RIVERBANK — Division IV and V-sized track and field programs from across the region convened at Riverbank High School on Wednesday and Friday last week for this year’s CIF Sac-Joaquin Section meet. Of those schools were Hilmar, Hughson and Denair, with each seeing student-athletes put in impressive performances and a handful qualifying for this weekend’s Masters meet.
As far as team scores went, Hughson’s boys program finished as the runner-up in Division V with 55 points. Winning was Trans-Valley League champion Ripon, who clinched with 83 points. The Huskies were awarded a plaque for their efforts.
Also contending for a section title was Hilmar’s girls team, taking third place in the D-V team competition with 56 points, which was 11 behind, again, Ripon, who also won the TVL championship in the regular season.
Punching tickets to Masters, per the SJS, were first-place finishers in each Division IV and V competition, as well as the next four top finishers in the events regardless of division.
The CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Meet from Folsom High School begins Friday with prelims, while the championships will take place Saturday.
SPRINTING
The two days of competitions were headlined by Friday’s 100-meter finals, particularly the Division V race that featured Hilmar’s Caden Bailey and Hughson’s Malakai Sumter.
Bailey, a senior who broke the school record in the event as a sophomore with a time of 10.99 seconds, came close again, posting the fastest time of the finals at 11.05 seconds. Eleven runners behind him came within .30 seconds, including Sumter. The Hughson senior also holds his school’s record in the event at 10.86 seconds, set last season. He turned in a time of 11.28 on Friday, good for fourth place in the D-V race, but 10th overall between the two divisions.
Hilmar’s Milana Lacey knows a bit about records, particularly in the girls’ 400-meter race. The freshman broke her own record of 58.35 seconds, set at the May 8 TVL championships on Friday with a latest time of 58.18 seconds — the quickest overall time of the divisional meet.
DISTANCE
Hilmar junior SIdney Logsdon qualified for the Masters in each of her distance runs.
In the 1600-meter contest, she turned in a personal-best time of 5:21.54, which earned fourth in the D-V and fifth overall. Then, in the division’s 3200-meter contest, she was a runner-up with a time of 11:50.03, which was the third-best time overall.
RELAYS
A pair of Hilmar relay teams, as well as a Hughson squad, rewrote their history books on Friday.
Hilmar’s girls’ 4x400 team of Lacey, Lilly Brewer, Mia Westmoreland and Alexis Aguiar put in a time of 4:06.99. It was good for second place both in the D-V race and overall.
Their boys’ 4x100 team of Bailey, Merek Elllerd, Nathan Ayala and Hunter Barnes also earned second overall after a runner-up finish in the D-V contest with their record-breaking time of 43.14 seconds.
Also setting a new school mark was Hughson’s 4x800 team of Noeli Gomez-Orozco, Allison Landeverde, Alejandra Gonzalez and Sophie Benham put in the day’s top overall time of 10:03.75.
HURDLING
Lacey and Brewer each qualified in the girls’ 300-meter hurdles.
The two ladies finished 2-3 in the Di-V contest behind winner Starla Skiles of Ripon with her time of 44.84 seconds. Brewer’s second-place time of 45.20 seconds and Lacey’s third-place mark of 46.42 seconds (also a personal best) were both faster than D-IV winner, Wheatland’s Lynae Alexander, and her time of 48.16 seconds.
JUMPING & VAULTING
A pair of Hughson student-athletes were victorious in pole vault events.
On the girls' side, senior Liliana Silva set a school record with a clearance of 10-feet, 9 inches to claim the D-V contest.
In the boys’ D-V competition, junior Bryce Williams cleared 13 feet and 2 inches, a personal best, to tie with Union Mine’s Jake Cherrington.
Also qualifying to Masters in the boys' event was sophomore teammate Jacob Wetenkamp, whose personal-best height of 12 feet, 11 inches ranked fourth overall on the afternoon.
Meanwhile, over in the long jump, Sumter had the best overall leap in the boys’ long jump at 22 feet, 6 inches, a personal best. He won the D-V contest with nearly a full foot to spare.
In the girls’ high jump, Westmoreland, a sophomore, qualified with a height of 5 inches even, which was third in Division V and fourth overall.
DENAIR LOOKING FORWARD
Although the Denair High program couldn’t qualify any student-athletes, their performances this year have set the table for future growth.
The Coyotes’ boys team walked away with nine first-place finishes at the May 7 Southern Athletic League meet to cement their conference championship.
At the SAL meet, Jude Moody led the way with three wins (triple jump and both hurdles races). Sal Virgen won the 1,600-meter run and was part of the winning 4×800 relay team that included Chace Butler, Jorge Flores and Jose Ponce.
Denair’s other league champions were Jesse Ruelas (pole vault), Eduardo Zacarias (shot put), Jose Mora (discus) and Chase Steeley (long jump).
Denair’s girls – who finished third in the Southern League – also had a number of qualifiers for this week’s Division IV and V meet in Riverbank.
The 4x800 relay team of Addyson Ramos, Mackenzie Binkley, Angelique Quijano, and Alizey Gonzalez finished first. Ramos also was second in the 800 and fourth in the 3,200. Gonzalez was third in the 800 and Binkley was fourth in the triple jump. Andrea Padilla finished second in the 400, Ana Renteria was second in the triple jump and Jayden Reece took second in the high jump.
