Marina’s Skyler Magula repeats as Orange County boys’ pole vault champion

Reporting from Mission Viejo —  Marina High senior pole vaulter Skyler Magula has had many moments to celebrate during his high school track and field career.

One week ago, the returning state medalist had a not so enjoyable experience. In his final appearance at the Arcadia Invitational national meet, Magula endured a no-height performance.

“I’m always trying to find answers for things,” Magula said. “When it comes to no-heighting, there’s always excuses that you can make. At the end of the day, it happens. It’s a part of pole vault, the same way that false starting is for sprinting events.

“It happens. You don’t know why it happens, but it’s almost uncontrollable. For me, I would say that it was a huge humbling moment for my senior year.”

The only thing left for Magula to do was move on, and his next opportunity would come on a stage that he had already had substantial success.

Magula cleared the bar at 15 feet, seven inches to defend his boys’ pole vault title in the Orange County Championships on Saturday at Mission Viejo High.

A seasonal-best, the 15-7 mark elevated Magula into a tie for fourth place in the state.

“It was definitely a win I was looking forward to, especially the fact that it was a repeat,” Magula added. “It kind of displays how I’ve led Orange County by winning two years in a row, and it’s definitely a meet I enjoy competing in.”

Another Marina athlete got redemption for a disappointing Arcadia showing, as junior Alejandra Rosales responded with a personal record of 138-8 in the girls’ discus throw. She placed second behind Trabuco Hills’ Kyliegh Wilkerson (140-1).

Rosales needed to execute a good throw on her third attempt to reach the finals. She threw 128-8 to earn three more attempts, and the fourth resulted in her latest lifetime-best mark.

“That was the most pressure that I have ever felt because it was either make it to finals or don’t,” Rosales said. “You have nothing to hold you back because I wasn’t going to make it with a mark of 103-1.

“I was able to redeem myself.”

Newport Harbor’s Aidan Elbettar was the runner-up in the boys’ discus throw with a mark of 182-5.

For the first time in an invitational competition, Elbettar incorporated spinning into his throwing motion in the shotput. The Sailors junior had a throw of 59-8¼ to take third.

Elbettar stuck to the glide for Arcadia, but Sailors coach Tony Ciarelli wanted him to commit to spinning on Saturday.

“I said, ‘Eventually, it’s going to be all spin,’” Ciarelli said. “With today’s results, he hit the 60-foot line a couple of times. He had a couple of 59s. We’re spinning the rest of the season.”

Newport Harbor’s Alexis Garcia (four minutes 17.73 seconds) and Laguna Beach’s Ryan Smithers (4:17.90) put together strong final laps to finish fourth and fifth, respectively, in the boys’ 1,600-meter seeded race.

Senior Tommy Cook also secured a fourth-place finish for Newport Harbor in boys’ pole vault with a mark of 13-6.

Corona del Mar senior Paige Damron improved upon her career-best placing in the 300 intermediate hurdles at the county meet. She made the jump from fifth place last year to finish as the runner-up (46.30) to Troy junior Isabella Ales.

Maya Buchwald also placed second in the girls’ 1,600 rated heat with a time of 5:14.19, while Costa Mesa’s Diane Molina capped the area’s highlights on the track by placing third in the 3,200 in 10:57.86.

Santa Margarita’s Tessa Green has been a major contributor to the dynasty of Santa Margarita, which has won the last four CIF Southern Section Division 3 girls’ track and field titles.

Green swept the sprints and earned her place in county lore on Saturday. She is now seventh all-time in the county in the 100 (11.96) and 10th on that list in the 200 (24.30).

“It’s definitely fed my hunger because I’m the last of what they say [is] the power group,” Green said of regularly competing for section championships with the Eagles. “Everyone graduated last year, so it’s just kind of me.

“I really wanted to step up this year and just make my own name and take care of things.”

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BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD

Orange County Championships

At Mission Viejo High

Team Results

1. Aliso Niguel 90; 2. JSerra 46; 3. Woodbridge 44; 4. Mater Dei 41; 5. Dana Hills 37; 6. Esperanza 29; 7. Mission Viejo 28; 8. Tesoro 25; 9. Newport Harbor 24; 10. Los Alamitos 23; 14. Marina 18; 25. Corona del Mar 7; 28. Laguna Beach 5; 34. Huntington Beach 3

Individuals

100 – 1. Reynolds (Aliso Niguel) 10.85; 2. Lemmons (Mater Dei) 10.98; 3. Pascual (Aliso Niguel) 11.06; 4. Morgan (Capo Valley) 11.07; 5. Nguyen (Woodbridge) 11.09

