OROVILLE - The only thing that shined brighter than the afternoon sun Friday at the 46th annual West Valley/Chico Invitational
were the athletes.
Many of the Northern Section's best and brightest turned in personal records Friday at the meet featuring area standouts
competing against teams from the North Coast and Sac-Joaquin sections and a handful of squads from Nevada.
Among the biggest stars Friday were Chico Eli Penick and Pleasant Valley's Brooke Whitburn.
Penick took home the Outstanding Male Performance award for two victories and a second place finish.
He won the 100 meters in 10.67, the third-best time in the 46 year of the meet and the best time at Harrison Stadium.
"I'll definitely take that", said Penick, who ran 10.55 at the John Frank Invitional at Central Valley last weekend, putting
him third in this year's state performance list.
Chico, with Penick bringing home the baton after stints by Michael Reynolds, Kyle Keane and Josef Grundy, won the 400 relay in what Panther
Track and Field coach Richard Kemp said he thinks is a school record time of 43.81 (sorry coach it's not even in the top ten-TC). The
Panthers needed every bit of it as the PV quartet of Matt Richardson, Ryan Troudy, Koll Roberts and Bradley Cox, took
second in 44.18 despite entering the meet only ranked seventh (44.94) in the section.
"We had good handoffs overall," Troudy said.
Penick appeared to be on his way to a win in the 200 meters as well, but Eureka's Alex Robinson had other ideas and overtook him down the
homestretch as he finished in 21.73 to Penick's 21.90.
"You just have to use it as motivation," said Penick, satisfied with a day than netted him the top individual award among
several standouts.
Penick will be at the Meet of Champions at Sacramento City College's Hughes Stadium on April 27. That meet might rank only
behind the state meet as far as the level of competition for any North State meet.
The senior's big day helped Chico finish a close second for the boys' title as West Valley used late scoring in the pole vault and long relay to edge the Panthers 69-68. Pleasant Valley
was third of 26 teams with 44.
Red Bluff's Lily Brose edged Whitburn for the Outstanding Female Performance
by winning the 100 and 200 and running legs on the winning 400 and 1600 relay teams to do just enough to best Whitburn
for this individual award but that hardly made what Whitburn did any less
impressive.
The Pleasant Valley senior, already leading the section in both the triple and long jumps, sets personal records for both, winning the long jump in
19 feet 1 1/2 inches and the triple jump in 37-9 1/2. "Anytime you get a PR, it's a really good feeling", Whitburn said.
Whitburn won the triple jump by nearly three feet with Foothill's Christine Rhyne distant second at 34-10 1/2. Whitburn had better
than a foot to spare on the long jump with Bishop Montague's Pauline Reiley at 17-11 1/2.
Whitburn also anchored PV's 400 relay team, which took second. She wrapped up her day with a third in the 200.
Despite Brose's heroics, West Valley took the girls team title with 68 points to the Spartans 57 points. Winners for the Eagles included Kristina Freitas in the 300 hurdles, Jenna Storms in the 3200 and a couple runner up finishes by Hannah Dorman in the 1600 & 3200. PV came in third at 46 with Chico
fourth at 32 among 28 teams.
One of the best races was the last one. PV's Cox overcame a deficit on his anchor leg of the 1600 relay to give PV the
title over Red Bluff in 3:26.96.
The Spartans sprinted to the initial lead, but PV stayed close enough for Cox. "Daniel like to run from behind because
he runs faster", said Troudy of Celis' third leg. Troudy had the first leg before handing off to Roberts.
Celis said by the time he finish his leg the Viking were "a few steps" behind the Spartans "and Brad did the rest of it."
He did so in impressive fashion, pulling away from the Spartans' anchor on the final straitaway.
Another Viking, Blake Marchant, won the boys long jump at 20-7 1/2, nipping Yuba City's Nathan Gillming who reaches 20-7.
Other area winners included Gridley's Marisela Cardenas in the girls shot with a throw of 42-0, easily besting Lassen's
Katheryn Jarrett, who managed 36-4 1/2.
Other double winners on the day were Etna's John Whelan, who had a relatively easy time taking the distance double. Eureka's Alexis Robinson who completed a 200/400 double. Nolan Nagle of Cardinal Neuman, winner of the shot & discus
