CHICO - The Eastern Athletic League Track & Field Championships got underway at Asgard Yard under overcast skies and blustery south winds Friday afternoon. It's been a long time since athletes, coaches and fans descended upon the Chico campus of Pleasant Valley high school to compete in or watch a championship meet of any caliber.

There were surprisingly few snafus to mar the proceedings. The first one was on Mother Nature as a short but intense shower during the running of the 4x100 relays not only soaked those attending and competing but also dropped temperatures from the low 60s into the mid 50s. The only silver lining from this precipitation was that winds for the rest of the meet were much more benign. The second was a 15-20 minute delay caused by a timing system malfunction unfolding during the running of frosh/soph boys 300m hurdles. The final disruption was a 2-3 minute blackout right before the final event of the evening when the field lights went out for some reason. Despite these difficulties, the meet was an overall efficient, well run affair.

Pleasant Valley edged Foothill 163-161 to win the varsity girls league team title while Foothill more comfortably dispatched the Vikings in claiming the varsity boys team title 162 to 145. Although they probably were not aware of it at the time but the girls title came down to the meet's final event, the 4x400m relay which PV prevailed over the Cougars by ten seconds. There were four other teams at the meet, one of them, Red Bluff scored no varsity girls points while the other three, Chico, Shasta and Enterprise scored a combined 159 points.

The Viking girls won the shorter relay, 4x100m, too. The only individual wins by Pleasant Valley were Kayla Johnson's victories in the long and triple jumps and Chloe White topping the field in the shot put. The Vikings had to rely on their depth to win, including overcoming the points Foothill got by going 1-4 in the pole vault, an event not allowed by the Chico school district. Foothill's runner-up finish was buoyed by Sydney Jones winning both the short and long hurdles events.

The Foothill boys in winning the varsity boys title used Caden Rowe's win in both hurdle events plus running a leg on the 4x400m relay. Logan Borg aggressive start played a big part in his 400m victory, later he was runner-up to Jackson Hein in the 800m and also ran a leg on the 4x400m relay. Chris Hall won the long & triple jumps as well as anchored the 4x100m relay. Hudson Edwards tied for first in the high jump. And of course, there was the 1-3 sweep in the pole vault in which no other team competed. This twenty four point total is more than the margin of their victory over the Vikings.

The Vikings event winners included Parker Williams, who needed a late surge to nab the 100m title and then followed that up with a more convincing win in the 200m. Jackson Hein, attempting the difficult 400-800-1600 triple, ended up winning two of the three. Using a 62 second final lap he outkicked Chico's Charlie Brennan to win the 1600m. Then after falling short of victory in the 400m, Hein came back to win the 800m in a very tight race over Foothill's Logan Borg, the winner of the aforementioned 400m. Jacob Martin tied for the win in the high jump while Van Chambers was second in both the discus and the shot.

While the varsity girls squad of Chico had no individual winners, the Panther boys had one as juniors Charlie Brennan and Matt Anderson went 1-2 in the 3200m. Other individual varsity winners included Shasta's Emmanuel Limon, who prevailed in the shot put and teammate Trent Kingston who won the discus.

Other winning efforts among the varsity girls where Shasta's Talyn Hanly taking both the 400m and 800m titles. Last year, as a freshman, she was the section champion in the 400 after coming in third in the league championship and second in the Division Finals. The later race was done with a section leading performance (2:23.47). Teammate Elizabeth Merrill, was also a double winner, taking home the 1600m and 3200m titles. Last year as a freshman, she only won the 800m. The Wolves also had Jaedyn Lynn topping the field in the 100m.

BOYS

100m: A late surge by defending champion Parker Williams (11.30) edges section leader Alonzo Borchert (11.36) and Shasta's Nic Wilkes (11.37)

200m: PV's Parker Williams grabs himself a second title (22.73) pulling away from Foothill's Mason Colvert (23.38) and teammate Carter Gregerson (23.30).

400m: Foothill's Logan Borg (51.02) aggressive start proves too much for section leader Jackson Hein (51.75) to overcome despite the PV sophomore's strong close. Enterprise's Jacob Wagner took third (52.18).

800m: Jackson Hein (1:56.98) pulls away coming down the homestretch to beat Logan Borg (1:58.22) in a very heated competition. A strong close gives Enterprise's Aden Lechaman (2:01.78) a huge PR as he finishes third.

1600m: A close two-man race stretches out the field as Jackson Hein (4:29.80) and Chico's Charlie Brennan (4:31.89) run negative splits on their way to finishing 1-2. Panther Carter Murphy took third (4:34.06).

3200m: Steady pacing by Charlie Brennan (9:51.86) stretches out the field while drawing teammate Matt Anderson (9:55.59) under the ten minute mark for the first time. Third place finisher Mark Velazquez-Patino (10:00.88) fell just short of also doing so.

110m High Hurdles: Foothill's Caden Rowe (16.00), clearly the class of the field, wins going away. Teammate Davis Smith is second (16.61) and Enterprise junior Tristan Young is third (16.71)

300m Intermediate Hurdles: Caden Rowe, the section leader, wins (40.33) even more impressively finishing almost two seconds ahead of second place Tristan Young (42.23) with teammate Davis Smith (43.45) another second back.

