Sam Bernstein staff writer
The Ocean League track and field finals were held at Culver City High School on May 4, and the Normans had some success:
Qualified for CIF Division Three finals:
| 10 | Danna Rosman | 4×100 and 4×400 relay |
| 10 | Rebekah Park | pole vault |
| 11 | Cheyanne Araullo | 4×100 relay, triple jump |
| 11 | Julianne Araullo | 4×400 relay, long jump |
| 11 | Sarah Smith | 100 and 200 meters, 4×100 and 4×400 relay |
| 11 | Leticia Valle | 4×100 and 4×400 relay |
| 12 | Jonathan Cohen | 3200 meters |
| 12 | Owee Cooper-Long | 100 and 200 meters, long jump |
| 12 | Shimon Dubner | 3200 meters |
| 12 | Brandon Kim | 200 meters, long jump |
The CIF division finals were held on May 13 at Encinada High School. No medals were received, but Park had the best result of any member on the team with her fifth place finish in the pole vault.
Even though they didn’t fare as well as other squads at CIF, Head Coach Dwayne Washington raved about his team.
“We had pretty good success. We had a number of seniors who did well in the distances. We had a number of young sprinters that performed well. Also, our senior sprinters did extremely well for us,” Washington said.
Goals were a big part of this team’s motivation and success this season, and Washington had some lofty goals coming into the year. Lucky for the team, they were able to achieve all of them.
“Our main goal was to get our girls relays into CIF, which we definitely accomplished. Our two senior sprinters kind of did a little more than we expected in terms of performance; they got second and third in league. So all and all, we accomplished all the goals we had set out,” Washington said.
Senior runner Shimon Dubner (3200 meters) reflected on his season proudly.
“My best experience this year is probably getting a personal record in the two-mile race at South Bay Championships. It signified a successful last year of track for me and a time I can be proud of for the rest of my life,” Dubner said.
Dubner said his personal favorite memory from this season was beating Beverly’s rival Culver City.
“[I have] lots of good memories, but beating Culver City this year, 68-67, because we ran a 4×400 relay of just distance guys, was pretty cool. If we didn’t run that team, we wouldn’t have gotten any points and we would have lost the meet,” Dubner said.
Dubner felt strange running his last league meet with the Normans, but Dubner reflected on his three years on the track team positively.
“It didn’t really hit me that it was my last meet, but I’m happy that my teammates and I did well for our final effort all together. I’m just happy I got to finish off four years of track and cross-country, strong, with my teammates by my side,” Dubner said.
Washington had some final thoughts on this year’s track season.
“In terms of the league conference meet and in terms of our placing, league meets are really based on the number of kids you have. The fact that our team is not as large as some of the other teams in our league, and for us to be able to take second and third place in various divisions was pretty good,” Washington said. “I’m just very proud of the athletes.”
