Yajaira Salinas and Sidney Lima both qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Meet last Thursday at the Section Divisional Meet at Stanislaus State.

Salinas was the Section champion in the 800 meters, winning in a time of 2:21.72, more than six seconds ahead of second place. Lima improved her personal best by two seconds with a 47.88 to take third in the 300 meter hurdles.

“Both girls will run Thursday at Elk Grove for the Masters Trials, hoping to qualify for Friday’s finals,” said head coach Roger Beeman. “A top three finish at Masters earns a trip to the State Championships.”

Also performing well at Divisionals were Jessikka Gonzales (7th high jump 4'10), Fernando Martinez-Barba (7th 110m high hurdles 16.04), and the girls’ 4x400m relay team of Lima, Jackie Lau, Annie Wyrick, and Gabby Rigg (7th 4:16.63). Pole vaulters Ryan Cavanaugh (10'8) and Josh Teske (10'2) took 8th and 12th respectively.

“We competed well both Tuesday and Thursday,” commented Beeman about the two day meet. “Our athletes worked hard and were well prepared for the high level of competition.”

Coaches Carrie Nash, Paul Anserlian, Michael Bower, and Gio Hermosillo all had athletes competing at Divisionals.

“Most of our kids peaked with personal records at the meet – some with school record caliber marks,” the coach noted. “Yajaira is incredible. She had the top marks in the section for the 400 meters and 800 meters going into the meet. Masters will be tough, though, with ten girls qualifying under 2:20. They are all intensively competitive athletes.”

Lima, meanwhile, just got better as she went along.

“Sidney took a second and a half off her time on Tuesday, and then she took two more seconds off on Thursday. She’s going to surprise a lot of people at Masters,” Beeman said. “And our relay girls were amazing, taking four seconds off their best time. We’re checking the books; it’s a near-record time for Escalon.”