Standing on the runway with her pole firmly in front of her, Camille Liberatore took a deep breath and sprinted towards history. She made it a few seconds later when she crashed to the mat after twisting her body up and over the bar positioned horizontally 10 feet above the ground. It was all in a day’s work for the Palisades High senior, the only finalist to clear that height on her way to winning the girls’ varsity pole vault last Thursday at the City Section Track & Field Finals in Lake Balboa. Junior Erika Martin finished second in two events, senior Mariah Fisher was runner-up in the girls’ high jump and the Dolphins finished fourth overall in the girls’ team competition. Practically all of the 15 athletes Palisades sent to the meet set personal records, making this one of the school’s most successful trips to the finals in years. Martin competed in four events and came within fractions of winning the long jump and 100-meter hurdles. She leaped 17′ 9 3/4″ in the long jump, bested only by Crenshaw senior Xzanthnice Bourgeois? winning mark of 17′ 10.” Martin appeared headed for victory in the hurdles only to be passed on the final hurdle by Taft’s Pia Hill, who won by 13 hundreths of a second. Martin was seventh in the 100 meters and in her final event–the 300 hurdles–she placed fourth. “It’s not like I wasn’t trying [in the long jump], it’s just that I knew I had to conserve energy for the other events,” Martin said. “I’m new at this and at first I didn’t know how to adjust to the wind at my back.” Despite missing valuable training because of foot injuries junior Carlos Bustamante was determined to finish in the top three in the mile and earn a trip to the state meet like he did last year. Trying to match a fast pace, Bustamante was in the hunt the whole race but was unable to catch leaders Pablo and Danny Rosales of San Pedro and Granada Hills’ Javert Solorzano. Still, it was hard to be disappointed about a time of 4:23.63, his personal best and nearly three full seconds faster than his state qualifying time last spring. “I know [defending City champion] Pablo Rosales likes to set the pace, that’s what he usually does,” Bustamante said. “I just didn’t have the kick but if I was 100 percent I could’ve caught them. I guess I’m satisfied. It’s hard to be too disappointed with a PR.” Following in the footsteps of her older brother Bryan, who was a two-time City champion for the Dolphins, Jamie Greenberg won the frosh/soph pole vault with a height of nine feet. Tenth-grader Kolmus Iheanacho surprised even himself by winning the frosh/soph shot put with a personal-best throw of 48′ 5.” “It’s a balance of strength and technique,” said Iheanacho, who hopes to play linebacker for the Dolphins’ football team in the fall. “I like it because it really helps me on shifting my power and hjp maneuvers.” Eric Lopez won an exciting frosh/soph 800 meter race, coming on at the end to beat Taft’s Nicholas Ray in a personal-best 2:01.60. ?I felt tight the whole first lap. I started out in Lane 2 but I didn’t want to get boxed in so I moved over to Lane 3. I kept thinking this is what I’ve been building towards all season. I have Coach [Ron] Brumel to thank for pushing me.”
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