Turlock and Pitman highs have a total of 52 athletes who will be moving on to compete in the Division-I Sac-Joaquin Section tournament beginning on Wednesday from Elk Grove High.
The Pride and Bulldogs competed in the Central California Conference Championships last Saturday in what turned out to be an outstanding day for both teams.
“We earned medals in 22 individual events,” said Turlock head coach Bergann Hernandez. “Three of our relays hit personal records. We had over 60 PRs in total. Huge PRs.”
“Boys side we had a lot of young guys qualify on. All the kids running at Divisionals are junior varsity,” said Pitman head coach Thad Moren.
Pride freshman Michael Moore was one of those underclassmen who qualified in four events for the Pride. His 11.26 in the 100-meter race placed him in fourth overall, varsity included.
“Girls side throwers dominated the day at the CCC tournament,” said Moren. “We took three of the top five spots in the shot and two out of three in discus.”
Whitney Barnes of Pitman tossed the shot put 37 feet and 4.5 inches, topping all the varsity girls by at least three and a half feet.
Turlock's best finisher in the girls shot put was Nikohl Jordan, who hit 31'7.5 for sixth place.
Cerah Moren of Pitman placed second in the girls discus with a distance of 126'1.
In the girls pole vault, Sarah Romo tied with teammate Alyssa Nunes and Atwater's Allison Thomas for first place after clearing 8'11.
Kishauna Mavis of Pitman topped all locals in the girls long jump after taking second place with a clearance of 15'9.75. Cierra Verdone of Pitman followed in third (15'7.25).
Michelle Griffin of Pitman placed second in the triple jump for girls with a PR of 34'7.
The Turlock girls 4x4 relay team of Katja Guerrero, Jessica Bettencourt, Ade Fredeen and Bernadette Hollcraft placed first with a time of 4:07.18.
Fredeen (47.16) and Bettencourt (47.78) placed first and second respectively in the 300 meter hurdles race.
In the 100m hurdles race, Fredeen placed first with a time of 15.45 and teammate Jocelyn Harris finished in second with a 15.87. Harris placed first in the 100m with a final time of 12.56.
Julia Handy of Turlock topped all in the 400m race with a time of 1:01.39.
On the boys side, Turlock's Eric Alvarez placed first in the 1600m race with a time of 4:34.67.
Dustin Grein represented his Bulldogs well after the football standout topped all in the boys varsity shot put with a clearance of 47 feet which was also a PR.
Grein also placed first in the long jump after clearing 21'7.75 and Pitman's Brendan Patterson followed in second with a 21'1.75.
Patterson also finished in second place in the triple jump after hitting 42'7.75.
Turlock's Nathan Garibay placed first in the boys pole vault after clearing a PR of 13'8. Pitman's Nathan Day took second with a PR of 13'2.
Willie Ashman had some big jumps for the Bulldogs in the high jump clearing 5'11 for a second-place finish.
“Overall, to qualify that many athletes and have that many PRs was exactly what we had been working for. We are hoping to move on as many as possible out of Divisionals,” Hernandez added.
The Division-I Sac-Joaquin Section tournament will take place from Elk Grove High on Wednesday at a time yet to be determined.