200 – 1. Lemmons (Mater Dei) 21.86; 2. Koesel (Aliso Niguel) 22.12; 3. Reynolds (Aliso Niguel) 22.16; 4. Cooper (Woodbridge) 22.43; 5. Der Torossian (Laguna Hills) 22.44

400 – 1. Cooper (Woodbridge) 49.18; 2. Savage (Western) 49.34; 3. Koesel (Aliso Niguel) 49.74; 4. Williams (Aliso Niguel) 49.91; 5. Felix (Woodbridge) 50.45

800 – 1. Grover (JSerra) 1:55.70; 2. Callen (Foothill) 1:56.08; 3. Alcerro (Villa Park) 1:57.27; 4. Denker (Dana Hills) 1:57.77; 5. O’Hannigan (Irvine) 1:58.01

1,600 Seeded – 1. Herold (JSerra) 4:11.50; 2. Grover (JSerra) 4:13.27; 3. Stark (Dana Hills) 4:14.64; 4. Garcia (Newport Harbor) 4:17.73; 5. Smithers (Laguna Beach) 4:17.90

1,600 Rated – 1. Trujillo (Anaheim) 4:26.32; 2. Svensson (Mission Viejo) 4:26.71; 3. Major (Santa Margarita) 4:26.99; 4. Munguia (Tustin) 4:29.35; 5. Lopez (Rancho Alamitos) 4:30.03

3,200 – 1. Herold (JSerra) 9:13.76; 2. Grover (JSerra) 9:16.23; 3. Savely (Capo Valley) 9:30.40; 4. Fuller (Dana Hills) 9:31.15; 5. Welch (Esperanza) 9:35.61

110HH – 1. Kaufman (Aliso Niguel) 14.895; 2. Kimble (Servite) 14.898; 3. Lotfy (Los Alamitos) 14.91; 4. Johnson (Crean Lutheran) 15.24; 5. Rupp (Santa Margarita) 15.546

300IH – 1. Burns (Mission Viejo) 38.81; 2. Ventura (Santa Margarita) 39.26; 3. Korn (Trabuco Hills) 39.50; 4. Haley (Irvine) 39.56; 5. Kim (Aliso Niguel) 39.80

400 relay – 1. Mater Dei 41.94; 2. Aliso Niguel 42.09; 3. Tesoro 42.25; 4. Mission Viejo 42.78; 5. Laguna Hills 43.13

1,600 relay – 1. Tesoro 3:19.40; 2. Woodbridge 3:22.59; 3. Dana Hills 3:23.01; 4. Aliso Niguel 3:24.60; 5. Mission Viejo 3:28.76

HJ – 1. Muirbrook (Aliso Niguel) 6-4; 2T. Johnson (Mater Dei) 6-2; 2T. Pariser (University) 6-2; 2T. Blair (Dana Hills) 6-2; 2T. Bentley (Orange Lutheran) 6-2

LJ – 1. Nguyen (Woodbridge) 23-8¼; 2. Ledezma (Canyon) 22-0; 3. Ayale (Los Alamitos) 21-11; 4. Natividad (Brea Olinda) 21-3; 5. Vega (Segerstrom) 21-0½

TJ – 1. Victa (Laguna Hills) 47-6¼; 2. Patterson (Cypress) 44-9¼; 3. Reed (Tesoro) 44-7¼; 4. Salazar (Mater Dei) 43-8; 5. Diaz (Marina) 42-7½

PV – 1. Magula (Marina) 15-7; 2. Blachowski (Servite) 14-0; 3. Perelman (Aliso Niguel) 14-0J; 4. Cook (Newport Harbor) 13-6; 5. Ashton (Yorba Linda) 13-6J

SP – 1. Rhyan (San Juan Hills) 63-3½; 2. Duensing (Esperanza) 60-11¾; 3. Elbettar (Newport Harbor) 59-8¼; 4. Howard (Los Alamitos) 55-9; 5. Porter (Canyon) 54-0½

DT – 1. Duensing (Esperanza) 185-8; 2. Elbettar (Newport Harbor) 182-5; 3. Porter (Canyon) 165-10; 4. Hashem (Esperanza) 159-3; 5. White (Corona del Mar) 152-0

GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD

Orange County Championships

At Mission Viejo High

Team Results

1. Mission Viejo 86; 2. Santa Margarita 68; 3. Dana Hills 51; 4. Woodbridge 38.5; 5. Capo Valley 37; 6. Aliso Niguel 35; 7. Beckman 33; 8. Los Alamitos 29.5; 9. San Clemente 22; 10. Mater Dei 21; 18. Marina 12; 20. Corona del Mar 10; 22. Costa Mesa 6; 25. Fountain Valley 5; 28. Edison 4; 30. Huntington Beach 3

