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By Dew York Staff Writer BARSTOW — The Barstow High School girls and boys track and field teams could again be going in opposite directions this season, but the roles have re versed. The Aztec boys won the San Andreas League championship last year with a perfect record while the girls finished at 3-4. Boys coach Jim Duarte looks at the 1996 season as a rebuilding one, while girls coach Carolyn Norman sees it as a potential solid one. “I have high hopes for the girls this year, for the team as a whole,” said Norman, who has 13 returners this year. ‘I feel with myself and assistant coach Beth Injasoulian, we'll do a pretty good job out there. We have a good group of girls to work with.” The Aztec boys have nine re turners, but lost a lot of talent to graduation last season. “Several of those guys, there's no way we're going to replace,” said Duarte. “It has to be a re building year. It’s going to be quite a job for these kids to step up and fill the shoes of the kids who left.” Sophomore Genia Sey more heads up the Lady Aztec re turners by being the only one to qualify for the CIF Southern Section pre lims last sea son. She fin ished third in the 800 at the SAS finals inals. Seymore will run the 400, 800, 4x100 and 4x400 relays this year. She also might run a few 200 races. “She’s had a lot of training,” said Norman. “She ran for a club in San Bernardino, so we knew coming into high school, she'd be pretty strong and a great asset for the team. It seems likes she’s get ting stronger each year and is looking better and better. She has a lot of talent and a lot of po tential.” Junior returners Angelica Aviles and Rita Trias are ex pected to lead the way for Bar stow in the mile and two-mile and help out in the 800. Freshman Bobbi Ray will help out the tracksters in the mile and two-mile while also competing on the BHS swim team. “She did real well in cross country, so we're looking for some decent things out of her in track and field,” Norman said. “She's going to be a good asset to the team.” Junior Somier Bonar and soph omore Roberta Chavez both re turn and are expected to head up the field events. Bonar is strong in the high jumps and long jumps while Chavez is solid in the shot put, discus, high jump and long jump. Senior Rhiannon Allen was the team’s top discus thrower from last year and sophomore re turner Jessica Harrington spe cializes in the shot put and dis cus. Joy Olegario, Mia Quass, Mer cedes Sawyers, Heidi Waller and Sarah Gault are also returning to help Barstow improve on last year’s record. “Right now it’s kind of at the beginning of the season and it’s hard to tell,” said Norman about the team. “But I feel we're going to do very well this year. They have a lot of talent, a lot of heart. ‘The weather's been bad but we've had a lot of numbers show ing up the past couple days,” added the coach. ‘So that shows right there, there’s a lot of dedi cation.” The Aztecs return the SAL’s 400 champ in junior Mark Has sell and some quality distance runners from this season’s SAL champion cross country team. Senior Joey Ybarra, juniors Mike Billborough, Dustin May berry and Brian Notario along with sophomore Kenneth Gol sten all ran cross country and will solidify the distance events. “Our strengths right now prob ably lie with (junior) Brae Hack barth in the sprints and (soph omore) Garrus Richardson, who's also a sprinter and middle distance man,” said Duarte. “The quarter mile will be Rich ardson’s specialty.” Seniors Charles O’Neal and Donald O’Conner plan on an choring the Aztecs in the shot put and discus. O’Neal finished third in the SAL last year in the discus. Senior Larry Robinson was also supposed to help with the shot put and discus, but won't compete this year because he’s recovering from shoulder sur gery. Junior transfer Marvin Wilkie was one of the top hurdles run ners at Silver Valley last year and will spearhead BHS this year. Junior newcomers Curtis Hobbs and Winsome Cully look sharp in sprints so far as well as classmate Ricardo Robinson. Se nior Bobby Tindell will also help out the sprinters. In the two-mile, sophomore Cole Watson and junior Roy Bird are expected to contribute. Senior runner Lawrence Chandler has competed every year for Barstow and recently found out he suffered from asthma. “But he looks pretty strong this year,” Duarte said. “He has good speed this year. We're going to keep him to shorter distances so it'll have lesser of an effect on him.” Duarte expects Pacific, A.B. Miller and Cajon to be the teams to beat this year. “If we're really, really lucky, we'll finish anywhere from first place to the fourth-place team,” said Duarte. Barstow opens the season Sat urday by competing in the Quartz Hill Relays. Seymore Junior Winsome Cully will run sprints and hurdles for the Aztecs this year. Photo by Don York
Newspaper Details
Barstow Desert Dispatch
Barstow, California, US
Thu, Feb 29, 1996
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Roberta C.
USA 19 Jul 2026
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