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Dana Hills picked up just two event wins at the Orange County Championship on Saturday, April 15, but sophomore Evan Noonan’s run in the boys 1,600 meters lit up the track at Mission Viejo High School.
Noonan put a time of 4:10.22 to win the event by seven seconds and post the top time in the state by a sophomore this season. For Noonan’s stellar personal-record run, he was named the distance runner of the meet.
Noonan, who won CIF-SS and CIF State titles during the cross country season in the fall, has won four races this spring—two 1,600-meter wins at the Irvine Invitational and Orange County Championships and two 3,200-meter wins in a dual meet against Capistrano Valley and at the Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational.
Noonan improved his 1,600-meter time from last season’s Orange County Championships by 41 seconds.
Dana Hills also picked up a win in the girls 4×800-meter relay with a combined time of 9:48.23 to beat out second-place Woodbridge by nine seconds.
The Dolphins nearly picked up another individual win in the girls 800-meter, which was decided by less than half a second. Dana Hills senior Allura Markow posted a personal-record time of 2:10.38 to nearly chase down Newport Harbor sophomore Keaton Robar, but Robar just managed to stay ahead of Markow by a margin of 0.38 seconds.
Markow also put up a strong effort in the girls 3,200-meter at 10:52.63. However, Markow finished fourth behind JSerra’s Brynn Garcia (10:34.20), Santa Margarita’s Sophie Polay (10:46.66) and JSerra’s Kaylah Tasser (10:52.17). It was Markow’s first time running the 3,200 this season, and she won the event as a junior last season.
Dana Hills’ next best finisher came in the girls jumps, where sophomore Gabriella Salinas put up two top-five finishes. Salinas finished fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 34 feet, 9.25 inches and fifth in the long jump with a leap of 16 feet, 5.5 inches.
Also on the girls side, sophomore Annie Ivarsson finished seventh in the 1,600-meter at 5:05.20, and sophomore Sydni Harden tied for seventh in the pole vault with a clearance of 10 feet, 1 inch.
To round out the boys, sophomore Jack Miller finished seventh in the 800-meter at 2:00.25 and senior Josh Chernekoff finished ninth at 2:00.54—both personal records.
Junior Garrett Woodruff finished 10th in the 3,200 meters at 9:32.89, and junior Ben Yoneda put up a personal record in the pole vault with a clearance of 12 feet, 1 inch to finish 10th.
Dana Hills track and field will next run at the South Coast League Finals next Friday, April 28, at Trabuco Hills High School. Prelims are Tuesday, April 25.