22 BOHS varsity track and field athletes competed in the Division 3 CIF-Southern Section prelims meet at Yorba Linda High School May 9. Of the 22, Dalton Tagaloa (‘26) and Kaitlyn Hirsch (‘29) advance to the CIF-SS finals at Moorpark High School May 16 after placing in the top nine in their respective events, the triple jump and high jump.
Tagaloa placed sixth in the triple jump with a season best 43’ 3 ½”. He also recorded 19’ 8 ¼” in the long jump, placing 23rd overall.
As a first-year track athlete, Tagaloa, who also plays rugby and football, strives to continue improving in the triple jump at CIF-SS finals. “I just want to be my personal best and get better,” he said.
Hirsch qualified for prelims in all four of her events: the 100-meter, 200-meter, 4×100-meter, and high jump. Hirsch cleared 5’ 0” in the high jump — two inches shy of her season best — to advance. The freshman also clocked 26.21 in the 200-meter dash, placing 27th, and ran 12.78 in the 100-meter dash for 29th place.
Of her eventful day Hirsch said, “I was surprised and really happy because I was the only [Wildcat] who had four events.”
Several Wildcats narrowly missed finals.
In the 800-meter race, Taj Aragon (‘26) finished 11th with a personal record (PR) of 1:57.20. Also running the 800-meter was Adelyn Roberston (‘29), who recorded 2:29.58, a PR for 28th place, and Sarah Garrigue (‘26), who went 2:35.08, earning 33rd place.
In the 300-meter hurdles, Samantha Coll (‘27) ran 48:17 for 14th place and Sierra Sneddon (‘26) placed 22nd with 49:76. Sneddon also competed in the 100-meter hurdles, running 16:80 for 16th place.
Coll, who competed in an individual and a relay event, saw improvement in the team’s performance at CIF.
“I think we did great as a team,” Coll said. “We had a lot of support from our teammates and really worked on getting better than we were last year.”
Also competing in the 110-meter hurdles was Tige Carmen (‘26) who placed 13th with a time of 15.96. Carman also finished 19th in the high jump with a height of 5’ 8”.
Nathan Chang (‘28) posted a 38’ 7” mark in the triple jump, finishing 33rd.
Juniors Austin Elder and Gianna Principe competed in the throwing events. Elder threw 44’ 6 ½” in the shot put to place 18th, while Principe reached 92’ 1” in the discus for 14th place overall.
In the day’s longest event, the 3200-meter race, Mia Luna (‘26) placed 25th with a time of 12:25.21.
The 4×800-meter boys’ relay, consisting of Aragon, Marius Nielson (‘26), Jonathan Kwon (‘27) and Toby Cerevantes (‘26), finished 10th with a time of 8:15.44, just one position away from qualifying.
Despite missing qualification by two seconds, Nielson is still proud of the team’s performance. “We tried our best and it was a good run we had especially throughout the season,” Nielsen said.
The 4×400-meter squad of Aragon, Jeremiah Newby (‘27), Nielsen, Aaron Gordon (‘26) raced to 3:36.53, placing 27th
The 4×100 lineup of Newby, Cohen Senkbile (‘26), Jude Sheabar (‘27), and Kalai Matalai (‘28) clocked 45.14, taking 36th place.
Competing in the girls’ 4×100-meter relay was Coll, Hirsch, Violet Owens (‘26), and Amelia Allred (‘26), who earned 14th place with a time of 50.40.
Most of BOHS’s lineup finished outside of qualifying positions, with Tagaloa and Hirsch accounting for the program’s two finals competitors.
Tomorrow, the pair will travel two hours to CIF-SS finals in Moorpark where they’ll compete for a spot in the CIF-SS Masters Meet, also at Moorpark High School, May 23.
