What looked like a triumphant finish to the NBL Championship Finals for the Cardinal Newman Boys Track & Field team, ended unfortunately. It appeared that the Cardinals had won the meet, as Liam Currie had come from behind to win the day's last event, the 4 x 400 meter relay, but was later disqualified by league officials on a technicality.
Currie had pulled off an amazing come back in the race, as he took the baton, on the anchor leg, trailing by 40 meters. Liam was determined to catch the Carrillo runner and he did, winning the race and giving Newman enough points to overtake the Pumas for the team title.
Currie, then well past the finish line, tossed the baton straight down in front of him in celebration. One of the officials saw it and called it "throwing" the baton, which can be viewed as a violation of rules and comes with an automatic disqualification.
Ultimately, Newman was stripped of the title and settled for 3rd place instead of its first NBL Championship since 2011. Carrillo has now won 9 of last 11 NBL Titles.
Newman's season goes on despite the set back, with several athletes qualifying for North Coast Section.
Freshman Zion Cargill finished 3rd in the 100M. Liam Currie won the 400M race with the 9th best time in Empire history. Teammates Julius Skamarack came in 3rd and Jacob Patterson 5th.
In the 800M, Currie came in 2nd and in the 1600M Adrian Estrada finished 6th. Xander Newman won the 110HH and came in 2nd in the 300H.
In the 4 x 100 Relay Newman recorded the 19th best time all-time finish in winning with a time of 43.12.
In the Field Events, the Newman throwers dominated, with Jake Joerger and Devon Bertoli going 1-2 in the shot put and Santiago Adan and Jake Joerger going 1-2 in the discus. Frshman Vincente Adan recorded the 2nd best Frosh throw all-time in finishing 4th place! Aidan Woods placed 5th in the event as CN got 4 of the top 5 spots in the event. Coach Brian Chase must be proud!
In the Girls competition, Natalie Rosetti finished 6th in the 300H representing as the NBL Redwood's best.
All top 5 finishers will move on to NCS, with 9 at large berths available to the league as a whole.
RESULTS LINK:
https://redwoodempirerunning.com/2024-boys-nbl-track-field-trials/
