CHICO — As the Chico High girls track and field team headed into the final event — triple jump — the Panthers held
fourth place overall, trailing sprint powerhouse Pleasant Grove by nine, Davis by seven and West Valley by just five points.
But after Kasey Barnett unloaded a jump of 36 feet, 5 1/2 inches that would win by nearly two feet, the Chico girls made a dramatic
leap into second where they finished only behind Davis at the West
Valley/Chico Invitational on Friday at University Stadium. Davis' depth in the triple jump deprived the Panthers of the victory, thanks their second and third place finishes in the event.
"I really didn't even know where we were in the standings, but I was just interested in doing my part," Barnett
said after helping her team jump up in the standings. "I wanted to go in and do my best. Finding out after the
fact that we were in fourth place and come back to take second and beat West Valley is an awesome feeling. ...
Normally the cold weather does affect me when the meets end late, but I just thought, 'I can't let it affect me, I
have to push through.'" (Note: the day was not remotely cold with highs in the mid 70s but the event was held at 10pm so conditions by then were much cooler)
Earlier in the day (roughly six hours earlier), Barnett was the first local to place as she won the girls long jump with a distance of 17-4 1/2,
and was the only two-time winner for the Panthers.
"Just being able to jump 17 feet this early in the year is big because last year that was where I was peaking,"
Barnett said. "I have a lot of big invites still to come. I scratched (fouled) what I think was my best jump, so I know
I have it in me. The Chico High long jump record is 18-2 1/2 so I'm going 18-3 or farther by the end of the season."
The Chico boys were off to a hot start in the 1,600, where senior Dan Parker impressive victory was spurred by a 59.5 closing lap to win in a time
of 4:17.49, an effort which caught the coach's eye.
"Dan's performance today was another big test because there are so many good runners here," Girt said.
"The Enterprise guys especially, whenever Dan runs against them, it's always a shootout to see who's top dog
and going to state."
Kody Atkins also had a strong showing for the Panthers and took second in the 400 meters with a time of 58.06
seconds, while Pleasant Valley's Gabrielle Finley claimed third with a personal best of 60.49. While Atkins may have had
higher expectations heading into the meet, Chico distance coach Kevin Girt was still pleased with her effort.
"Today was tough for her," Girt said. "She did really well, but went out way too fast in the 400 and hit the wall.
Usually she goes out too slow and makes it up later, but today she didn't. I'm happy though, because usually I
try get her to come out faster, and you appreciate it as a coach when your athlete comes out and tries to reach
their limit. That's what Kody did."
Oroville's Sarah Brandt, leading from gun, won the 800 in 2:20.34. Brandt, was pleased with the outcome, especially
given that the field was particularly competitive (Atkins was in the field).
"It was pretty hard but I'm happy with it," Brandt said. "This is a good start for the rest of the season."
Earlier, PV sophomore Jessica Canchola of Pleasant Valley finished very well in the girls 1,600 to claim third in 5:16.33, only a couple seconds behind the race winner, Tiffany Heflin of Lassen.
On the boys side, Enterprise buoyed by the efforts of Anthony and James Williams, Jovon Cunningham, Zack Kaylor and Domenic D'Acquisto, easily won the meet with 92 points, while Laguna Creek (44 pts) and Rocklin (41 pts) rounded out the top three.
Durham took advantage of a disqualification of top 400m seed Laguna Creek's Jerome Hunter (two false starts) for the Trojans to claim first and third from Daniel Hodge (50.93)
and Brett Patheal (51.67). These two Durham runners, joined by Mark Chavez and Kyle Fales, took third in the 4 x 400 relay with a fine mid season time of 4:27.82.
Patheal also nabbed second place in the high jump, clearing 6-4. Chico's Tom Dowdin, lowered his 3200m best by eight seconds, to finish 4th (9:47.61) in a competitive boys race. Panther Corrie Emmons was fourth in both hurdles races (15.41-110HH, 39.6-330IH), both personal bests. Although, unfortunately for the participants, the later race was marred by a malfunction of the auto timer.
Rounding out the top local performers in the evening section of the meet, Oroville's Jordan Wright took third place (1:59:28) in the Invitational 800, behind Yreka's Kevin Jorgensen strong winning effort.
Prior to the start of the invitational portion of the meet, meet director Scott Fairley made a presentation to Mel Jones, former Chico High track coach, honoring him for his contribution to the sport during his tenture as head coach which included his initiation of this meet over 50 years ago. Former Chico coach Chuck Sheley, also a director of the meet, was present to honor Jones at mid field.
Finally, the story of the meet would be incomplete without detailing the exceptional performances of meet MVP winners, DionDre Batson (Laguna Creek) and Kashae Knox (Pleasant Grove). They were in a league by themselves. Batson, the national leader in the boys 200m coming into the meet, won the 100m (10.57) and 200m (21.45) to easily overcome fine performances by runnerup Jalen Saunder
of Pleasant Grove in both races. He ran meet records in each, a meet that began the late 50s. Batson also anchored the winning 4X100 relay that was the second fastest ever in meet history. Meanwhile on the girls side of the ledger, Pleasant Grove's Kashae Knox sweep the sprint events winning the 100m (11.97) and 200m (24.43) while being a member of the winning 4X100 and 4x400 relays. While the relay teams were
not remarkably fast, her performances in the 100m, 200m were second fastest in meet history!
