By Jesse Mann and David Boldt
The International girls track team took a narrow lead based on the field events in the season's first SCISL track, but could be overtaken in the running events that will take place Friday.
On completion of the high jump, long jump, discus and shot put events, which took place at International Monday, the Griffins amassed 41 points, trailed closely by Cooperative with 37 points: Christian Leaning and Cambridge traikled further behind with 22 and 13 points, respectively
Phillips sets record in high jump
Christian Learning junior Abby Phillips easily outclassed the competition to win the high jump with a jump of 1.35 meters and then went on to set a new League record at 1.47 meters. Phillips had set the old record of 1.45 last year.
The field had been narrowed to four at 1.25 meters, with only Phillips Manuela Gonzalez of International, Mariel Palacios of Cambridge, and Daniela Barbery of Cooperative clearing the bar at that height.
Gonzalez and Palacios were eliminated at 1.30. Gonzalez was awarded third place because she had one less miss at lower heights; Palacios took fourth.
That left Phillips and Barbery for a short showdown. Barbery hurt her ankle on takeoff on her first attempt at 1.35. She hit the bar on the way up and landed on it, then got up limping and, after consulting with a trainer, withdrew.
Phillips then went on to clear the bar, if only just barely, at 1.45 to to tie the old record, and 1.47 to set a new one. Both jumps left the bar -- and the crowd -- trembling, but the bar did not fall. It was Phillips' second first place of the afternoon.
Phillips dominates long jump
Phillips of Christian Learning was the third competitor down the track in the girls long jum, clearing 4.06 meters, and that more or less was that. No other jumper came close, except Phillips herself who turned in a 4.17 meter second jump.
Carolina Baldivieso came closest with a jump of 3.68 on her second jump to take second place, and eighth grader Paula Sakuma of Cooperative posted a 3.52 on her final jump to garner third.
Phillips' jumps, while impressive, left Jaguar Dominique Harrison's record of 4.35 meters, set in 2007, intact. It is one of the longest standing records on the books, and makes people who saw it set feel old. Harrison will graduate this year from Georgetown University.
Harriague, Chavez battle in shot`and discus
Griffin Ciara Harriague delighted the International fans in the shotput with a long toss that flew 7.91 meters, beating Jaguar Adrea Chavez by almost ten centimeters. But their roles were reversed in the discus, with Chavez beating Harriague by a full forty centimeters with a throw of 17.80 meters that proved unbeatable.
