Chico High's super soph Hailey Fune a double winner at West Valley Invitational,
Fischer leads Enterprise to boys title while superior depth gives Foothill girls the win

Friday April 20, 2018
By Sharon Martin, Chico Enterprise-Record with significant editing by Tom Cushman
(photos by Tom Cushman)

OROVILLE - Once Hailey Fune crossed the finish line of the 100-meter hurdles race, she immediately glanced at the board displaying her time and couldn't help but smile. The Chico High sophomore won the race in 14.98 seconds, setting a new personal record, Friday in the West Valley Invitational Meet at Harrison Stadium. The meet features nearly 40 schools including teams from out of the Northern Section and from Nevada.

"It felt awesome," Fune said. "It's nice to keep PR'ing and keep getting better every meet." Fune's mark on Friday is the quickest time in the Northern Section for the 100 hurdles. She beat her previous PR of 15.25 which she achieved at the Woody Wilson Invitational at UC Davis on April 13. "At UC Davis was when I realized my potential," Fune said. "I've been running faster and realizing that I can actually go places. It's pretty cool."

Earlier on the day, Fune won the triple jump with a leap of 35 feet, 7 1/2 inches and took third in the high jump (4-10). She closed out her night by running the opening leg of the girls 1600 relay race in which the Panthers finished fourth in 4:21.27. She was awarded the Outstanding Female Athlete of the Meet for her body of work as she almost entire responsible to the Panther's 30 point total.

Chico's 30 point total left them in seventh but could have been the hunt for the meet win if their distance corp was not beset by a rash of injuries. As it was, Foothill's with only three wins on the day (both relays & Kira Porzio in the high jump) but amazing depth to pull away for the team title with 72 1/2 points. The runnerup was West Valley (58 1/3) with Tahoe-Truckee (51 1/3) taking third.

Oroville High's Kaitlin Paul won the 100 dash at 12.93 seconds and the 200 in 26.52 helping the Tigers to a fifth place tie with Antelope. There were three other double winners in the girls competition. In addition to Fune and Paul, there was West Valley's Natalie Rogers (shot & discus), UPrep's Hana Hall (1600m & 800m) and Antelope's Kylie Burton unusual 400m, 300h double. to make it a little difficult for the selection committee in determining the OA for the girls.

The Thunderbirds had two other winners on the day with Rebecca Graham topping the field in the pole vault at 10-0 and Chava Rivers winning the long jump in 18-0 1/2, an effort that improved upon her section leading mark. Graham's vault of 10-0 ties her for the section lead with Foothill's Matteya Ruiz. "She's a great pole vaulter. She's an old gymnast and a natural pole vaulter," said LP track coach Bob Hastings. "She's one of the harder workers on the team." Oroville's only other scorer was Selina Schillig who finished second in the 100 hurdles at 16.13 and fourth in the 300 hurdles at 48.40. Pleasant Valley finished eleventh with 21 1/2 points an effort lead by Subrina Tuitele runnerup finish in the discus with a throw of 109-08.

Another area standout was Las Plumas High's Brian Hastings in the 1600. Hastings finished in 4:24.44, seven seconds quicker than the second-place finisher. Hastings jumped out a half straightaway lead and never looked back. "I had to run it alone from the start and that's always pretty hard to do - when you're not chasing anyone," Hastings said. "It was still pretty good."

Hastings, the senior from LP who will be off to compete for Chico State in the fall, holds the quickest times in the section for the 800 (1:59.34), 1600 (4:23.70) and ,until this meet, the 3200 (9:32.20). Hastings' goal for the season is to defend his section championship in the 1600, he said. "I'd like to improve my finish at state from last year which was 13th," Hastings said. "The big goal for the season is to make the state final."

Chico's only other winner of the day was Riley Farrell in the boys 800 race as he edged his twin brother, Bretten to win in 2:01.01. Paradise High's Patrick Roehling took third followed by a third Panther Rory Monninger who took fourth. These 22 points from the 800m race helped the Chico High boys finish tied for fourth with University Prep of Redding overall in the meet with 38 points. Foothill High won the boys meet title with 69 1/2 points using the 1600 relay to edge past Enterprise (65 points). Galena of Nevada was a more distant third with 43 1/2 points.

In one of the more competitive races Chico's Charlie Giannini finished a close second in the 3200m. Giannini finished with a new personal record by nearly seven seconds on Friday (9:31.85) but it was not enough to overcome Nevada Union's Garrett Gough (9:29.79). In a race where the two were never separated by more than a few meters it came down to the final lap. Giannini closed in on Gough on the back straightaway but Gough final surge insured that the Miner junior would not relinquish the lead. "I've raced him before and it's like that at the end," Giannini said. "I was behind him the whole race. The last little bit was neck-and-neck. At the end it's either me or him and tonight it was him."

The 1600 relay team for Paradise featuring Jared Mackay, Gabriel Price, Jacob Weldon and Patrick Roehling was edged at the finish line by Foothill. The Bobcats finished in 3:29.92 for second as Foothill won in 3:29.61. Biggs' Daniel Velazquez took second in the boys 400 (50.74), and Paradise High's Jared Mackay (51.01) took fourth. Willows' Logan Blair placed second in the 100 at 11:31 and in the 200 at 22.72. Blair's time in 200m would have established him as the section leader if not for Shasta's Kenyon Riley's 22.58 performance in the afternoon open section of the meet.

Five double winners on the day for the girls, none for the boys. Still it was pretty easy to see why Enterprise's work horse Brock Fischer was named the Outstanding Male Athlete of the Meet due to his quality win in the short hurdles, legs on the winning short relay and third place long relay teams and a runner up finish in the long hurdles.