Last Saturday’s Division Finals enabled eight Coronado runners to move on to the Section Championship to be held at Mt. Carmel this Saturday.
Head coach Cameron Gary provides the details below.
The Islander Track & Field team qualified over 20 athletes into the 2025 San Diego CIF Division 3 Championships, held on May 17 at Valley Center High School. There were 58 schools competing in this division from various leagues throughout the San Diego CIF Section.
The Islanders were led by senior sprint standout Lauren Gilhooly, who took home four gold medals by winning two individual events and contributing on two winning relay teams. Gilhooly won the 100-meter and 200-meter Dash events, running times of 11.80 and 24.73 seconds, respectively. Gilhooly is the San Diego CIF Section (performance) leader in both events.
Gilhooly was joined by sophomore Maya Wilson, and juniors Micaela Gistaro and Summer Little on the victorious Girls 4×100 and 4×400 Relays. The former team ran a time of 47.69 seconds, eclipsing their own school record set earlier this year. This performance ranks #1 in the City Conference, #3 in the San Diego Section, and #24 in the state of California. This same lineup combined to run 4:02.60 to win the 4×400 Relay. This was only the second time this quartet has run this event. In doing so, they defeated Division 3 performance leader Sage Creek HS in the process. This effort was another school record, eclipsing a record that had stood since 2003.
Top: Micaela Gistaro (left) and Lauren Gilhooly. Bottom: Summer Little (left) and Maya Wilson
Photo by Quentin Anderson
Junior Nathan Ayan also was a multiple medalist. He finished second in the Boys 800-meter Run, with a time of 1:57.82. This was a personal record (PR) for him. Ayan was joined by senior Jack Letcher and juniors Vincent Russo and Andrew Buck to place second in the Boys 4×800 Relay. Their time of 8:32.08 is a school record and ranks them first in the Central League.
Other Islander athletes making the awards podium included Micaela Gistaro and Maya Wilson, who finished 5th and 6th in the Girls 400-meter Dash, clocking times of 58.87 and 60.11 seconds, respectively. Freshman Claudia Wagner finished 5th in the Girls Triple Jump, with a leap of 33’1”, a PR. Little finished 6th in the Girls 100-meter Dash, clocking a time of 12.65 seconds, a PR. Multiple athletes achieved their PRs in this meet. Aside from those mentioned above were Vincent Russo in the Boys 800 (8th place – 2:02.76), Jack Letcher in the Boys 3200 (21st place – 10:38.71), sophomore Emiliano Marquez and senior Reif Souder in the Boys 110-meter Hurdles, placing 7th (16.41 seconds) and 9th (16.59 seconds), respectively.
In addition to the athletes mentioned above, we would like to recognize the following athletes who qualified for and participated in this meet. They are junior Mason Gibbs (Boys 400-meter Dash, 4×100 and 4×400 Relay), sophomore Xavier Marsh (Boys 400-meter Dash and 4×400 Relay), junior Buck (Boys 800-meter Run), senior David Castillo (Boys 4×100 Relay), junior William Heyen (Boys 4×100 Relay), juniors Eddie Gonzalez (Shot Put and Discus) and Garret Shumaker (Discus), sophomore Trey Stallworth (Long Jump and Triple Jump), freshman Liam Morocco (Long Jump).
The top two finishers in each event at the CIF Division championships automatically qualify for the 2025 San Diego CIF Section Championships, to be held at Mt. Carmel HS on May 24. In addition to the top two finishers in each division, the next 12 best performances from all divisions also qualify for the CIF Section Championships. This meet is what determines the overall San Diego CIF Section champions, as well as qualify athletes for the California State Championships, to be held on May 30 and 31 in Clovis, CA.
The Islanders who qualified for next week’s Section championships are Gilhooly (100, 200, 4×100, 4×400), Gistaro and Wilson (400, 4×100, 4×400), Ayan (800, 4×800), Little (4×100, 4×400), Buck, Letcher, and Russo (4×800).