4x100m Relay: Too much of a gap for Parker Williams to make up as Foothill (43.74) prevails over Pleasant Valley (44:11). Enterprise was a more distant third (45.36).

4x400m Relay: Section leading Foothill (3:34.04) had a much easier time winning the longer relay. Enterprise took second (3:40.92) and Pleasant Valley third (3:48.31)

Shot Put: The section leader heading into the meet fails to PR, everybody else who scores in the event does. Consequently, Christopher Bramon ends up fifth while losing the section lead to the winner Shasta's Emmamuel Limon (47-05). His once leading mark is also surpassed by PV's Van Chambers (47-02) second place throw, a 2 foot PR.

Discus: Shasta's Trent Kingston, riding a three foot PR, upsets section leader Van Chambers to take the discus title (147-06 to 140-08)

High Jump: PV's Jacob Martin tops Hudson Edwards on the basis of fewer misses. Both cleared 5-10.

Pole Vault: Competition held the day before at Foothill. No surprises with only Cougars in the field as Ben Noble's 10-06 is too good for Logan Roberts (8-00) and James Messenger (7-00).

Long Jump: Section leader Foothill's Chris Hall (21-10) wins by over a foot over PV's Anthony Seiler (20-07 1/2) and Enterprise's Jacob Wagner (20-06).

Triple Jump: Another win by Chris Hall (41-10 3/4). This time over Jacob Wagner (41-00) and Anthony Seiler (39-07).

GIRLS

100m: Shasta's Jaedyn Lynn (13.14) pulls away late to win what had been a very tight race. PV's Allie Devine (13.38) out leans Enterprise's Kajya Mello (13.39) for second.

200m: Enterprise's Kajya Mello (27.37) wins a close one over Foothill's Kyra Jones (27.39) and PV's Allie Devine (27.53).

400m: Talyn Hanly (60.11) emerges from a strong group of contenders to win. PV's Abbigail Guichard (60.58) and Chico's Sienna Jones (61.39), both need to run PRs to finish second and third.

800m: After a relatively short turnaround, Talyn Hanly uses a section leading time (2:23.47) to power away from PV's Holly Alchin (2:24.95), the former section leader. PV's Ava Devine, who also PRs, placed third (2:28.46).

1600m: Shasta's Elizabeth Merrill drops a 73 second opening lap to break open the race but doddles over the two intervening laps to open the door to an aggressive charge by Foothill's Erin McKinnon (5:27.81) that narrows the lead to less than 10m before Merrill (5:23.63) regains her focus. PV's Chloe Alchin, running a seasonal best, took third (5:32.36).

3200m: Merrill builds then maintains a decent gap over the chase pack before expanding the lead on a last lap acceleration. PV's Chloe Alchin (12:10.24) running mostly by herself takes second while Dot Clemente (12:19.01) emerges from a pack of mostly Chico runners to take third.

100m High Hurdles: Adjusting better to the cool, damp race conditions, Sydney Jones (18.21) prevails over Chico's Delainey Lowe (18.52) and Shasta's Bria Tate (18.58). Lowe, while yet to have a top ten mark in the section, has nevertheless improved her time at the distance with every race this spring, something not too many athletes can say. 3

300m Hurdles: Another win by Sydney Jones (51.60), despite being over a second off her lifetime best, is still able to hold off Bria Tate (52.19). PV sophomore Ali Lugo comes in third (52.61).

4x100m Relay: Pleasant Valley (40.85) runs a seasonal best (and takes over the section lead in the event) while Foothill (51.47) and Shasta (52.95) fall a little and a lot short, respectively, of their best.

4x400m Relay: Despite running late in the night, Pleasant Valley (4:17.10) pulls away from Foothill (4:27.02) for a ten second win. Chico, the only other team running, is a very distant third (5:16.54).

Shot Put: PV's Chloe White (35-07) and sophomore teammate Trinity Gomez (32-03) go 1-2 with Foothill's Kalli Smith (32-00 ½) taking third. All three marks represent personal bests bettering their previous best by one foot, two feet and two inches respectively.

Discus: Kalli Smith (107-09) records another PR but still falls to Shasta's Faith Ferguson (114-01). Foothill's Evie Turner (107-03), needed to PR to finish higher and thus had to settle for third.

High Jump: PV's Kayla Johnson cleared 4-10 for the third time this season and effort that was matched by Foothill freshman Theresa Barlow. Shasta's Jaedyn Lynn, the only other competitor in the field able to clear 4-08 or better, was third.

Pole Vault: All Foothill again, so despite very modest clearances, the Cougars went 1-2-3. Kennedy Brown & Emma Hawkins ties with vaults of 6-00. Sorren Call, perhaps thanks to some accommodating officials, was successful in finding a height she could clear 4-06.

Long Jump:PV's Kayla Johnson eeks out the first win on the day with a mark (15-10) an inch better than Kasey Williams and 2 1/2 inches better than Theresa Barlow.

Triple Jump:Another tight competition under miserable conditions with Kayla Johnson gaining her second win of the day by soaring out to 33-00 3/4 inch to top Brooke Reagan by 3 inches and 4 1/4 more than thrid place Theresa Barlow.

The top eight varsity and frosh/soph advance to the division finals held at Foothill on Friday except for distance events (800m and above) then it's the top twelve that advance. The next two place finishers will be designated alternates, to fill in for qualifiers who decide to scratch.