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44 advance to track and field Master’s
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Sarah Romo of Turlock High placed second in the girls pole vault event last week at the Sac-Joaquin Section Divisionals. Romo is advancing to the Master’s. - photo by File Photo

A total of 44 track and field athletes from Hilmar, Denair, Pitman and Turlock high schools will advance to the Sac-Joaquin Section Master’s Tournament after standout performances in their respective Divisional tournaments last week.

This year saw multiple records broken from a number of schools. Leading the way with qualifiers was Turlock High, which will be sending 23 athletes, followed by Pitman with 13, Hilmar (6) and Denair (2).

“We are over here tearing the track up. We have done some pretty amazing things this season — historical even,” said Turlock head coach Bergann Hernandez. “Our kids won all four championships. We are ranked top in our section and ranked higher in the state than most of any of the teams anywhere around. These kids are going off on the greatest season in school history.”

“Girls finished as the top CCC/MMC team. So, they had a great week,” said Pitman head coach Thad Moren.

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Pitman High’s Cierra Verdone is one 13 athletes for the Pride advancing to compete in the Sac-Joaquin Section Master’s. - photo by File Photo

Turlock and Pitman competed in the Division-I tournament from Elk Grove High with the day concluding on Friday.

The Pride did great as they saw the following advance to Master’s: Whitney Barnes, Cierra Verdone, Quincey Williams, Ty Thomson, Denzel Steckwren, Matthew Phillips, Mavleen Mann, Ashlan Lucero, Madison King, Maddy Hall, Guillermo Francis, Donavyn Fana and Nathan Day.

During the event itself, Turlock saw multiple school records broken including the 400-meter record by Julia Handy who clocked in at 57.6.

The girls 4x1 team also broke the school record with a time of 49.09.

Sarah Romo took second in girls pole vault.

Advancing for the Turlock girls are Julia Handy, Katja Guerrero, Daisy Martinez, Jocelyn Harris, Aranza Perez, Bernie Hollcraft, Raquel Zapata, Sofia Andres, Sarah Romo, Beth Johnson and Jazmyn Tubbs.

The boys for Turlock will advance Colton Cummings, Bryce Souza, Antonio Suarez, Sammy Wilson, Darian White, Rios Rogers, Bailey Vandergriff, Willie Ashman, Jonah Kosakiewicz, Jose Sandoval, Nathan Garibay and Silas Fredeen.

Hilmar saw four school records broken.

“It was a good year for the team,” said Hilmar head coach Clement Lebrouche.

Moving on to Master’s for the Yellowjackets are Mikela Labno, Justin Barros, Isaac Sharp, Vincent Moran, Anthony Nieto and Justin Selander.

Hilmar also captured the Trans Valley League title, sharing the co-honors with Hughson on the boys side and Ripon with the girls.

Denair had two triple jumpers make history for their school when Kirsten Fletcher and Steffin Winston each broke school records, respectively.

Fletcher jumped 35’8” back in April and Winston jumped 45’4” at the Division-IV-V tournament last Thursday from Cesar Chavez High.

“It was just awesome that they did that,” said Denair head coach Jim Wagner. “At Divisionals, Winston jumped his best, broke the record which was 43’11” and he jumped 44’4” and came back to jump to 45’4”. Kirsten took second at Divisionals, but she PR’d back in April.”

The Master’s is slated to take place from Elk Grove High at a time yet to announced on Thursday and Friday.

“Looking forward to who is going to have what it takes to get to state,” Moren added.