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Track And Field - Cougar Athletes Give Strong Effort At League Meet
SIERRA
Senior Sierra Lionudakis, right, closed out her career at the TVL championship, shown here running the 1600. - photo by Marg Jackson/The Times

 

The TVL Championship Track and Field Meet was one of the closest in recent years. Hughson came out as league champions in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions, narrowly edging Riverbank in each.

Varsity Girls scores were: Hughson 135; Riverbank 115; Ripon 80; Modesto Christian 78; Escalon 62; and Hilmar 23.

Varsity Boys scores were: Hughson 118; Riverbank 107; Modesto Christian 84.5; Ripon 80.5; Escalon 66; Hilmar 31; Orestimba 7.

Gathering for the competition at Oakdale High School on Thursday, May 9, teams participated in 16 different events. The top six places earn points for their teams (10 for 1st, 8 for 2nd, then 6-4-2-1 for the others). The top three finishers in each event advance to the Section Meet Tuesday and Thursday at Sierra High School in Manteca.

“Our kids did really well, despite disappointing fifth place finishes. We were projected to score only 50 points for the boys and 30 for the girls,” explained coach Roger Beeman. “Obviously, scoring 66 and 62 shows that we were really working hard.”

Escalon will have athletes moving on and came away from the league meet with one Trans-Valley League champion.

“We will advance ten individuals to the section meet. Alec Von Alvensleben was our only individual league champion, leaping 20 feet, three inches to win the long jump,” Beeman explained. “Eight athletes will continue in the field events, while only two are advancing on the track.”

Freshman Caleb Hansen qualified third in the 110 high hurdles (16.96); Julian Young took third in the high jump (5'6"); William Hart went 10'6" to qualify in the pole vault; and Matt Gallego and Adrian Garcia went second and third in the discus to advance.

Samantha Shipley (2nd in the high jump at 4'8" and 3rd in the long jump at 14'0") and Kaitie Cavanaugh (3rd in the high jump at 4'6" and 2nd in the shot put at 30'10") both advanced in two events. Leone Rivers (28.2 200m) and Abby Liv (30'2' triple jump) also advanced.

“The competition was very tough, and we have one of the youngest teams in the league. We had most of our kids finishing in the 4th - 5th - 6th - 7th range,” noted Beeman. “We were scoring in almost every event, but the TVL has excellent athletes at the top in each event.

“We’re very pleased with the effort and performance. We’ll be back next year, stronger and ready to go.”