FOLSOM — Turlock and Pitman high schools will be represented in 28 events next week at the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Track and Field Championships in Folsom after an eventful two days at the Division II meet at Vista Del Lago High School.
As the two local programs qualified dozens of student-athletes, the Bulldogs claimed team honors, as their boys team won their first section championship in school history, while the girls came home with the runner-up plaque.
The championship-winning boys team won with 83.33 points, just over 10 more than second-place McClatchy. Meanwhile, Turlock’s girls were seven points behind first-place Christian Brothers, who compiled 87 points between Tuesday and Thursday.
As far as individual competitions went, the top seven finishers in each event advanced to the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters at Folsom High School, which gets underway with trials on Friday, May 23. The finals will be held the next day.
SPRINTING
Turlock senior Alexa Sandoval qualified in the girls’ 200-meter dash. She punched her ticket to the finals with a personal best time of 25.77 seconds in the prelims. Come the finals, she earned seventh place and a trip to Folsom at 26.20 seconds.
The girls’ 400-meter dash saw Turlock’s Zoe Lamur qualify. Like Sandoval, she set a personal best mark in the prelims, finishing in 57.93 seconds. She came in third in the finals at 58.15 seconds.
A similar story unfolded for Turlock junior Ricardo Lacerda in the boys’ 400-meter race, who in the prelims came just .02 seconds short of matching Alex Oreil’s 1988 record of 49.97. In the finals, he finished fourth with a time of 50.13 seconds.
DISTANCE
Turlock sophomore Mylie Olson, who has won every single girls’ 800-meter race at Central California Athletic League events this season, continued her dominance at the divisional level, posting a time of 2:20.99 in the finals and coming just within a second of first-place Avery Popejoy of Rio Americano. Joining Olson in qualifying to Masters in the event was Pitman junior Nayeli Mattison, who ran a PR time of 2:24.16 for a seventh-place finish.
The Pride will also be represented in the boys’ 800-meter, with junior Colvin Hamel nabbing a personal-best time of 1:58.62 for sixth place in the finals.
Dominating the girls’ 1600-meter race in the region throughout the year has been Pitman’s Avery Carlson, who won each time she has competed this year in the county. It was more of the same this week, as the junior claimed the top spot on the podium with a time of 5:01.95. Turlock freshman Ellison Williams came in seventh to qualify with a time of 5:13.14. Carlson and Williams each qualified in the 3200, with respective times of 11:04.08 (third place) and 11:08.46 (sixth place).
In the boys’ 1600, fellow Bulldog Theodore Santos also qualified. The senior finished in fourth in the finals with a personal-record time of 4:22.67. Qualifying in the 3200 meter was junior teammate Larson Wejmar with a fourth place time of 9:36.46.
RELAYS
The highest placing relay team between the two programs was Pitman’s girls 4x800 team, which consists of all juniors — Carslon, Mattison, Montana Rodin and Emerson Newton. Their time of 9:50.98 was good for second place.
Other girls relay teams heading to Masters are Turlock’s 4x100 of Sandoval, Angel Trefry Bet George, Serene Klair and Kealani Solis-Coelho (4th, 49.17); 4x400 of Olson, Solis-Coelho, Faviola Hernandez and Haylee Whiting (3rd, 4:04.63); and 4x800 of Olson, Williams, Maguire Lima and Ashley Diaz (6th, 10:02.45), and Pitman’s 4x400 of Mattison, Newton, Adelyn Persons and Karma Warren.
Qualifying relay teams on the boys side were Pitman’s 4x100 of Jenkins, Francisco Villanueva, Tyre Duncan and Jonathan Williams (6th, 42.82) and Turlock’s 4x800 of Santos, Weimar, Zayn Hamilton and Logan Petty (3rd, 8:15.22) and 4x100 of Kaeden Patterson, Roman Quintero, Junior Silva and Anthony Brown (7th, 43.03).
HURDLING
Turlock senior Zoe Lamur claimed first place in the girls’ 300-meter hurdles at 44.57 seconds.
