Under warm conditions and sunny skies at Joe Debely Stadium on Friday, a handful of student-athletes from Turlock and Pitman high schools were the ones that shined the brightest as they competed in the 2025 Central California Athletic League Track and Field Championships.

At the annual meet that marks the conclusion of the CCAL regular season, the two local teams combined to win 30 events and qualify a number of individuals and relay teams to the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division II meet later this month.

Soaring to victory and breaking her own school record was Turlock’s Brooke Schumacher in the girls’ pole vault, clearing her previous 11-foot-8 mark by an inch. It was the lone school record to be broken between the two programs at the meet.

“I was aiming for 12 feet, but I'll take any PR,” the senior said with a laugh. “I’m happy to just improve a little bit. I know that I can achieve more than I've already achieved, it's just a matter of time to figure everything out, having all the pieces come together. But it's nice to see the progress, even if it's just one inch.”

Teammate Justin Strode won the boys’ pole vault with a height of 14 feet, 6 inches.

Dominating in another field event was Pitman junior Saveena Gadri, who won the girls’ shot put by four feet with a throw of 34 feet, 1 inch. In her second year ever competing in the sport, she has won every CCAL shot put event she has participated in this year, which included a personal best of over 37 feet earlier the season. She is confident she could bring out her best in the coming weeks.

“It feels good to win, especially being so new to this sport,” Gadri said. “It’s also nice because yesterday, I wasn’t doing that good in practice… Shot put is very much a mental game. I’ve thrown 37 before and even 40 in practice, so I just need to channel that into events, which I’m confident I can do.”

Gadri came in second by two feet in the discus, won by Turlock freshman Isabella Macias with her throw of 99 feet, 4 inches. The Bulldogs were also winners in the boys’ discus courtesy of a 145-foot, 6 inch throw from sophomore Tanner Linhares. 

Also making improvements was Turlock’s Angel Trefry Bet George. The senior won the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.52 seconds, just missing her all-time best time mark by one hundredth of a second. Regardless, it was her best time of the year and offered optimism for the postseason.

“Those are good runners, especially Danica (Flores). She’s only a freshman and she’s amazing, so it's good to win today,” she said of the runner-up from Downey, who came in .10 seconds behind. “But this gives me a lot more confidence. I really had to fight this season, against good competition and with myself, not getting the times I wanted, but I’m excited for what this can do for me.”

Trefry Bet George also qualified for sections in the 200-meter dash and as part of the 4x100 relay team. She came in second in the 200-meter to senior teammate Alexa Sandoval, who finished in a personal best time of 25.95 seconds. Sandoval came in third in the 100-meter.

Sandoval and Trefry Bet George were joined by junior Serene Klair and senior Kealani Solis-Coelho in winning the 4x100 relay in 49.17 seconds. Solis-Coelho also joined the victorious 4x400 team of sophomores Faviola Hernandez and Mylie Olson and freshman Haylee Whiting (4:16.85). Olson then joined freshman Ellison Williams, junior Ashley Diaz and senior Maguire Lima to win the 4x800 relay (10:41.53) and the individual 800-meter race (2:24.35).

On the boys’ side, a relay win came for Turlock from the 4x800 team of seniors Logan Petty and Theodore Santos, junior Larson Wejmar and sophomore Zayn Hamilton. They finished the race in 8 minutes, 45.16 seconds.

Santos and Wejmar won individual events, as well. Santos claimed victory in the 1600-meter race (4:41.17), while Wejmar won the 3200-meter contest (9:56.78). After appearing at the section and Masters meets last year, Wejmar is feeling the best about himself and his teammates.

“I think we’ve done just great,” Wejmar said of his team. “Personally, I've gotten better year by year. I started out like the lowest of the low, and I really worked my way up and just worked hard to get here to be able to win (CCAL) for the first time. For me, and all of us, it’s about keeping improving. It's really awesome.”

More mult-event winners included Turlock senior Zoe Lamur in the girls’ 400-meter dash (59.91), 300-meter hurdles (46.30) and long jump (17-04.50). Senior teammate Cash Burton won in the boys’ long jump (21-03.50) and triple jump (44-04.50), and Pitman sophomore Dante Jenkins won in the boys’ 110-meter hurdles (15.06) and 300-meter hurdles (40.78). Burton’s triple jump and each of Jenkin’s hurdling performances were their personal bests. 

Others in the win column included a trio of Pitman juniors. Avery Carlson, as she has done for most of the season, shined in the 1600-meter race, winning with a time of 5:05.08. Meanwhile, Colvin Hamel won the 800-meter race (2:06.38) and Jonathan Williams claimed a win in the 400-meter dash (49.52). Freshman teammate Emily Martinez set a personal best time of 16.61 seconds to win the girls’ 100-meter hurdles. 

The Pride had the lone participants in unified events, which are Special Olympics Unified Sports programs that join people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team during designated events. While unified competitions have been a part of some CIF State and Sac-Joaquin Section Section events since 2015, this is the first year in which the CCAL offered them. There were four inaugural unified CCAL Championship results. 

On the boys’ side, sophomore Jayden Duncan participated in all three events: 100-meter dash (13.09), shot put (25-04.50) and long jump (13-03.50). Sophomore Adam Hassan won the 100-meter contest in 12.10 seconds, senior Dustin Vang took home the shot put event with a throw of 34 feet, 2.5 inches, and junior Austin Nield won the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 4 inches. The lone girls’ unified event was the 100-meter dash, in which senior Elexi Pulido finished in 15.10 seconds and sophomore Lindsey Sherman crossed the line in 16.68 seconds.

The SJS D-II Championships will take place at Vista del Lago High School in Folsom. Trials are on Tuesday, May 13, while finals will be on Thursday, May 15.