Another great Day for Mustangs

ORANGE ? As Jasmin Day continued to win events, opposing coaches breathed a sigh of relief that it would be their final time coaching against her.

The last time most of the competitors at the Golden West League track and field finals would see the senior, all they saw was Day’s back as she passed them. Day won three events Thursday at El Modena High ? the high jump, 100-meter hurdles and 300 hurdles ? while taking the lead back for good for the Mustangs in the third leg of the 1,600 relay.

Costa Mesa won the league girls’ title with 128.5 points. Estancia, missing a large portion of its athletes, finished fifth with 35.

Mustangs’ co-coach Mike Sciacca said it was a pleasure coaching Day.

“She’s a great athlete,” Sciacca said. “She’s fun for everyone to watch. It’s more fun when she’s on your team. She accounted for 40 points. She’s a great leader. She leads by example.”

Day took the lead in the third leg of the 1,600 relay, making a sizable deficit disappear halfway through the lap. Anchor Tracy Bjelland added to it as the Mustangs finished in a time of 4 minutes, 12.09 seconds.

Costa Mesa posted 15 CIF Southern Section preliminary qualifying marks, 11 for the girls. Estancia had 18, with five going to the boys.

Day had the meet set up for her perfectly. She started with the high jump, which warmed her up to take on the hurdles, and she went from 100 to 300 hurdles and finished with the relay.

“It felt pretty smooth,” Day said after leaping 5 feet, 8 inches in the high jump. “[The hurdles] are pretty easy. I jumped a little too high. If I got out fast, I knew nobody could catch me because of the times during league season.”

Costa Mesa freshman Cheyenne Lopez won the shot put with a throw of 33-5 1/2 and junior Danielle Morton won the long jump with 15-6 1/2 .

On the boys’ side, Estancia finished fourth with 53 points and Costa Mesa finished fifth with 48. Eagles Coach Charlie Appell said his team was missing four of its male athletes.

“It wasn’t as well as we were supposed to do,” he said.

Still, the Eagles had a double winner in Ryan Whites, who also finished second in the triple jump. Ernesto Castaneda took first and second in the 1,600 and 3,200 respectively.

Appell said he was fine with Castaneda’s strategy. The senior hung back in sixth place until a quarter lap was left in the race when he took first in 4:27.65, just over a half a second ahead of the second-place finisher.

“It makes it more dramatic,” Castaneda said. “That’s what I was planning to do, was to stay behind and control my breathing. Keep them really close. I didn’t want to kill my kick. The last 100 [meters], I figured I could go as fast as I can.”

Dominating the hurdles throughout the year, Whites was confident he would do the same in the league final.

“My goal was the school record,” said Whites, which he broke in the 100 hurdles in 14.68. “My goal was 14.8 or lower. Right when I got to the line, I was thinking do or die. I saw the clock at 13 seconds and I wasn’t sure I would make it.”

Asa Hawks was the lone winner for the Costa Mesa boys. In the 200, Hawks burst out to a commanding lead. When Giovanni Salinas of Santa Ana came close, Hawks sped up even more.

“I picked it up a little bit at the end,” the junior said. “He’s a pretty good runner. I just kept running. I just do the best I can. I anticipated the gun.”