194 PRs Later…

Written By Ruby Mandell

Hello nighthawk families and fans,

Happy Friday! Yesterday we hosted Sage Creek High School for a dual meet at home. The weather was much friendlier this week and our Nighthawks took full advantage of the opportunity. We had 194 personal records among the team (121 for the boys and 72 for the girls) as well as quite a few athletes moving onto our top 10 all time lists. You can find the results from the meet here and the 4x400 relay splits here.

Athletes of the Meet

We want to take the time to highlight a couple of athletes who had spectacular performances at our last meet.

Throws -

Sprints -

  • Julianna Sutherland (9) just a freshmen competing in 4 events and took a big chunk off of her previous 100 time with a PR of 14.03. This was the fastest freshmen time of the day and only her 2nd time competing in this event.

  • Jake Warren (11) won the 100 with a lifetime PR of 11.44 and then came back in the 200 to set a huge PR of 23.55. Jake was also a key player in both of the relays and has cemented himself as one of Del Norte’s top sprinters, breaking into the top 10 all time list for the boys 100 meter.

Jumps -

  • Abbi Lorett (11) hit her stride in long jump with multiple constant jumps right on the board. She matched her lifetime best jump and we are excited to see some bigger jumps to come this season.

  • Cooper Lappin (11) brand new to jumps and has picked it up quite quickly. His 20’3” long jump was a 3 foot PR and cracked our top 10 all time list for the event.

Hurdles -

  • Ella Echsner (11) one of our best distance runners came out to try the hurdles. Ella fearlessly attacks the hurdles and in her first ever 300 hurdles race ran an incredible time of 48.02. This places her 6th all time in Del Norte history and currently sitting 3rd in San Diego in this event.

  • Dean Phillips (11) in his 2nd year as a hurdler Dean has drastically improved his speed. This has shown in his first two meets this season, back to back PRs in the 300 hurdles running a 46.78 this week. This is almost 2 seconds faster than his personal best from last season. Also setting a PR in the 100 hurdles.

Distance -

  • Hannah Riggins (12) was poised and confident in her 1600 where she established a time that places her top 5 in California currently. Her ability to follow up with strong showings in the 800 and 4x400 showing her versatility as an athlete.

  • Cameron Yarbrough (9) just a freshman, and making his mark. Ran a blazing 4:21.8 shaving 10 seconds off his last mile and placing him 5th all time in Del Norte History, the fastest freshmen on the list. He currently sits 3rd in San Diego for the mile. Cam then came back and cruised a 2:01.04 in his first 800 just shy of the top 10 list.

Pole Vault -

  • Caitlin Khieu (9) just a freshmen, in her first high school meet and vaulted an impressive 10”.

  • Leo Sun (11) his second huge PR in a row this season, vaulting 14’ even and moving himself up to 3rd on Del Norte’s all-time list

Congratulations to all of those athletes on a great meet. We had a TON of PRs this week as well as quite a few all-time list marks. We would like to take the time to recognize those athletes whose performance landed them onto our top 10 all-time lists.

Each of these athletes have made a great impact on our program, making themselves known as some of the best in their event since our school opened in 2009. We look forward to witnessing their continued success as the season goes on.

Our Next Meet

Our next meet, the Bronco Invite, is coming up this Saturday March 10th with a 9:00 am start time, taking place just down the road at Rancho Bernardo High School. Being that this is an invitational, only a limited team of our athletes who qualified, will be competing at this event. Those athletes should already know who they are.



We would love to have our snack bar open for all of our home meets! In order to do so we will need parent volunteers to run the snack bar. If you are available for any of our upcoming home dual meets please send an email to NighthawksTrack@gmail.com letting us know! We really appreciate your help.

House Keeping

Reminder that we practice from 4:10pm-6:10pm Monday-Friday and practice is mandatory. Failure to attended practice will result in athletes not competing in meets.

  • If your athlete has another activity (tutoring, a club, flute practice, etc.) that conflicts with practice time or any of our meets, please have them fill out an outside activity contract and bring it to practice so our head coach can sign off on it. Find our meet schedule here.

  • REMINDER - athletes should not sign up for the SAT on May 9th as it is the same day as our League Finals Meet.

Donate your used spikes to a Nighthawk in need!

  • If your athlete has spikes from last season that aren’t super torn up, they can use them again. If they are getting new spikes and don’t need their old ones, feel free to bring them to practice and we can share them with another nighthawk in need! Once your athlete gets their spikes, have them show their coach before wearing them at practice. We can help navigate each athletes needs.

Meet our Coaches

We are lucky to have a great team of coaches leading our student athletes and would love to introduce them to you. They have a variety of backgrounds and experience to share with your nighthawks. Follow us on instagram to keep up to date with our team and to meet more of our coaching staff!

Coach Stephen Garcia

Coach Stephen’s first year coaching for Del Norte was in the Spring of 2022. In his first season as Del Norte’s sprints coach, he helped our varsity girls 4x400 team all the way to state finals, the first in program history. He attended Central High School in Fresno, where he was the quarterback for their football team and competed on their track & field team as a sprinter, long jumper and member of their relay teams. Stephen went on to The University of California Santa Barbara where he studied Biological Psychology and competed as a sprinter on their Division One Men’s Track team. His main events included the 200, 400 and both relays. His favorite part about being a coach is harnessing the competitive spirit in his athletes.

Ruby Mandell
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Bronco Invite Recap
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Field & Distance Carnival Recap