Calcagnie, Green and Flynn earn top girls honors; Herold, Lemmons and Duensing are boys individual standouts

By Alex Valladares for DyeStat

One team added to its storied Orange County Track and Field Championships history Saturday, with another ending a title drought of a dozen years.

The Mission Viejo CA girls relied on their distance runners and field events, with the Aliso Niguel CA boys producing three individual champions and several strong supporting performances in winning their respective team titles.

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

The host Diablos’ girls team won their second title in four years and 10th overall since 1986 with an 86-68 victory over Santa Margarita. Mission Viejo also became the first girls program since Dana Hills in 2008-09 to win the Orange County cross country team title along with the track and field team crown in the same school year.

The Wolverines won their first boys team title since 2007 and second championship in program history with a 90-46 win over JSerra.

Senior Morgan Calcagnie led the way for Mission Viejo, as the she won the girls 800 in a program-record 2:12.74 and anchored Diablos’ 4x400 relay, which clocked 3:56.71.

“Winning OCC is a nice way to go out on our home track,” said Calcagnie, who was named girls Distance Athlete of the Meet. “It’s a great mix of emotions and happiness. It’s awesome.”

Ava Butterbaugh won the girls shot put with a mark of 44-10 (13.66m) for the Diablos, with teammate Danielle Lister finishing second 37-10 (11.53m) for Mission Viejo, which also got a pair of second-place finishes from Kelli Hines in the 1,600 (4:59.26) and the 3,200 (10:55.44) and another second-place effort from Jenny Kroeger in the pole vault with an 11-6 clearance (3.50m).

Santa Margarita’s Tessa Green, who was named girls Sprint Athlete of the Meet, was a double winner as she clocked wind-legal efforts of 11.96 in the 100 and 24.30 in the 200.

“I just focused on my race and didn’t worry about the girls,” Green said.  “I knew my times would take care of themselves as long as I kept myself in the game and trusted my training.”

Lauren Memoly won the 400 (55.50) and finished sixth in the 200 (25.24) for the Eagles, who have captured four straight Southern Section Division 3 titles.

Aliso Niguel’s Morgan Flynn won her second straight OC pole vault championship as she cleared a personal-best 13 feet (3.96m) to receive Field Athlete of the Meet honors.

Capistrano Valley’s Carly Corsinita and Jolie Robinson each won an event. Corsinita clocked 10:52.96 to win the 3,200 and Robinson had a leap of 18-8.25 (5.69m) to prevail in the long jump.

Anaheim Canyon freshman Emma Hadley won the 1,600 (4:56.96), Woodbridge senior Maddie Lyon won the triple jump with a second-round leap of 40-4 (12.29m), Trabuco Hills’ Kyliegh Wilkerson was the discus winner with a mark of 140-1 (42.69m) and Troy’s Isabella Ales clocked 45.97 to win the 300 hurdles.

Behind first-place finishes from Jed Kaufman in the 110 hurdles (14.90), Kaden Reynolds in the 100 (10.85) and Austin Muirbrook clearing 6-4 (1.93m) in the high jump, Aliso Niguel won its first team title in 12 years.

“It’s a combination of all the hard work we have been putting in together for four years,” Kaufman said. “This means a lot to us and it sets us up to make another run to make it to state again.”

JSerra’s Peter Herold and Anthony Grover accounted for all the scoring for the Lions. Herold, who was named boys Distance Athlete of the Meet, won the 1,600 seeded race (4:11.50) and the 3,200 (9:13.76). Grover won the 800 (1:55.70) and finished second in the 1,600 (4:13.27) and the 3,200 (9:16.23).

Mater Dei’s Chad Lemmons also had big day, winning the 200 (21.86) and running a leg on the 4x100 relay (41.94). The senior, who received boys Sprinter of the Meet honors, also finished second in the 100 (10.98).

Marina senior Skyler Magula repeated as OC champion, winning the pole vault with a clearance of 15-7 (4.74m).

Woodbridge’s Drake Nguyen set a new meet long jump record with a mark of 23-8.25 (7.21m), breaking the previous mark of 23-6 (7.16m) set by JSerra’s Dante Pettis in 2014.

Mission Viejo’s John Burns won the 300 hurdles with a personal-best 38.81, San Juan Hills’ Sean Rhyan prevailed in the shot put with a mark of 63-3.50 (19.29m), Woodbridge’s Christopher Cooper won the 400 (49.18) and Laguna Hills’ Anthony Victa was the triple jump winner with a first-round effort of 47-6.25 (14.48m).

Esperanza’s Jeff Duensing rebounded from a second-place finish in the shot put with an effort of 60-11.75 (18.58m) to win the discus with a first-round throw of 185-8 (56.59m), receiving Field Athlete of the Meet accolades. Duensing became the fourth athlete to receive the honors in back-to-back seasons.