For the second straight year, the varsity track and field programs of Turlock High completed the team season undefeated, capping off the regular season at last Wednesday’s third and final Central California Athletic League meet of the year.
The boys team cruised to victory with 203.5 points on the afternoon in Modesto, comfortably ahead of the host team, second-place Downey (91). Pitman’s squad placed fourth with 77 points. Over in the girls competitions, the Bulldogs racked up 278 points, 174 ahead of the runner-up Pride.
While Turlock’s Larson Wejmar was again a multiple-time winner in individual running races (1600-meter dash at 4:43.44 and 3200-meter dash at 9:53.28), a bulk of the Bulldogs’ scoring in the boys competitions came in throwing or jumping events.
Tanner Linhares had the longest discus throw at 145 feet, 3 inches. Cash Burton won in the long jump with a distance of 20 feet, 8 inches, and in the triple jump with a leap of 42 feet. 8.75 inches. He also claimed the high jump with a height of 6 feet, 4 inches, beating out teammates Bradlee Green and Joseph Delte by two and four inches, respectively. The group of Logan Petty, Diego Perez, Zayn Hamilton and Kevin Amador also added points with a first-place finish in the 4x800 relay with a time of 8:51.76.
Jonathan Williams and Dante Jenkins won multiple events for the Pride. Williams won the 200-meter dash in 22.23 seconds, as well as the 400-meter race in 50.72 seconds. Jenkins won the 110-meter hurdles in 15.98 seconds and the pole vault competition with a height of 14 feet, 6 inches. Colvin Hamel joined them in getting first-place points for Pitman with a 2:03.33 time in the 800-meter race.
The Turlock girls had winners in all but four of their 17 events that day. Zoe Lamur won the premier sprints, taking the 100-meter dash in 12.46 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 25.48 seconds. She also took home the 300-meter hurdle crown in 46.42 seconds, as well as the long jump with a distance of 17 feet, 4 inches. Aubrey Webb was victorious in two events for the Bulldogs, first in the 1600-meter (5:47.74) and the 3200-meter (12:17.47) races.
Mylie Olson won the 800-meter with a time of 2:22.10, fending off Pitman’s Avery Clarson despite the fact she broke the Pride’s school record with a time of 2:22.32.
Also running to victory were Faviola Hernandez in the 400-meter (1:01.13); Olson, Ellison Williams, Ashley Diaz and Maguire Lima in the 4x800 relay (11:44.33); and Serene Klair, Angel Trefry Bet George, Kealani Solis-Coelho and Alexa Sandoval in the 4x100 relay (49.57). Haley Stiles won the high jump at 5 feet, and Brooke Schumacher won the pole vault at 11 feet.
Winning the shot put competition was Pitman’s Saveena Gadri, whose throw measured a distance of 36 feet. Teammate Emily Martinez won the 100-meter hurdles in 16.88 seconds. The 4x400 race was also won by Pride, whose team consisted of Emerson Newton, Nayeli Mattison, Karma Warren and Avery Carlson.
New records set in Clovis
The Bulldogs set four school records at the West Coast Relays earlier this month at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
Brooke Schumacher set a new high in the girls pole vault at the April 5 meet, clearing 11 feet, 8 inches. It was five inches higher than previous record-holder Sarah Romo, who set her mark in 2019.
In the longer distance runs of the meet, Logan Petty won the 1600-meter race with a time of 4:20.11, eclipsing the previous all-time mark of 4:22.9 set by Keith Bullock in 1987. In the 3200 race, Larson Wejmar ran a time of 9:31.06 to bypass Gavin Van Oostende’s 2023 time of 9:35.56. Earlier this year at the Central Valley Classic in Clovis, Weimar and Petty already etched their names in school history when they joined Kevin Amador and Zayn Hamilton to break the 4x800 relay record with a time of 8:30.3.
This year’s girls group in the 4x800 also set the school standard at the Central Valley Classic. There, the group of Maguire Lima, Ashley Diaz, Mylie Olson and Ellison Williams put in a time of 10:08.66. It was the second time the record was set this season, which also marked the third straight year in which a new THS girls’ 4x800 record was set.
Carlson, Williams also set new 3200 times
One runner breaking a record for their school is always a significant moment. But two student-athletes from the same town rewriting their school’s history books in the same event is almost unheard of.
Another student-athlete who set a new program mark was Ellison Williams, a freshman who is making an early impression on the Turlock program. On the second and final day of the prestigious Arcadia Invitational on April 12, Williams put in a time of 10:53.37 in the 3200 race. It shattered a mark that has stood for four decades, that of 11:08.10 set by Christine Boyd in 1985.
Six days later, Pitman’s Avery Carlson set the school mark of her own in the same event. During the Friday session of the 65th Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, the junior put in a time of 10:51. That mark bested the previous record, set by Mavleen Mann in 2018, by 4.02 seconds.
Carlson and Williams now own the third- and fourth-best times, respectively, of all runners in the history of the six CCAL teams. The league record is held by Gregori’s Madison Kackley in 2019 (10:39.35), followed by Downey’s Laurie Crisp in 1978 (10:50).
A full recap of last weekend’s Hughson Vintage Invitation with top results from local participating CCAL, TVL and SAL teams will be available in Saturday’s Journal.
