Nearly 50 high schools and 1,500 athletes competed at the Al Brenda Invitational on Saturday, one of the biggest track and field events so far this season. The event was held at the brand new facility, also named after Al Brenda, at Cal State Stanislaus in ideal spring weather of 76 degrees.
In most cases, it was the big schools that dominated the events.
But Hilmar High’s Morgan McFaddin didn’t shy away from the attention, finishing in the two top of her events — sometimes, beating athletes from the larger schools. Her standout performances helped the Hilmar girls to 98 points and a first-place trophy in the small schools competition, outlasting Ripon High by 15 points.
“After four or five events, I started to think, ‘We actually have a shot,’” Hilmar coach Clement Labrouche said. “Morgan had an awesome performance, but it was everybody. It was our jumpers, our hurdles, our sprinters — it was a true team effort.”
But it was McFaddin who left with a bevy of medals. She took first in the triple jump for small schools, as well as finishing second in both the 400 and 800 meters with times of 1 minute, 2.7 seconds and 2:31.69, respectively.
Other Yellowjackets with top three finishes were Roche Bailey (pole vault), Mackenzie Souza (100 and 300 hurdles), Riley Harris (100 hurdles), Isamar Millan (triple jump) and Rylee McCown (high jump).
In the girls large school competition, Pitman had impressive showings and finished second behind Sierra High with the two teams separated by a 13-point gap. Pitman’s Erica Sickert took first in the shot put with a throw of 36 feet and placed second in the discus with a toss of 98 feet, 6 1/2 inches.
Teammate Kelsee Derr blew away her 100-meter hurdles challengers by finishing in 16.24 seconds, which was almost two seconds faster than the runner-up’s time. And in some cases, faster than some of the boys’ times in the same event. Derr also helped the Pride to a second-place showing in the 4x400-meter relay along with Jasmine Roberson, Morgan Renshaw and Aman Hundal.
DJ Grady and Markus Sanders finished second and third in the boys discus, respectively.
Alex Assail and Hannah Bertomen had standout performances for the Turlock girls team, as Assail cleared 8 feet in the pole vault to finish second and Bertomen finished with a mark of 32 feet, 2 inches in the triple jump for a runner-up showing.
Also, in the small schools competition, Turlock Christian’s Aubrey Larsson cleared 4 feet, 4 inches to place second in the girls high jump, as teammate Martin Moreda took second and third, respectively, in the 200 and 400 meter races.
To contact Chhun Sun, e-mail csun@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2041.