Track athletes from Colusa and Pierce took home a combined 28 medals at last Thursday’s Sacramento Valley League Championships in Winters, and in the process are advancing to the Northern Section Division III Finals in 18 of those events.
Individual league champions included Colusa’s Salma Gonzalez, Rajdeep Shoker, Danica Chavez, and Benji Granados, along with Pierce’s Sebastian Ambriz, Daniel Bustamante, and Eduardo Cuellar.
Gonzalez, a senior, has been the wire-to-wire leader in the SVL’s women’s throwing events, and that trend continued as she set a personal record in the shot put with a toss of 33’-00, then won the discus with a mark of 82’-02.
The only freshman in the varsity girls distance races, Shoker set two personal bests, finishing the 1600 in a time of 6:14.27, then following up with a 13:24.97 in the 3200.
Chavez, a sophomore, won the 400 meters in 1:05.96, and also took third in the 200 (30.14).
In the men’s distance races, Granados, another sophomore, set two personal records at the championship meet, winning the 3200 (10:58.33) and finishing second in the 1600 (5:02.58).
For the Bears, senior Sebastian Ambriz returned from an injury to post a season’s best 23.71 to win the 200 meters and additionally finished second in the 100 (12.11).
Steadily improving all season long, Bustamante, a junior, set a career mark of 42’-09 to bring home gold in the shot put.
Cuellar, another junior, saved his best for the championships, winning the long jump with a leap of 19’-02.
In the relays, the Pierce varsity men’s 4 x 400 team, which included Leonardo Andrade, Brant Boughton, Kirk Shanan, and David Aguirre, crossed the line first in a time of 3:49.73.
Other automatic qualifiers for the Division III finals after taking second place included Colusa’s Bella Badaluco in the 200 (29.65) and 400 (1:08.63), teammate Alena Sanchez in the long jump (15’-05) along with Pierce’s Alfonso Orozco in the discus (121’-06 PR), Aguirre in the 400 (55:08), and Maggie Reyna in high jump (4’-04).
Colusa’s 4 x 100 men’s team, comprised of Charlie Santana, Isaiah Travis, Phillip Santillan, and Christopher Ruiz, also advanced after taking second in time of 47.78.
Bronze medalists, who could potentially receive an at-large berth to the finals included: Pierce’s Andrea Barba in the women’s 100 (14.10), Kallie Stassi in discus (67’-03), Aguirre (24.7) in the men’s 200 meters, and Orozco in shot put (39’-06), in addition to Colusa’s Carlie Sanchez (15’-02) in women’s long jump, and Ruiz (12.16) in the men’s 100 meters.
The Division III competition will be held Friday, May 12 at West Valley High School, in Cottonwood, with winners moving on to the NSCIF meet at the same venue on May 19.■
