Watching Claremont High School junior Tatiana Sosnovsky chat comfortably with her friends while waiting to throw the discus, it’s immediately apparent how much she enjoys the sport.

The friendly 17-year-old seems relaxed as though she were just hanging out at the park with friends.

However, once in the ring, she becomes focused and determined with the single goal of beating her previous longest throw, and she does it with a smile on her face.

That focus, and the sense of fun, paid off for Sosnovsky last weekend during the Palomares League track and field finals, as she blew away the competition winning both the discus and the shot put.

Her accomplishments were not entirely unexpected—she has been winning field events for CHS all season. But she really pulled out all of the stops, setting personal records in both events.

First up was the shot put, during which she threw a PR in her first attempt. The winning toss was her second of the day, another PR at 33 feet 2.5 inches, beating her previous best by just over a foot and a half. Either way, she was bringing home gold. And her winning toss was over one foot ahead of second place Alejandra Contreras, who threw a 32-0.

Similarly, in the discus event she threw a PR on her first throw, only to better that with her second attempt, the championship toss of 100-11.

“I felt good and had a good warm up,” she said during practice on Wednesday. “I felt relaxed and I enjoy the pressure of competition.” Sounds like a natural athlete.

She happened to mention her discus effort beat second place by a few feet, but turns out it was over seven feet further than Ayala’s Brianna Landazuri’s 93-08.

It’s clear track and field is in her blood, as both her grandfather, Sherwin Sosnovsky, and father, Brain Sosnovsky, competed in shot and discus. Her younger brother, freshman Jake Sosnovsky, throws as well.

During the off season she works out with weights with a regimen that includes a lot of core and leg work. As the season approaches, she backs off the weightlifting to work on technique.

Sosnovsky has not chosen a college yet and is still pondering her career options, but she may choose math as a major because it’s her best and most enjoyable subject.

Looking forward to the CIF meet this weekend, technique will again be her focus, along with “finishing strong.” She apparently thrives under pressure, so that’s in her favor.

“There is still a lot more competition in CIF,” she said.

Joining her at the CIF meet will be a host of accomplished athletes who have made headlines at Claremont all season.

The boys 4×100 relay team won their event, with junior Gabriel El-Jaouny, senior Ben Liera, junior Nathaniel Oluseyi Oke and senior Nathaniel Gadsby clocking a time of 43.66.

Gadsby also won the 200-meter sprint and was the runner up in the 100. Gardner was the runner up in the 200 and 400.

Junior Nathan Hoon won the boys pole vault at 12-6 and junior Isatu N’Diaye claimed first in the 800 at 2.22.

Freshman Bella Sanvictores matched her PR in the pole vault at 10-6 for second place just behind another freshman Ayala’s Madeline Seifert at 10-8.

Other top times that qualified for a trip to CIF include: Jack Keogh Lansford, third in the 3200; senior Kalinda Reynolds, third in the 3200; senior Nathaniel Waggener, second in the 300 hurdles; senior Vicente Huerta, second in 800; senior Ryan Cowgill, second, and senior Jacob Moran third, in the 1600; and junior Azalea Segura Mora second, and sophomore Angie Gushue third, in the 1600.

“We never quit,” Coach Veronica Amarasekara said on Wednesday while watching her team prepare for the CIF meet this Saturday at Trabuco Hills High.

Citing all of the athletes that will be returning next year she quipped, “I told you we were young!”

—Steven Felschundneff

steven@claremont-courier.com

Swimming

Claremont High School swimmers had a very good meet last Thursday during Palomares League finals at Mt. San Antonio College.

The Pack claimed several first-place medals including: Mercer Weis, Alex Stockwell, Toby Jackson and Skyler Scheetz in the boys 200 medley at 1:40.80; Weis in the boys 200 individual medley at 2:01.09; Sophie Jackson in the girls 100 fly, 56.33; Weis, boys 100 backstroke, 54.82 and Jackson, boys 100 fly, 51.91.

Other top results include: Charlotte Poliquin, Katherine Worsham, Mary Margrave and Sophie Jackson, second place in the girls 200 medley at 1:53.83; Toby Jackson, second, boys 200 freestyle, 1:45.76; Poliquin, third, girls 100 backstroke, 1:03.76; Natalya Strash, Diana Zhen Zhang, Sydney Struve and Aurora Sheridan, third, girls 400 free relay, 3:49.16; and Poliquin, Sheridan, Margrave and Jackson, third, girls 200 free, 1:40.40.

The varsity and JV girls team took third place, while the boys varsity and JV claimed fourth. Next up for Claremont is the CIF South tournament this weekend.

Boys volleyball

Claremont traveled to Eastvale for the first round of the CIF tournament, taking on Big VIII first-place Roosevelt High School. The Pack fought hard, particularly in the first and third sets, but ultimately fell 3-0 (26-24, 25-12, 25-20) ending the boys’ season.

Rival Damien also lost in the first round in a close game against Great Oak, 3-2.

Claremont ends the season with a third place finish in Hacienda League with a 4-4 record, 11-19 overall.

Webb softball

The Gauls won their final conference game last Thursday, with a 24-0 mercy rule win over Samueli Academy.

With the win the girls advance to 10-1 in Academy league, 13-2 overall, and win the 2019 league title. They hosted California School for the Deaf in the first round of the CIF tournament after press time on Thursday.

Webb baseball

The number-one ranked division six Guals won their two final conference games last week, cementing the boys perfect 9-0 record and earning an Academy League pennant.

Last Wednesday, Webb got an easy 10-1 win over Saddleback Valley Christian in San Juan Capistrano. The Warriors then traveled to Claremont where the Gauls got a mercy rule 14-1 win after the boys scored 13 runs in the fourth inning.

Webb got a bye in the first round of the CIF tournament and will host the winner of the De Toledo and Costa Mesa game in the second round on Tuesday.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women’s, men’s tennis host SCIAC semis

The defending NCAA champion CMS women’s tennis team had another stellar year with a 21-1 record and a number-two national rank.

The Athenas capped the regular season off with a 7-2 defeat of cross campus rival, number five ranked Pomona-Pitzer, last Wednesday in Claremont, according to a news release from CMS athletics.

With 14 straight wins and a perfect 7-0 regular season record, the Athenas secured the top seed in the SCIAC tournament beginning this weekend. Their only loss was to Emory at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Indoor Championships, the team they defeated last season to win the national title.

CMS will host a SCIAC semifinal match against fourth-seeded Redlands on Friday and will earn the right to host the finals on Saturday, if they advance. In the other semifinal, 6-1 Pomona-Pitzer will be the second seed in the conference tournament, facing number-three Caltech in the other semifinal.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men’s tennis is the top division three program in the nation following a poll from the ITA released earlier this month. CMS now stands at 27-1 overall and 7-0 in SCIAC, with the only loss a road defeat to Amherst to close out its spring break trip to New England on March 21.

The Stags also defeated rival Pomona-Pitzer last week, 8-1, with a sweep in doubles play. CMS number one team of Julian Gordy and Nikolai Parodi are 5-0 in conference play this year.

Last weekend Gordy and Parodi defended their division three doubles title at the 119th Ojai Tournament with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Cal Lutheran’s Ransom Braaten and Jake Haffner. Parodi also defeated Redlands’ Chase Lipscomb, 6-1, 6-1 in the singles final. The feat earned Parodi, a Claremont McKenna junior, his second SCIAC athlete of the week award.

Top-seed CMS will host fourth seed Caltech, with second-seed Pomona-Pitzer hosting third-seed Redlands in the opening round matches of the SCIAC tournament, scheduled for Friday.