Williams Doubles at South Bay Meet

It certainly wasn’t her customary way of running, but the end result was the same as it usually is for Palisades High junior Marissa Williams in the 800-meter race at last Saturday’s South Bay Track & Field Championships in Torrance.

After cruising to victory in the 1,600 by almost 16 seconds in a time of 4:56.93, Williams had to come from behind to win the 800 in 2:17.70.

“Being so close to the beach,  there were 30-40 mile-per-hour headwinds, which made it difficult,” PaliHi Coach Bob Macias said. “Marissa was in the middle of the pack with about 300 meters to go and passed everyone in the final 100 yards to tie her PR [in the 800]. That was a great effort because she was up against girls who specialize in that event and it shows that the speed training she did over Spring Break worked.”

Teammate Natalie Marsh ran the 1,600 in 5:35.40 to finish 14th out of 34 runners in the 1,600, Hannah De Silva was 12th in the 800 in 2:29.31, Aajah Crawford (13.63) was the Dolphins’ top placer in the 100 meters

When the scores were added up, PaliHi’s varsity girls had finished fourth out of 18 schools with 45 points, 4.21 points behind third-place Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach.

PaliHi’s 4×100 relay took third in 49.53 and Ashley Stevens (58.83) was third out of 19 runners in the 400, Doshawn Franks (1:01.42) was seventh and Kendal Lake (1:02.63) was 11th.

Franks also cleared four feet, 10 inches to finish in a three-way tie for third in the high jump and Alex Olsen achieved her personal-best in the pole vault with a height of  10-6, good enough for third place.

The Dolphins’ boys varsity  squad finished 13th out of 21 schools, led by Menelik Dagnachew, who came in third place in the 3,200 in 9:37.44 and fourth in the 1,600 with a time of 4:30.02.

Romare Ashford (2:02.68) was 10th out of 46 runners in the 800 meters, Mahkai Husband (53.20) was seventh in the 400 and Brandon Jacob (11.62) was PaliHi’s top placer in the 100.

In the frosh/soph girls 1,600,  JJ Wittbrodt placed ninth out of 55 runners in 5:42.82 and Claire Bossiere was 19th in 5:50.64. Chelsea Levi (2:36.20) and Bossiere (2:36.29) were 13th and 14th. respectively, in the 800 meters and Shannon Lee (12:18.66) was fourth in the 3,200.

Connor Smith (5:00.76), Jacob Pollack (5:01.44) took 26th and Jonathan Flores (5:03.22) was 28th out of 59 runners in the frosh/soph boys 1,600, Hunter Parker was 13th out of 46 runners in the 800 and Pollack (10:36.48) was eighth in the 3,200.

Palisadian Claire Chapus ran the third leg on Harvard-Westlake High’s varsity girls 4×800 relay, which clocked 10:30.86 in the Invitational race last Friday at the 56th annual Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut.