Our distance runners had the best day on the track, as they raced their way up the league rankings. In the 800, sophomore Alex Miramontes secured the wire-to-wire win, and he pulled teammates Kevin Alfaro and Logan Johnson to lifetime bests; Walker Parrick and Tyler Trovillion also earned lifetime bests in the 800. Miramontes also captured a win in the 1600, while Alfaro and Noah Martins completed the sweep. Martins and Roman Margo earned lifetime bests in the event. On the women’s side, juniors Maren Nealon and Izzy Cochran finished in third and fourth with huge lifetime bests in the 800, while Lesley Mendez earned a lifetime best in the 1600.
Our field eventers shook off the rain to secure victories and personal bests as well. Emma Morrison, Fidelity Taula, and Felicity Taula went 1-2-3 in both the shot put and the discus, with lifetime bests from Carol Storts, Makenna Shore, Peyton Frederick, and Jasleen Maraj–Del Cid. Storts’ and Frederick’s personal bests came with their 1-2 finish in the javelin, the first win of Storts’ young career. For the men, Porter Fairchild and JJ Nguyen finished 1-3 in the shot put, while David Brown finished in fourth with a lifetime best. Both Nguyen and Fairchild earned personal bests in the discus as well, finishing in second and third, respectively. Chris Bragg, Ayden Sauceda Cabral, and Anthony To all earned lifetime bests in the javelin.
The jumpers also had a strong day, with Nysean Shorter, Alver Abuda, and Jace Hitchcock earning personal bests in the high, long, and triple jumps. Other personal bests came from Micah Bollinger, Noah Boyer, Jeremy Muigai, and Branden Robinson on the men’s side. For the women, Korbyn Hansen finished with her best high school mark and second place finish in the long jump, while Kelsie Wise earned a lifetime best in the pole vault and sister Kyra Wise captured the win; Emma Sevener equaled her lifetime best to finish in the bronze medal spot in the vault and Peyton Frederick had her second consecutive victory in the high jump.
The Emerald Ridge men earned victories in all three open sprint events, sweeping the 100, 200, and claiming the top spot in the 400. Jaden Guy was a double event winner, capturing both the 100 and 200 in lifetime bests. In the 100, Peter Naputi finished in second, while teammate, and freshman, Monte Hale, finished in third in a lifetime best of 11.60. The 200 saw a 1-7 finish for the Jags, Guy, Naputi, Corey Alicea–Murray, Hale, Quintin Gardley, Mason Sonday, and Gavin Villarias. Lifetime bests also came from Nysean Shorter, Ashdon Brimer, Jayden Choi, Benlly Yaseda, Linus Kinyanjui, Ian Mwaura, Keanu Hahn, Anthony To, Williams Combs, Micah Bollinger, and Mason Manning in the men’s sprints.
For the women, the top sprint event came in the 400, where the Jags underclassmen dominated, with 3 freshmen and a sophomore earning the top-4 spots. Grace Derricks finished in first in a time of 60.8, followed by Kat Matthiesen in second with a lifetime best and Abigail Smith close behind with a personal best of her own. There were some timing errors in the 200 that prevented any results, but there were personal bests from Olivia Puttler, Ryley Casker, and Sukhman Kaur in the 100. Freshman Allie Nelson got a win in the 100 hurdles and was followed by teammate and fellow frosh Addison Barrett, and the pair returned in the 300 hurdles for 2nd and 3rd.