HONORING CREAN LUTHERAN: Seniors on track and field team stepped up

Crean Lutheran’s boys track and field team gathered for a picture before the season. (Back row, left to right) Andrew Deborde, Andrew Sheha, Charlie Wagner, Jack Fairchild, Samuel Held, Peter Chen, CJ Koerber, Michael Vasquez, Gabriel Lauro, Kinheng Ng, Joseph Friske and Kevin Clark. Second row, Noah Rueter, Andrew Larson, Jacob Sutherland, Coach Blomstedt,
Coach Cherry, Coach Ford, Coach Blackwell, Ben Mitchell, Derek Maas, Ethan Miller and Nathan Luciano. Third row Dylan Hii, Jonathan Chang, Andrew Duberow, Elijah Kirk, Landon Pirtle, Russell Mo, David Li, Isaac Lee, Dylan Ko, Nathan Lee and Kossnar Guenther. Front row sitting Leon
Kim, Matthew Hook, Will Hauer, Isaiah Obana, Luke Johnson, Joseph Inouye, Justin Takiguchi, Jeremy Lauro, Troy Randall, Gavin Burkhart Not Pictured: Grant Daganhart, Hudson Treloar, Noah Wade and John Zhang. (Photo courtesy Crean Lutheran Shutterbugs)

Crean Lutheran’s boys track and field Coach Robby Cherry said a number of seniors stepped up with big performances before the season ended.

The Saints were 0-2 in dual meets.

“Coming off of a historic 2019 season we had many seniors step up and take the lead for our team for the first time,” Cherry said in an Email this week.

“Our seniors did a great job of passing on the torch to the next generation of athletes. Our teams competed in four meets this season including two league meets. The boys team set five top ten marks on our all-time lists this season. The boys team lost to Cypress and Pacifica in our league dual meets, but they competed well, setting at least 49 personal best marks in those two meets.

“The top-scoring athlete for our team this season was Jack Fairchild, a sophomore standout hurdler, and jumper. Michael Vasquez, a senior, was our second-highest individual scorer this season and was undefeated in the 800m in league competition.

“I was proud of how our boys team continued to carry on many of the traditions that have made our team excellent over the years. I was happy to see athletes stepping up at the end of track meets and never giving up an opportunity to run their best. One moment that was fun to see was in a dual meet against Pacifica, how after the meet was already decided, athletes decided they wanted to run the 4x400m just to see what they could do.”

He also talked about the seniors:

Andrew Deborde: “Andrew was our top thrower of the year. He was well on his way towards 40 feet in the shot put with several throws in the upper 30s already this season. I appreciate Andrew’s quiet competitive demeanor.”

CJ Koerber: “A leader on our team and one of our top boys distance runners. CJ competed well in his final meet of the season, finishing second place in both the 1,600 meter and 3,200 meter in the varsity competition against Pacifica.”

Gabriel Lauro: “Gabriel was a member of our 4x400m varsity team and one of the fastest sprinters on our team.”

Justin Takiguchi: “No one works harder in the weight room than senior Justin Takiguchi. All his hard work manifested into a nice pole vault personal record of 10’6″ set in our first meet of the season. Justin was also a great leader and someone who served his teammates well.”

Michael Vasquez: “Michael ran every race with great intensity and fearlessness. Michael remained undefeated in the 800 meter race for our league competition this year and was hoping to be the league champion in that event.”

If you took pictures before the season, we would like to share team pictures of spring teams with our readers. These can be pictures of seniors or the entire team and we will run these throughout the coming months to salute the dedicated athletes of Orange County who have had their seasons cut short. Please email pictures, names of the players and some highlights to timburt@ocsportszone.com so we can share with our readers. Horizontal pictures similar in size to the one above work best. Please do not take pictures now for us.