Escalon High School Track and Field officially began the 2018 season on Monday, March 5 competing at a practice meet in Oakdale.

“This meet is a great opportunity for the kids to compete at a topnotch facility. We like this meet because our athletes can shake off the rust of preseason and establish marks to start their season in a low-key environment,” said head coach Carrie Nash.

Although the meet is not scored, the Cougars showed up with over 90 athletes to fill the 16 different events.

On Friday the varsity team took a smaller squad to the San Joaquin County Meet held at Tracy High School. The top seven in each event advance to the Tri-County Clash (against winners from Merced and Stanislaus counties) in Oakdale on Friday, March 23. Advancing for the Cougars are: Jackie Lau (3rd 100 meters-13.27), Jessikka Gonzales (2nd high jump-4’10” and 4th triple jump-31’00.00), Leila Phillips (3rd high jump-4’6”), Zach Picket (3rd high jump-5’8”), Christian Brunetti (4th long jump-20’5.00” and 4th triple jump-40’1”), Shelby McCune (5th discus-94’01.00”) and Sidney Lima, qualifying by placing 7th in the 300 meter hurdles.

“Our season is off to a solid start,” said Nash. “We have a young team that may surprise some of our competitors this season.”

The frosh/soph team will compete Friday, March 16 in San Andreas and on March 20, all levels will travel to Riverbank for the annual TVL Relay meet.