Track and field in the Central California Conference is owned by Turlock and Pitman High this year—at least that’s been the case so far.

The two schools left no doubt about their superiority on Wednesday from Joe Debely Field in the second CCC Center Meet after Turlock won at all four levels, varsity and junior varsity boys and girls.

Turlock’s boys scored 202, while second was Golden Valley with 79.5 and Pitman was third with 79.

The girls of Turlock won it all with a score of 160.5 and Pitman came in second with a score of 149.5.

“We’ve been on a roll,” said Turlock head coach Bergann Hernandez. “Our kids are just in it to win it, it’s all them really. Training-wise, they took it up a notch on their own with intensity and working together and they want it really bad, the last year of the CCC as well.”

“We are at a stage in our program where we are developing a younger group of kids’ confidence levels,” said Pitman head coach Thad Moren. “It seems that even when we have great performances this year, it surprises our kids. We need to, as coaches, continue to reinforce in our athletes the potential that we see in them.”

That potential was evident with Turlock and Pitman for the most part controlling at the varsity level.

“We just have such a strong team it’s insane,” said Hernandez. “Pitman girls and ours are neck and neck. (It’s) really good competition, we are pretty equal, it’s whoever performs. We had a pep talk and I told the girls where they sit and what we need to do to win and we had a group of them do events they hadn’t before, and they did and so we had some scores that we didn’t anticipate.”

In the first Center Meet, the Pitman varsity girls won it all with a score of 139, while Turlock followed up with 132.

On the boys side, Turlock dominated with 142 points while the Pitman boys took third with 81 points.

This time around, Turlock knew they would have to work for all points on the girls side as they were neck and neck with Pitman throughout the day.

In the girls 200-meter race, Turlock’s Julia Handy, Katja Guerrero and Daisy Martinez each placed third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Handy and Guerrero took first and second respectively in the 400-meter race.

Jocelyn Harris (Turlock) finished in second in the 100m hurdles with a season record time of 16.17.

Senior Bernadette Hollcraft (Turlock) took first in the 300m after hitting a PR time of 49.09.

The Turlock girls 4x4 team consisting of Sofia Andres, Raquel Zapata, Anna Lima and Hollcraft placed first with a time of 4:19.60.

Turlock’s Sarah Romo tied with Pitman’s Izzy Shallou-Enes for the best clearance in girls pole vault after clearing 9 feet, 6 inches.

Alissa Fuentes of Turlock took second in the long jump after hitting a PR of 16 feet, 4.5 inches and placed fourth in the triple jump.

Cierra Verdone (Pitman) followed in third in the long jump with 16 feet, 1 inch and in the triple jump, Verdone took first with a jump of 33’6.75”. Ashlyn Tilby of Turlock placed second with a PR of 32’7”.

From the Pride girls, Mavleen Mann set a PR in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:26.63 which placed her in third at the meet.

Mann also took first in the 1600m with a time of 5:18.99 and teammate Mikayla Perry placed third with a time of 5:44.33. Mann placed first in the 3200m after clocking in 12:21.87.

Whitney Barnes topped all throwers in shot-put with a distance of 38’ that saw her take first.

Teammate Madi King took fourth in the shot with a distance of 32’9.5” and in discus King topped all Turlock and Pitman athletes with a second-place throw of 114’3”.

On the boys side, Turlock controlled the day, but Pitman had their standouts.

Jayson Martin of Pitman placed second in the 800m race after hitting a PR of 2:05.58 and Turlock’s Uriel Alvarez followed in third.

In the 3200m race, Pitman senior Brent Curiel took first with a time of 10:38.33 while Turlock’s Gavin Valenzuela and Sergio Mazon followed in second and third, respectively.

Turlock dominated in the 300m hurdles, taking all four of the top spots.

Bailey Vandergriff topped all after taking first with a time of 41.78, while Antonio Ruiz (2nd), Jackson Allen (3rd) and Bryan Quinto (4th) followed.

Dustin Grein of Turlock took first in the shot put with a distance of 47’7”. Matt Shino of Pitman placed third with a 43’4”.

Gabe Cordero of Turlock hit a PR and school record with a distance of 173’1” which placed him in second for the day.

Grein hit a PR of 141’8” in the discus to place third.

In the high jump, Williams Ashman of Turlock hit a PR to take first with a 6’4”.

At the pole vault, it was all Turlock and Pitman in the top 10 spots.

Silas Fredeen of Turlock took first with a 14’6” and Nate Garibay followed in second with a 14’, while Pitman’s Nathan Day also cleared 14’.

In the long jump, Grein placed first with a season record of 22’3.5” and Ashman followed in second with a PR of 21’9.5”. Jonah Kosakiewicz of Turlock placed fourth with a PR of 20’9”.

Ashman had the best turnout for the boys triple jump after clearing 40’9”.

“Varsity girls have to get first place at the third Center Meet to win the CCC to sweep it, and all the others we have already won essentially,” Hernandez added. “We still have to compete, but even if we get second place, we still get first.”

“On another note, we are excited that we will have an all-weather track on campus to practice on within the next year,” Moren added. “It will be great to have the kids train on a surface that will allow them work on speed every day, rather than the few days we get at CSU Stanislaus.  We do a good job holding our own in the field events already and the opportunity to train our athletes correctly will help them realize their full potential.”