Hornets claim 5th-straight Division 1 title; D'Acquisto completes successful triple
Chico girls crush opposition to take girls title

Friday May 20, 2011
By T.J. Holmes-Sports Writer, Redding Record-Searchlight
story edited and supplimented by Tom Cushman, photos by Tom Cushman (TC), Greg Barnette (RS)

REDDING - The Enterprise High School boys track and field dynasty continues. For the fifth consecutive year, the Hornets claimed the Northern Section Division I championship, tallying 146 points at Enterprise Community Stadium on Friday. "I'm really proud of them, those kids battle and battle and do whatever it takes to win," Enterprise coach Jim Deaver said. "Everyone - the freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors - all understand what it's all about. They control their emotions and step up to go to another level." Red Bluff came in distant second with 80, while Chico (71), Shasta (65) and Foothill (40) followed in third, fourth and fifth respectively

Enterprise senior distance runner Domenic D'Acquisto punctuated his final home meet with a rare triple win performance in the distance races. D'Acquisto, who was the heavy favorite to win the 1,600 and 3,200 meter races, did capture both convincingly with times of 4 minutes, 18.11 seconds in the 1600 and 9:35.34 in the 3200.

His third victory, actually sandwiched between his two other distance victories, proved that he wasn't going to let anyone beat him in a race on his home track even if it came against the section leader Paradise's Dylan Chamberlen. However, it might have been a little closer than Acquisto expected. Paradise's Dylan Chamberlen led the majority of the race with D'Acquisto trailing by a stride. Off the last turn, D'Acquisto surged ahead and held off the Bobcat junior coming down the home stretch to eek out a close victory. He finished in a time of 1:54.09 while Chamberlen took second (1:54.69), both times better than the previous section best. "At the 300 mark, I tried to catch him but it didn't work but that woke me up," D'Acquisto said. "Once I hit 200 I thought 'this is the last time I'm here (at Enterprise).' After that, I pushed and he made me experience my own kick."

Other event winners for the Hornets included senior Austin Lamkin, who took first in the 400 meter dash in 50.29 and senior Jovon Cunningham, struggling with a bulky hamstring, still took first in the triple jump with a mark of 45 feet, 8.75 inches, third in the long jump (20-10.5) and second in the high jump (6-0). Cameron Coats took first in the pole vault with a height of 11-6.

The Chico High boys, although never in the running for the team title, did shine well in some events. Senior Jason Weinrich came away from the meet with three individual titles. Weinrich cleared 6-feet to win the high jump by fewer misses, followed up with more dominating wins in the 110-meter hurdles (15.65) and 300-meter hurdles (39.55). Later, Weinrich anchored the second-place 1,600 relay team, which also included Chris Cherrington, Patrick Sadlak and Namai Buroz, who crossed the finish line in season best of 3:28.7.

Meanwhile, Red Bluff's Colin Dahlberg was the other triple winner on the day. The Spartan senior sprinter took first in the 100 meter dash (11.11), 200 (22.88) and the long jump (22-6). "The competition out here is amazing, it makes it all that easier to push yourself to get the best time," Dahlberg said. "There's no way anyone could post these times out here if the competition wasn't as high."

Shasta had one individual event winner with senior Cody Ramage winning the shot put by throwing 50-4.25. Ramage, entering the meet Friday with the best marks in the section in both the shot and discus was upset in the latter by Chico's Tyler Lamott who threw over 160 feet for the first time this year. The Wolves' 400 meter relay team of Chris Collins, Nate Stephens, Austin Mello and Cody Lunsford finished first in 43.71 and Collins will also be a D-I representative at the Northern Section Masters meet next week by finishing second in the triple jump (42-11).

Top athletes, including those not on teams in contention for the Division title, were vying for a top three finish that would automatically qualify them for the state qualifying meet: the Northern Section championship to be held at West Valley High School next Friday. Winners of the D-II, D-III and D-IV track meets also get automatic berths while the next two best performances from all of the divisional meets secure at-large berths with the exception of 1600 and 3200 where the fields were expanded to twelve (or a total of six at-large berths are available).

As for the girls, a strong Chico squad captured their second straight Division 1 title with 100 points while Pleasant Valley (75) came in second and Shasta (60) third. The Red Bluff (55.5) girls finished in fourth and Enterprise (52) took fifth. It should be noted that section track powerhouse West Valley competed in the Division 2 championships this year due to declining enrollment.

Headlining Chico's winning effort was Panther workhorse Kody Atkins, who claimed individual titles in the 400 meter (58.44) and the 800 (2:19.62) races before anchoring the second place 1600 relay team with Jonelle Ahiligwo, Whitney Cinquini and Amanda Costa. Chico's other individual winner was Meagan Cochran who claimed the high jump with a jump of 5-feet. Chico also had 2-3 place finishes in the short hurdles and triple jump.

Pleasant Valley's second place effort was led by triple winner Gabrielle Finlay, who won the 100, 200 after anchoring the winning 4 X 100 Relay team. Enterprise senior sprinter Dalanne Bartlett also had a busy day, coming away with a win in the 300 hurdles (48.13) between second place efforts in both the 100 (13.21) and 200 (26.66) meter dash. Another successfully busy athlete was Shasta senior Lora James who headlined the Wolves effort with a come from behind win in the 1600 (5:14.60), close second in the 800 (2:20.22) while achoring the winning 1600 meter relay, where she easily powered away from her section rivals coming down homestretch. Wolves' Hanna Person was the easy winner in the girls discus, throwing 134-10 to beat the competition by over 20 feet. Two time section champion, Hornet senior Kelsey Moynahan was the only entrant in the girls pole vault, which she won with a vault of 9-6. She was also 4th in the short hurdles and triple jump.

The Wolves' Maddy Ross took second in both the long jump (16-3.5) and 300 meter hurdles (50.38) and was a member of the winning 1,600 meter relay team with Michelle Osuna, Courtnee Norton and James (4:06.83). Foothill's Grace Horan is the only Cougar for the girls that earned an automatic qualifier for the State Qualifing meet next week by finishing second in the discus with a mark of 108-0. Red Bluff's Meaggan Rector threw the farthest in the shot put with a mark of 37-11.5 and the 400 meter relay team also qualified by finishing second with a time of 50.81.

The Northern Section Championship meet is at West Valley High School on Friday with the field events starting at 4 p.m. and the track events at 6 p.m.



Additional Meet Photos