Chico Track and Field Invitational draws schools big and small from the North State,
Challenging windy conditions only aid sprinters

Saturday April 9, 2022
By Justin Couchot/Chico Enterprise-Record, Augmented/edited by Tom Cushman

CHICO - Gusty north winds greeted athletes as they arrived from 40 Northern California schools to compete at the Chico Track and Field Invitational held at Chico High's Mel Jones Track on Saturday. Many sprinters garnered personal bests on the day thanks to a tail wind that gusted between 25-35 mph throughout the meet.

On the track, one such beneficiary was Hamilton High School junior Julian Olivarez who posted the section's fastest time of the season in the 110-meter hurdles with a mark of 16.09 seconds; meanwhile off the track, Paradise High School thrower Simon Dixon set a new school record in the discus with a throw of 166 feet 7 inches; and in the distance competitions, Pleasant Valley and Chico High battled it out with top runners Mario Giannini and Avery Munson Clark for the Panthers, and Renton McGregor and Tryon Jardin from the Vikings.

In the 800-meter race PV and Chico, both decided to "stack the field" with their best runners. Pleasant Valley distance coach Ryan Teesdale said Chico High distance coach Kevin Girt informed him of a plan to showcase the top Chico and PV distance runners, and that Chico's top distance runner Mario Giannini would be running the 800 for the first time this season. Teesdale liked the idea and the group of many of the top runners in the Northern Section put on a show.

PV's Renton McGregor took the early lead and never relinquish it, to win the 800m 2:02.04. This marks the first time McGregor has beaten the Panther 3200m school record holder. Chico's Giannini finished one second behind McGregor in second place in 2:03.04 with Chico's Avery Munson Clark another second back in third, 2:04.38. "I think today was just about staying strong and I think the atmosphere with most of the good athletes from this area competing in that one race," McGregor said.

For Olivarez and Dixon, both have unique stories that brought them to success Saturday.

Olivarez, a junior, competes for Hamilton under first-year coach Ivan Barbunton. The Braves have no track at their school, and instead practice on grass, a 50-meter piece of rubber to train, starting blocks and hurdles. Barbunton, a student teacher, spray paints measurements lines for his racers and his team has had great success against the smaller schools it has competed against in the 2022 season. Saturday's meet was the largest event Hamilton has competed in this year. Barbunton said he was nervous that his athletes today would be worried and their confidence would go down being surrounded by kids with faster times on paper, but after today's results it should be a big mental boost going forward. "I think what drives (Olivarez) the most is seeing some of the schools like Chico High, the ones that have the facilities, I think it drives him more day after day that he's beating all the kids with the facilities, and at the end of the day all we have is a pair of blocks and a piece of rubber to run on," Barbunton said. "Today's he's ready to take it to that next level, and what's most exciting is he still has his senior year.I think it's going to be big mental boost for them that they have what it takes to be with the big dogs."

For Dixon, he is a natural right-handed thrower who now throws left-handed. He separated his right elbow his freshman year of high school and used the pandemic to learn to throw left-handed. He finished first in both the discus and shot put Saturday with a mark of 57-2 in shot put and 166-7 in the discus. His discus throw was 39 feet further than the second-place finisher Tristan McPherren from Pleasant Valley's 127-7 throw, and his shot put was 10 feet, 5 inches further than the second-place finisher Eric Bristow's throw from Rio Americano.

Over the pandemic, Dixon trained hard with numerous throwing coaches to get to where he is today, including coaches from East Nicolaus, Hamilton throwing coach Matt Jarvis, and Butte College throwing coach Joseph Ilaoa. Dixon threw the discus roughly 87 feet as a freshman right-handed and his sophomore year he increased that to 134 feet left-handed. In his junior season that mark increased to 145 feet. Entering Saturday, Dixon had a personal best of 151-7 on March 30 at the Sacramento Valley League meet at Yuba College. He broke that by 15 feet Saturday with his mark of 166-7, to set a new school record for Paradise High. Dixon said the follow-through was key to Saturday's throw. "It's all power and you have to release at the right time. For me the patience had to come at the end," Dixon said. "I made sure I was patient with it and made sure I got my arm all the way forward. It was all about patience."

Other winners on the day included PV's Parker Williams took first place in the 100m with a personal best of 11.08, coming from behind to edge out Marysville's Landin Parks by .01. Rio Americano's Mason Clemmons won the boys 200 in 22.72 and Foothill's Logan Borg was the class of the field, taking the boys 400m in 52.74. In other boys races, PV's Tryon Jardin ran negative splits to take the boys 1600m (4:41.01) over Weed's Ryan Mitchell (4:42.58) while in the boys 3200m Mario Giannini doubled back from the 800m to win the 3200m by nearly a minute (9:31.80), 300-hurdles Lincoln's Josiah Morales took first with a personal best of 44.70. Pleasant Valley's team of Evan Enserro, Anthony Seiler, Joey Stuart and Parker Williams won the boys 400 relay in 45.32 while the boys 1600m relay saw a Foothill team composed of sprinters edge a distance laden team from Chico 3:41.36 to 3:41.98.

McKinleyville's Soffia Reyes was a double winner on the day, taking girls 200m (25.83) after winning the 400m (59.33) earlier. Chico's Iresh Molina with her injured twin sister on the sideline was another double winner, effectively fighting the backstretch wind to take the girls 1600m (5:27.60) and 3200m (11:22.88). Yuba City's Nataleah Yanez won the girl's 100-meter in 12.53 and Marysville's Jade Jahnsen won the 300 hurdles in 51.49. In the girls 400 relays, Yuba City's team of Jewel Perry, Jade Smith, Talynn Schroeder and Yanez took first in 51.76. In the girls high jump, Trinity's Brynn Scribner won with a mark of 4-08. Scribner beat out three jumpers who tied for second place including Biggs' Baylee Bowles, Hamilton's Annie Belter and Shasta's Ellie Whitmire. Durham's Grace Boeger set a personal-best mark of 4-04 to tie for fifth. Shasta's William Oliver won the boys' high jump with a mark of 5-10, ahead of University Prep's Patrick Kremer and PV's Conner Warren who tied for second at 5-08.

Chico High's Abigail Murphy won the girls triple jump with a personal-best 32-03.25, 2 inches further than Lincoln's Mallory Kuehl who finished second. The boys team title was claimed by Pleasant Valley with 97 points to easily outpace Foothill's 54 point and Marysville's 51. Chico boys finished 4th with 50 points. The varsity girls team competition was won by McKinleyville, whose 58 points edged Chico's 55 points and the 51 points put up by both Foothill and Lincoln.