A blustery West Valley Invite turns damp. Ben Harper takes the distance double
while Gabrielle Rinne, Jessica Ozoude tie for outstanding athlete

Friday April 24, 2015
By Sharon Martin/Chico ER
(photos by Tom Cushman)

OROVILLE - What started out as a cloudy and windy day ended in a cold, wet drizzle as the Chico High girls 400-meter relay team took first place on Friday at the West Valley Invitational at Harrison Stadium. The track meet features 43 schools, several from the Sac-Joaquin Section and Nevada. The Panthers' 400- meter team, made up of Jessica Miranda, Nashaia Nixon, Allison Peterson and Sharlotte Sheffield, overcame a deficit on the last leg of the race to take first place. Sheffield took the baton and battled back from about 10 yards out to take the lead from Spanish Springs of Sparks, Nevada. " It was pretty close," Miranda said. " We would've gotten second if it wasn't for her." Miranda ran the first leg of the race that Chico won at 50.47 seconds. The wind was a factor for the relay team as it started to pick up as the day went on. " The wind is an issue," Miranda said. " It's always an issue in races, but we warm up beforehand. We were just running our hardest." Miranda also competed in the girls 1600- meter relay race as the Panthers finished in fifth place. The win was the lone victory for the Panthers as they finished in 14th place overall amongst the female team scores.

Another area standout was Hamilton's Derek Dowdy who took first in the boys long jump competition at 20- 8 1/4 inches. Dowdy was coming off a personal record he set at the Durham track meet on Wednesday, where his jump of 21-2 reached his goal for the season. " I PR'd on Wednesday and I didn't think I was going to do very well today," Dowdy said. " My goal was to get to 21 feet and I got that on Wednesday. Now, my new goal is at 22." The junior long jumper also owns the farthest jump in the Northern Section at 21-2 just ahead of West Valley's Tyler Burson. Dowdy said he looks forward to this meet every year in order to face new competition. But, like the other competitors, the wind factored into his performance. " The wind was enough to throw you off," he said. "Adrenaline kept me going."

In overall team female scores, Spanish Springs took first at 64 points. Gridley finished in second place with 53 points and Truckee-Tahoe third (41) edging West Valley in fourth (40) and Shasta placed seventh with 28 points and Foothill finished eighth with 24 points.Corning and Pleasant Valley both tallied up 15 points to tie for 12th place. Gridley was led by victories from Michael Curry in the long jump and Marisela Cardenas in the shot put. Stephanie Cardenas placed second in the 100m hurdles at 15.86 seconds and finished second in the 100-meter dash at 12.84. Pleasant Valley's Makenzie Barnes took first in the discus throw for the Viking's only win of the day. Lily Justine placed fourth for the girls high jump.

For the boys, Hamilton City and Gridley tied for 11th overall. Oroville took 15th place, while Chico finished in 16th and PV followed in 17th place. Gridley's Taylor Mikin won the 300-meter hurdles at 41.20 and Oroville's Tanner Dubie came in second place at 41.81. Pleasant Valley's 400-meter relay team of Kevin Richter, Jake Gildea, Aman Williams and Kevon Cunningham took third behind Shasta and Foothill. Ben Harper of Trinity won both the 1600- meter and 3200- meter events to earn the outstanding male athlete honors for the day. Outstanding female athlete awards were given to Jessica Ozoude of Spanish Springs for victories in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and Gabrielle Rinne of Tahoe-Truckee for winning the girls 800- and 1600-meter events. Both athletes were on relays that finished in the runner up position and thus offered no tie breaker so each her awarded this meet honor.

On a cold and drizzly day at Harrison Stadium, the Shasta High boys track team took first place at the West Valley Invitational. Shasta finished with 54 points, while Foothill ended in second place at 49 and Enterprise took third with 46 points. The boys 4x100-meter relay team of David Pistorius, Kyale Muckel, Kyle Catanese and Mario Valdez took first over second-place Foothill, posting a time of 44.66. The 4x400-meter relay team took first place at 3:35.23, besting second-place Paradise. Carlos Manzo won the boys 800-meter run at 2:02.25 earlier in the meet, anchored the Wolves to victory.

Other local area victories included Foothill's Chris Rosero, who took first in the 200-meter dash at 23.14 seconds. Enterprise's Anthony Gallino won the 400-meter dash at 52.25. Trinity's Ben Harper earned Outstanding Male Athlete honors for the day after quality first-place finishes in the 1,600-meter run and the 3,200-meter run. Izzy Matthews of Enterprise took first in the boys discus throw and shot put. West Valley's Marley Broeks took first in the boys high jump. The boy's pole vault was the last event to finish, not concluding until a quarter hour all heats of the 1600m relay were finished. It turned out to be a spirited competition between Wooster teammates, where the favorite Kevin Mohr despite matching his season best (15-0), was beaten by Zachary Arbogast who despite the adverse conditions PRed in 15-3.

For the girls, Lassen's Brenna Mendonca's time of 1:00.71 was good enough for first in the 400-meter dash. Shasta's Molly Ross won the 100m hurdles competition at 15.14 seconds but came up short in the 300 hurdles, finishing second to South Tahoe's Maya Brosch in the longer race. West Valley's Alexa Flagg anchored the Eagles 4x400-meter relay team to victory, by first passing than holding off the challenge of outstanding female athlete Gabrielle Rinne after teammates Samantha Chaney, Jenna Storms and Kirsten Galwey kept them in the hunt. Kilee Hannan of Anderson had a first-place finish in the triple jump at 33-09.50.