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Track Teams Run Past Riverbank In League Meet
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In a word, the day was "incredible."

That, according to Escalon coach Rick Heflin, whose track and field Cougars defeated visiting Riverbank on Thursday. The varsity girls were relatively easy 84-52 winners, while the boys competition came down to the finale, the 4-by-400 relay, with the Cougars coming away with a 71-65 decision.

"I did not expect to roll over them," Heflin said of taking the varsity girls by a comfortable margin.

The Lady Cougars had plenty of first place showings and earned points for second and third place finishes as well.

Hollee Turner was second in the 100 high hurdles in 18.43, Angela Draper was third in 20.69. In the mile, the host team took first with Amanda Moreno, 6:04 and swept the next two places, Cynthia Lopez, second, 6:06 and Annelyse DeLucchi, third, 6:28.

In the four-by-100, Escalon won in 57.78. Simone Lionudakis was second in the 400 in 1:07.4, while Amanda Nunes was second in the 100, 13.39 and Lauren Brown took third, 13.86.

"Megan McNinch hit her PR in disc, 82-2 and she also won the shot, 29-0," said Heflin of the double winner.

Lionudakis came up with her personal best in the triple jump, besting her previous effort by more than four feet.

"She was first in 32-2 1/2," said Heflin. "That's four feet farther than she's jumped before."

Shannon Finley was third with a jump of 27-11. Lionudakis was first in the long jump as well at 15-1 1/2 and in the high jump, 4-6. Turner took second in the long jump, 14-8, Katie Kaech was second in the high jump, 4-4 and Mckenzie Brown was third in the high jump, 4-2.

Moreno won the 3200 in 11:37, Finley was second in the 300 low hurdles in 58.73 and Turner was third, 58.81. Amanda Nunes was first in the 200 at 30.14, Draper was third, 33.50. In the pole vault, Mckenzie Brown finished third with her best effort to date, clearing 8-0.

"For the boys, the score was 66-65 coming into the last event, the four-by-400 relay," explained Heflin. "It comes down to the four-by-four and they were ahead of us from start to almost finish."

Riverbank had built up a roughly 30-meter lead by the time the final handoff was made and Sam Goulet took the baton for Escalon.

"He ran their guy down," Heflin said, noting that Goulet's effort was stellar, catching up to and passing the Riverbank runner to take the win and seal the team victory for the varsity boys.

"When he ran the open 400, he ran it in 53.32," Heflin noted. "We figure he was somewhere between 50 and 51 when he ran it for the team."

That meant a 71-65 victory for the Cougars.

Mike Beeman was second in the 110 high hurdles to start the scoring for Escalon, while Shane Brookshire was second in the mile in 4:40. Goulet finished first in the 400, 53.52; Marcus Savage was second, 56.30.

In the discus, Jake Brown was first in 132-11 1/2 and Mike Sawyer was second with a throw of 129-1 1/2. Justin Avila completed the discus sweep with 97-3 1/2. Sawyer won the shotput with a throw of 44-11, Brown was second at 41-9 1/2 and Arturo Velasco was third for the Cougars, 36-5.

In the 100, Jaremy Puthoff was first in 11.19, Rocky Overturf was third in 11.62. Tony Azevedo hit his personal best and took second in the triple jump, 39-3 1/2 and Puthoff was second in the long jump, 20-5 1/2.

"That's the first time he's broken into the 20s," noted Heflin.

Marcus Savage finished third in that event at 19-7 1/2.

Savage did win the high jump at 5-10, Azevedo was third in 5-4. Brookshire was third in the 800, 2:17, and second in the 1600, 10:44.73.

Goulet was first in the 200, 24.01 and Overturf was second, 24.64. Puthoff completed the Cougar sweep, third in 24.85.

Kyle Courtright was third in pole vault, clearing 10-0, while Chris Diniz, Taylor Hawkins, Marcus Savage and Sam Goulet teamed for the crucial four-by-400 relay, winning it in 3:45.03.

On Friday, three Cougars attended the Woody Wilson Classic at UC Davis, qualifying for it earlier this season. Jake Brown took seventh in the disc with a throw of 143-9, Marcus Savage did not place in the high jump.

"He was just dead tired from everything he did on Thursday," Heflin admitted.

Amanda Moreno finished second in the mile, turning in a time of 10:51.

This week, the squads will look to stay on top of the TVL with a meet at Ripon on Thursday, April 21. They go to the Bella Vista Distance Carnival in Sacramento on Friday.

By MARG JACKSON