Boys track and field: Eagles finish strong, but lose

Steve Virgen

LAGUNA BEACH - Estancia High sophomore Humberto Rojas said he was

saving his energy for a meet on Saturday. But he couldn’t resist when he

used all his energy on the anchor leg of the 1,600-meter relay at Laguna

Beach Thursday. His dramatic finish gave the Eagles their first relay

victory of the season.

“That’s a good way to finish the meet,” Estancia boys coach Dominic

Lakey said.

The Eagles, however, lost to the Artists, 80-42, in the Pacific Coast

League meet.

Freshmen Panfilo Elias, Jorge Zuniga and Omar Montillo ran in

succession as the 1,600 relay ended with Rojas sprinting across the

finish line with arms raised to the sky.

Rojas also won the 1,600 (4:37.2), and finished second in the 400

(55:49) and 3,200 (10:29.0). Estancia junior Mike Casillas won the 3,200

(10:19.0).

“Right now I’m thinking to keep everything comfortable,” said Rojas

who will be competing in the Trabuco Hills Invitational. “Starting next

week is when I start to go hard.”

He actually went hard at the end of each of his races, especially the

1,600 relay.

“This one might take too much soap out of him,” Estancia distance

coach Charlie Appell said. “We were trying to keep him low key.”

Rojas is the exception to the rest of the Estancia underclassmen, who

do not have as much experience.

The Eagles (1-2, 1-1 in league) could not contend with Laguna Beach

because they have freshmen and sophomores who should be competing in the

junior varsity or frosh-soph, Lakey said.

Estancia freshmen Jason Johnston, Nicholas Koreerat, Zuniga, Montillo

and Elias may be the core of the future, but, for now, they are simply

earning experience.

Zuniga won the triple jump (38-4 1/2), while Johnston finished second

in the 300 intermediate hurdles (48.13) and the long jump (18-1 1/2).

Sophomores Abdul Kaiyum and Kyle Casillas should also be competing on the

lower levels, Lakey said. And when the PCL Finals come, they will be

bumped down. The varsity experience should give them a head start against

the competition.

“I like to challenge them,” Lakey said. “Every week these guys are

contributing points and at the end of the season they’ll get an

opportunity to compete in the frosh-soph league finals.”