Sunday, April 14, 2024

Ventura Tigres at Camarillo Cosmos Track Meet


Saturday, April 13, 2024

We had to bundle up for today's track meet at Camarillo H.S. held on an ominously cold, blustery and damp day.

Good marks would be hard to achieve in these weather conditions today, especially with a strong headwind most of the day facing the athletes in the home straightaway.

Rain was expected but held off
until the last event of the day

A surprise meeting with Bob Hunter
in the parking lot at Camarillo H.S.

I had not seen Bob in years. He had been a longtime staple of the Ventura County high school sports scene as a referee and/or umpire in the sports of football, basketball, baseball and softball.

After taking a few years off from the local playing fields and arenas due to health issues, he was back in action.

He was on campus to umpire the Camarillo H.S. softball game against Saugus H.S.

It was nice to see him in good spirits and excited to be working again.

This would likely be a long day as
the two clubs running today were
the two largest in the VCYTF


Between the Tigres and . . .

. . . the home team Cosmos, we
had nearly 600 young athletes
entered into the day's events

That meant lots and lots of heats and with Jacob always running in a meet's final event, the 4 x 400 Meters Relay, we were in for a long day.

Mary running the third leg in
the 4x 100 Meters Relay

We all thought that she ran a strong leg and had her team in good position.

Then came the fateful handoff
to a new team member

It turns out that her team's anchor leg was not paying any attention to the race. As Mary approached, this youngster just stood there surveying the countryside, completely unaware of what was supposed to happen on the track.

The baton was passed with both girls now at a dead standstill.

The team's pedestrian, last place time was 1:26.95.

It was a shame that the first three girls efforts were wasted as, even with this terrible handoff and the following stroll through the park by the anchor leg, they were only 6.3 seconds slower than their seasonal best.

Jacob also ran the third leg
of his 4 x 100 Meters Relay

His coaches believe him to be the best of the four sprinters at running the curve of the track.

Solid handoffs led to an easy win

The four speedsters ran a season best time of 58.93.

That was an improvement of 2.82 seconds over their previous best.

On to the Girls Long Jump . . .

This Tigres competitor was stylish
during her warm-up jumps

Mary was flying high and far

She and her flying mane stuck the landing

She was excited about leaping to a new Personal Record of 8'-7" today.

Mary enjoys the extensive social
life aspects that track meets offer
as much as the competition

Jacob on the backstretch
of the 400 Meters Dash

Micheal videotaping Jacob now
running down the homestretch

His time of 67.90 was easily the fastest of the 27 boys that ran in the three heats of this race.

Mary leading the way in her
heat of the 100 Meters Dash

Widening her advantage near the finish line

She won her heat in a blistering time of 19.28.

While I was waiting for Mary to run in this race, I completely missed Jacob's three Long Jump attempts.

He had the best jump of the 22 athletes in this event with a mark of 14'-0" which was a HUGE Personal Record for him.

His previous PR in the Long Jump was 11'-10", a two foot-two inch improvement was awesome.

Mary's final event was the 200 Meters Dash

Mary ran a time of 46.13

Her track day now over, it was time for a delicious Hawaiian Ice and many more exciting social interaction opportunities with her friends.

Speaking of social interactions

It was fun to randomly run into Jon Serrano at the meet, Jon's son runs for the Tigres.

Jon was a good Offensive Lineman at Buena H.S. in Ventura when I helped coach there in 2002.

Good to see him doing well after all of these years.

Jacob is off in his 200 Meters Dash

Chugging down the backstretch

His time of 31.36 was the second best out of the 14 boys running at this distance.

The last event of the day was the 4 x 400 Meters Relay. That was when the heavens finally opened and the rain began to join the wind and cold temperatures to add to the day's ambience.

Michael again taking photos
during Jacob's Third Leg of the relay

Here Jacob is trying to stay with
that pesky, pace setting seagull

Blowing past my viewing spot

The boys ran a good time of 4:53.56 which was a staggering minute and four seconds faster than the second place Tigres team.

Time to celebrate and dry out . . .

Half of the gang at Camarillo's
Pizza Man Dan's

A hug with Jacob is always
a good thing

The other half of our fun loving,
feeding frenzy group today

It was a good way to end our day to be sure.

On to EuroBall news . . .

Team Spain beat Team Great Britain
in the IFAF Womens European
Championship Game

Italian DI Game today
Ancona Dolphins vs. Lazio Marines

No problem for the undefeated Dolphins

The other IFL game today
Torino Giaguari vs. Firenze Guelfi

The favored Guelfi eked out a win

Italian Football League Standings
1T. Ancona Dolphins 4-0
Varese Skorpions 4-0
3. Firenze Guelfi 3-1
4T. Legnano Frogs 2-2
Parma Panthers 2-2
6. Torino Giaguari 2-3
7. Milano Rhinos 2-4
8. Lazio Marines 1-4
9. Bologna Warriors 0-5

Italian Football League Schedule
Saturday, April 20, 2024
Varese Skorpions (4-0) at Legnano Frogs (2-2)
Bologna Warriors (0-5) at Ancona Dolphins (4-0)
BYES:
Firenze Guelfi (3-1), Parma Panthers (2-2),
Torino Giaguari (2-3), Milano Rhinos (2-4)
and Lazio Marines (1-4)

Nice poster for Sunday's
Catania Elephants at Crotone Achei
DIII 9FL game but . . .

. . . I like this one better!

With this graphic, I now add Elephants to my list of nicknames that more teams need to adopt joining Rhinos and Gorillas.

Just my opinion of course.

DII Italian game on Sunday
Bergamo lions vs. Padova Saints

That Saint doesn't look too saintly at all to me.

Good, fierce eyes on both of these graphics methinks.

Good luck to the San Diego Rebellions
Women's team today in Salt Lake City
against the Utah Falconz in WNFC action

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