Individuals

100 – 1. Green (Santa Margarita) 11.96; 2. Malhotra (Woodbridge) 12.27; 3. Limp (Los Alamitos) 12.32; 4. Aluya (Valencia) 12.35; 5. Kolster (Los Alamitos) 12.56

200 – 1. Green (Santa Margarita) 24.30; 2. Bennett (San Clemente) 24.66; 3. Rind (Dana Hills) 24.71; 4. Malhotra (Woodbridge) 24.86; 5. Aluya (Valencia) 24.94

400 – 1. Memoly (Santa Margarita) 55.50; 2. Bennett (San Clemente) 55.60; 3. Ray (Dana Hills) 56.00; 4. Niemiec (Beckman) 56.81; 5. Quinn (Yorba Linda) 57.08

800 – 1. Calcagnie (Mission Viejo) 2:12.74; 2. Johnson (Mission Viejo) 2:15.33; 3. Lawrence (Dana Hills) 2:17.40; 4. Haskins (Dana Hills) 2:18.02; 5. Hadley (Canyon) 2:18.60

1,600 Seeded – 1. Hadley (Canyon) 4:56.96; 2. Hines (Mission Viejo) 4:59.26; 3. Catsimanes (San Clemente) 5:00.47; 4. Valenti (Brea Olinda) 5:01.67; 5. Salazar (Trabuco Hills) 5:03.70

1,600 Rated – 1. Palicke (Yorba Linda) 5:11.78; 2. Buchwald (Corona del Mar) 5:14.19; 3. Meade (Tesoro) 5:14.99; 4. Griffin (El Toro) 5:20.09; 5. Farr (Foothill) 5:23.44

3,200 – 1. Corsinita (Capo Valley) 10:52.96; 2. Hines (Mission Viejo) 10:55.44; 3. Molina (Costa Mesa) 10:57.86; 4. Rocke (Esperanza) 11:18.67; 5. Douge (Brea Olinda) 11:24.19

100HH – 1. Perez (Yorba Linda) 15.32; 2. Lyon (Woodbridge) 15.49; 3. Ales (Troy) 15.94; 4. Bretz (Brea Olinda) 15.98; 5. Weiss (Edison) 16.14

300IH – 1. Ales (Troy) 45.97; 2. Damron (Corona del Mar) 46.30; 3. Olora (Northwood) 46.34; 4. Ray (Dana Hills) 46.40; 5. Morris (Santa Margarita) 46.73

400 relay – 1. Los Alamitos 47.42; 2. Santa Margarita 47.52; 3. Mission Viejo 48.30; 4. Beckman 48.48; 5. Dana Hills 49.01

1,600 relay – 1. Mission Viejo 3:56.71; 2. Beckman 4:00.19; 3. Dana Hills 4:00.49; 4. Aliso Niguel 4:01.18; 5. Los Alamitos 4:01.96

HJ – 1. Duffey (Aliso Niguel) 5-0; 2. Robinson (Capo Valley) 5-0J; 3T. Jackson (Esperanza) 5-0J; 3T. Sun (St. Margaret’s) 5-0J; 3T. Battle (Aliso Niguel) 5-0J; 6. Hodel (Huntington Beach) 5-0J; 7. Gruber (Marina) 5-0J

LJ – 1. Robinson (Capo Valley) 18-8¼; 2. Memoly (Santa Margarita) 18-5½; 3. Chiaramonte (Mater Dei) 18-4½; 4. Hartwell (Orange Lutheran) 18-4; 5. Malhotra (Woodbridge) 17-8½; 6. Lyon (Woodbridge) 17-8½J

TJ – 1. Lyon (Woodbridge) 40-4; 2. Hartwell (Orange Lutheran) 39-5; 3. Robinson (Capo Valley) 38-6½; 4. Mixon (Mater Dei) 37-6½; 5. Jocson (Tesoro) 36-10½

PV – 1. Flynn (Aliso Niguel) 13-0; 2. Kroeger (Mission Viejo) 11-6; 3T. Zarcone (Mater Dei) 11-0; 3T. Millar (Los Alamitos) 11-0; 5. Barnes (Santa Margarita) 11-0

SP – 1. Butterbaugh (Mission Viejo) 44-10; 2. Lister (Mission Viejo) 37-10; 3. Mitchell (Dana Hills) 37-4¾; 4. Tuinukuafe (Rosary) 37-1½; 5. Togafau (Fountain Valley) 36-11¾

DT – 1. Wilkerson (Trabuco Hills) 140-1; 2. Rosales (Marina) 138-8; 3. Khandhadia (Beckman) 133-10; 4. Robbins (Esperanza) 129-5; 5. Butterbaugh (Mission Viejo) 127-1

andrew.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner