of the day for SMHS was the 1600 meter run by sophomore Sean Silva, who at 4:36.04 sliced another six seconds off his personal best.
Although he finished 25th, Silva was just ten seconds off the qualifying time to get in the top nine. Silva’s late-season form has established him as one of the top two or three distance runners in the Rio Hondo League, and he will lead a strong Titan cross-country squad next fall.
The boys 4 x 400 Meter Relay squad had a disappointing day. The squad had been pointing all season to break the 3:30 mark, but came up achingly short on Saturday, finishing the run at 3:30.07.
Raether and Blanchard both ran in the open 400 meters and tied at :52.94, well out of contention for the finals.
The meet was Raether’s third straight trip to CIF in track, and his seventh overall appearance in CIF competitions in three different sports in his four years at the high school.
Despite losing three seniors from the team – Raether, Hsieh and Lu – the 4 x 400 team should again be one of the best in the area next year with Blanchard returning along with junior Neale and freshman Woods ready to step onto the team.
Hsieh finished a stellar high school track career on Saturday, competing in both the 110 Meter High Hurdles and the 300 Intermediate Hurdles. It was his third straight CIF Track competition as well.
Also competing at the CIF prelims for San Marino were junior Nikki Miller (1600 Meters), senior Matt Hsu (shotput) and the Girls 4 x 100 Meter Relay team of sophomore Kathy Cheung, sophomore Meredith Scannell, junior Kelly McCloskey and senior Nicole Chan.