Pitman freshman Emily Martinez and Turlock senior Brooke Schumacher each posted PRs in the girls’ 100-meter hurdle to qualify. Martinez finished sixth at 16.17 seconds while Schumacher was seventh at 16.35 seconds.
Pitman sophomore Dante Jenkins placed fourth in the boys’ 110-meter hurdles in 15.56 seconds. Nearly a half-second behind him, coming in sixth place, was Turlock’s Camden Smith at 16.10 seconds. Jenkins also qualified in the 300-meter hurdles, with a second-place, personal-best mark of 40.39 seconds.
VAULTING
The pole vault competitions were flooded with Pride and Bulldogs.
In the girls’ contest, Sandoval won with a clearance of 10 feet, 9 inches, a personal best. Three inches below her and in second place was Schumacher, Turlock High’s all-time record holder (11-09 at CCAL Championships), as well as sophomore teammate Emma Trevor with a matching height of 10 feet, 6 inches. Freshman Naomi Fernandez placed fifth at 10 feet even.
Turlock senior Justin Strode cleared 14 feet, 8 inches to finish in second. In fourth three inches shorter was Lacerda. Wrapping up the top-five was a tie between Pitman’s Jenkins and Turlock’s Mason Hernandez at 13 feet, 8 inches. Junior teammates Tadeus Oppenhuizen and Corbin Fernandez of Turlock tied for seventh with heights of 13 feet, 2 inches.
JUMPING
Turlock senior Cash Burton qualified in multiple boys’ jumping events. He earned first place in the triple jump at 43 feet, 4 inches (and was closely followed by Brown in second place at 42 feet, 8 inches), took third-place in the high jump at 6 feet, 4 inches, and fourth in the long jump at 21 feet, 1 inch.
Senior teammate Joseph Delte claimed runner-up in the long jump with a distance of 21 feet, 7 inches, while Brown placed fifth at 20 feet, 7.5 inches. Over in high jump, Delta and fellow senior Bradlee Green each cleared 6 feet to tie with two others for sixth place.
The Bulldogs also had fifth and sixth-place finishers in the boys’ triple jump in juniors Marco Herrera (41-04.25) and Oppenhuizen (41-03.00).
Lamur represented the lone women’s winner in the jumping categories for Turlock, and it came in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 8 inches.
A pair of teammates were high jump qualifiers in third-place Haley Stiles (5-02.00) and seventh-place Trevor (5-00.00)
THROWING
Turlock sophomore Tanner Linhares qualified in each boys’ throwing contest to contribute important points for the Bulldogs. He was a runner-up in the discus at 148 feet, 9 inches, and earned fifth in the shot put with a heave of 42 feet, 6 inches. Junior teammate Dylan Cacho had a career-best discus throw of 128 feet, 8 inches to earn fifth place.
On the girls’ side, Pitman junior Saveena Gadri, who has won every CCAL shot put event she has participated in this year, came in third with a distance of 33 feet, 10 inches. Over in the discus, Turlock’s Isabella Macias, a freshman, placed fifth with a throw of 100 feet, 9 inches.
UNIFIED
Pitman had the only local unified competitors. These Special Olympics Unified Sports programs join people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team during designated events.
In the boys’ 100-meter, Jayden and Tyre Duncan posted times of 13.03 and 13.93, respectively. The girls’ dash had Elexi Pulido finish in 15.16 seconds and Lindsey Sherman in 16.37 seconds.
In the boys’ shot put, Dustin Vang had a distance of 35 feet, 2 inches while Jayden Duncan achieved an even 28 feet. Pulido posted 23 feet, 8 inches in the girls’ shot put, while Sherman had a heave of 8 fee, 3 inches.
Jayden Duncan had a leap of 11 feet, 6 inches in long jump, while Vang was at 8 feet, 1 inch.
In the mixed 4x100 relay, the Pride put in a time of 57.79.
Note: Results from Friday’s CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV and V meet at Riverbank High School — featuring runners from Hilmar, Hughson and Denair — will be in Wednesday’s Journal.
