The Culver City High School boys’ track and field team ran their way into the CIF history books last Saturday in the CIF Division 2 Finals at Moorpark high school when they captured the school’s first boys’ championship. The Centaurs turned in a dominant performance when they scored 51 points against some of the best track and field athletes in the state of California. In 2023 the Centaur girls won a CIF track and field championship.
It all started when the 400X100 meter relay team placed second in a school record time of 41.67. That team consisted of Zytel Boyd, Duaine Mayrant, Dontay Mayrant and Dominic Bastiste.
The top performances continued when Kingston Waring won the 300-meter hurdles in a lifetime best time of36.92, which is currently the second fastest time in the state. He also placed third in the 100-meter hurdles running a personal best time of 14.57.
Dontay Mayrant won the 400 meters in 47.75 and Duaine Mayrant place fourth in the 400 meters with a time of 48.93 and Duaine also placed seventh in the 200 meters with a time of 21.93.
The Centaurs ended the meet with a herculean performance in the 4X400 meter relay, winning in a time of 3:15.51. Running on that team was Dontay Mayrant, Jonah Givens, Waring and Duaine Mayrant.
All six Culver City High School student athletes that competed last Saturday will be in action again on Saturday, May 24, at Moorpark high school trying to qualify for the State Meet on May 30 and 31, at Buchanan high school in Fresno.
“It’s pretty awesome when you set goals at the beginning of the season and you look at the team actually achieving some of those goals,” said Co-head track and field coach Jahmal Wright after practice last Tuesday. “To have those six guys step up is fantastic. I am really proud of them. I give all the credit to our coaching staff. Co-head coach LaShinda Demus has been really instrumental in our success along with Derrick (Huezo), Dovie (Reid) and coach Anthony (Thomas).
Coach Demus gives the Centaurs one thing that only a few coaches in the world can bring to a team. She is an Olympic Gold Medal winner in the 400-meter hurdles. She takes personal pride in every track and field athlete at Culver City but for her to she Waring perform at a high level is special. “To see him go out there and run a personal best time, although it was not a perfect race, because as a coach and runner we are still striving to hit that perfect race,” said Demus.
Demus is extremely proud to be called a CIF Champion. “Coach Wright called it at the beginning of the season,” said Demus. “He said this was going to be our year. That’s my Co-head coach and I trusted his vision and I am happy we were able to do it.”
The Centaurs still may be able to win another CIF title this year if the surprising softball team can win three more games. They are playing a quarter-final CIF Division 7 game on Thursday, May 22, at Culver City at 3:15 p.m. against 14-11 Silverado from Victorville. The Centaurs are 11-14. “I feel confident coaching this team,” said first year head coach Carlos Chavez after winning his first playoff game last week against Citrus Hill. “I have been telling the team all year that if they hit the ball and make plays in the field, they have a chance to be successful.”
“We played some top teams in the beginning of the year, so I was trying to get the girls ready for the playoffs because we knew our league was not as strong as it was last year.”
The softball team has several good players and two of them are shortstop Hayden Martin and pitcher Anyah Francis. Martin, a junior, played catcher the past two years now she plays shortstop. “It feels good to be winning our playoff games,” said Martin last week. “Playing shortstop, I can showcase my talents.”
Francis, a senior pitcher, wants to end her senior year with a CIF championship. “Honestly, we are a team with big hearts, and we have come together like glue and as long as we keep playing hard, we will be in the championship.”
Two other Centaur teams were eliminated from the CIF playoffs last week. The boy’s tennis team and the baseball team saw their seasons end. The tennis team lost a close match to Fullerton at Culver City in the semi-final. “We win as a team and we lose as a team,” said head tennis coach Nick Murchison this week. “I can’t place the blame on any one thing, but I will say we were missing some players that would have strengthened our lineup. We dropped a couple of sets early that we probably should have won but we still had a great season.”
Murchison was especially proud of the play of Jonathan Tefera. “He left it all out there on the court. I have not seen him play like that all year. He lost but he gave it everything he had.”
The baseball team lost to South Torrance 2-0 in a pitchers’ duel. Niko Weber Smith pitched a great game for the Centaurs, but their offense came up short.