Falcons Fly, Nighthawks Soar
Hello nighthawk families and fans,
Happy first day of spring! Saturday we took a limited team to the Torrey Pines Falcon Relays Invitational, just across town at Torrey Pines High School. We finally had some sunshine and it really felt like track season. There were a TON of great performances by our Nighthawks as well as 3 meet records! You can view some meet photos in this album by Phil Grooms. Find the full meet results here and keep reading for some highlights.
Our distance runner Hannah Riggins has been nominated for Mile Split CA’s top performer of the week. Go vote for her 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 -
Kellen Maciejewski (11) another PR and another spot up on the all-time list, now 3rd with a throw of 139’
Carson McKinney (11) set a great PR in discus, just off the 100’ threshold.
Sprints -
Savanna Jones (12) ran a lifetime PR of 13.20 in the 100, on her second 100 of the season. She also ran a season best in the 4x1.
Aden Kaimer (10) anchored the novice boys 4x1 and ran a hard fought 400 leg in the SMR, running a 54 second split with very little 400m experience.
Hurdles -
Kloe Taylor (12) finally back after an incredible basketball season, and she was thrown right back into the swing of racing. Kloe set a great PR in the 300 hurdles and was just off her PR in the 100 hurdles. I am excited to see her progress in her senior season.
Danny Tragarz (12) - set a huge PR in the 110 hurdles with a 15.54 running into a 1.5 head wind. Then Danny came back to win the 300 hurdles and set another PR, running 39.23 to take first overall and set a meet record! He also ran a great leg in both the shuttle hurdles and 4x200 relay. Danny sits first in San Diego for the 300 hurdles and 8th in the state of California.
Jumps -
Ben Sheffres (11) - found his stride in long jump with a jump of 17’8.5”, a nearly 2 foot improvement over his previous best.
Pole Vault -
Caitlin Khieu (9) set a new personal best with her vault of 10’1”
Sophie Abola (11) set a new personal best of 9’3”
Distance -
Hannah Riggins (12) put on a show on Saturday where she broke the meet record and ran the 3rd fastest time in section history. She is not ranked number one in California and number two in the US in the 800. She also ran a great leg on DMR which also set a meet record.
Stanley Yan (11) showcased a perfectly executed 800 where he improved his PR by 6 seconds. He then came back in the DMR to anchor his team to a 3rd place finish, just off his PR in the mile with a time of 4:39.
Congratulations to all of those athletes on a great meet. We would like to take the time to recognize those athletes whose performance landed them onto our top 10 all-time lists.
Danny Tragarz (12) - Boys 110 Hurdles: 3rd All-Time with a time of 15.54
Kellen Maciejewski (11) - Boys Discus: 3rd All-Time with a throw of 139’
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.
We also had three meet records set by our Nighthawks on Saturday!
Hannah Riggins (12) - set a meet record in the girls 800 meters with a time of 2:08.60
she bettered her own school record, sits first in San Diego, first in California and 2nd in the Nation.
Danny Tragarz (12) - set a meet record in the boys 300 meter hurdles with a time of 39.24
he sits 2nd on our all time list, 1st in San Diego and 8th in California
Emily Russo (11), Ella Echsner (11), Paige Echsner (10) and Hannah Riggins (12) - set a meet record in the girls DMR with a time of 12:06.65
they sit 2nd all time (just behind their own record from last season) first in San Diego, 2nd in California and 2nd in the Nation.
These are huge accomplishments for our athletes and make our program incredibly proud.
Senior Kaylee Tan handing off to senior Savanna Jones in the girls 4x100 relay. Photo by Phil Grooms
Our Next Meet
Our next meet is a dual meet with Rancho Bernardo, coming up this Thursday March 23rd with a 4:00 pm start time, taking place at Rancho Bernardo High School. This is our first in league official meet and our team score will count towards our league title, so it is very important we are competing at our best. Coaches will be strategically placing athletes in select events to help our team secure a win. We will have those entries decided by Wednesday and athletes can expect to find out what they are racing in then. Then on Saturday we have the Sundevil Invite at Mt Carmel, you can find more info about that meet here.
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.
Thank you to the parents who already signed up to help out at the snack bar this season. Those of you who signed up to help at next weeks dual meet versus Westview should expect an email from us this week with details. We still need volunteers for our CIF Prelims snack bar, If you are available for that or any of our upcoming home meets please fill out this form to let us know your availability! We really appreciate your help.
Seniors, if you would like to be included in our class of 2023 page on the website, please be sure to fill out the questionnaire so we can get your bio up.
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 Chris Jacobs
Coach Jacobs began coaching at Del Norte after he finished competing at the University of San Diego on the Men’s Cross Country and Track & Field teams from 2005-2009. He has been coaching track at Del Norte since its first season in 2010. In 2018 he took over as the head boys and girls coach for both Cross Country and Track & Field. During his time coaching at Del Norte he has been apart of 3 CIF Championship titles for Track & Field, countless league titles and most recently a Division 1 CIF Championship for the girls Cross Country Team in the 2022 season. He enjoys coaching at Del Norte, because it gives him the opportunity to watch a new generation of athletes embrace and grow in this sport the same way he did as a young athlete.