The Laguna Beach Track and Field program held its 48th annual Trophy Invitational on March 18. The long day was organized by Steve Lalim, the girls track coach, and was timed by Finished Results. Fifty-one schools and 1,675 athletes flooded the Eric Hulst Track and Guyer Field to participate in various events. An exciting event that was held was pole vault. Pole Vault is not currently available at our school. Laguna Beach participated in 35 out of the 66 events that were held.

“The Trophy Invite is always a meet I look forward to because I love seeing our track full of teams from all over California, and some even from out of state,” said senior, varsity runner Ana Kelly.

The event required extraordinary planning. T-shirts needed to be ordered and handed out to athletes and volunteers; furthermore, merchandise, snack bars and timing crews needed to be organized. Laguna Beach athletes not only participated in the races but also volunteered to help by selling food, setting up and much more. The whole day had to be planned with precision so there wouldn’t be any bumps in the road.

“I’ve been preparing for the Invite since the 2016 meet ended. It’s been more intense planning the last couple weeks, but I spent many hours preparing for the 2017 Invite,” said Lalim.

Unfortunately, there was a bump in the road. A parent was hit in the head with a discus. He was rushed to the hospital and was told he had a severe concussion. He is, however, okay and will be back on his feet soon. Freshman, Tanner Burton’s leg was injured after a discus hit it as well.

“I’m glad it was only my leg. Now I only have a small bruise that won’t let me run.” said Tanner.  

The Trophy Invitational features the “Eric Hulst 3200” that was named after the famous runner, Eric Hulst, who was Laguna Beach’s State Champion in the 70s. The Eric Hulst 3200 had over 100 athletes participating this year, including varsity and frosh/soph competitors.

The varsity boys heat’s first place winner was Raymon Ornelas from Roosevelt High School with the time of 9:08. Nadia Tabrizi from JSerra took first place for the girls with the time of 11:05. Ocean View’s Edwin Montes Lopez got first place for the boys frosh/soph heat with a time of 9:42. With an 11:30 time, Caitlin Billman from Murrieta Valley won first place for the girls frosh/soph heat. Angelina Dyrnaes and Kaitlin Ryan, both freshmen, participated in the frosh/soph heat for LBHS.

“The day was super fun, and even though my race was hard, I had fun hanging out with my friends from track,” said freshman Kaitlin Ryan.

Ranging from freshmen new to the program to upperclassmen veterans, numerous Breakers broke their best times while at the meet.

“I found the meet especially memorable, primarily due to my race, which I ran in 4:35.1 minutes, surpassing my previous record time by almost ten seconds,” said sophomore Zach Falkowski.

Overall, the Trophy Invitational was another success for Laguna’s team. The athletes performed exceptionally and exceeded the expectations of coaches and peers.

“The meet went great! Everything ran smooth. We ran ahead of schedule, we had great performances and we had a lot of fun!” said Lalim.