Chico - The six teams making up the Eastern Athletic League came to Chico High campus to compete in the league track & field championships to be held on the Mel Jones track. Conditions were very warm under sunny, light wind conditions as the competition started out with temperatures in the mid-90s. Even after the sun set, temperatures only declined into the mid-80s. These very warm conditions were the most challenging for distance runners, particularly for those running in more than one event. The same six teams will return for the Division I Championship that will be held in a week at Enterprise HS. Advancing to this next meet is not difficult for the better athletes as fields in each event, both varsity and junior varsity will be limited to what can be accomplished as finals. For sprint and hurdle races, that means only eight qualify, while for distance races and field events the number advancing to next week is limited to twelve. The motivation of the athletes changes as well as the time between events that will become significantly less, more akin to what will be encountered at the section championship than was available at this meet.

In the varsity boy's competition Pleasant Valley topped runner-up Enterprise by a whopping 74-point margin 164 to 90. In third Chico came up 2 points short of the Cougars while Foothill was left in fourth with 79, Shasta fifth with 63 and Red Bluff last with a very meager 5 points. Pleasant Valley won five events highlighted by Jackson Hein won the 400, 800 and 1600 before capping his day by anchoring the Vikings to a very close third place effort in the 4x400 relay, in which the top three teams finished within a second of each other. Enterprise's Dallas Carter prevailed by close margins in both hurdle races and was a member of the winning 4x400 relay and his school's runner-up effort in the 4x100 relay. Shasta's Nic Wilkes was a double winner, taking both the 100 & 200 as a late race back cramp in the shorter race was double costly for Foothill's top sprinter Ryan McNally as he not only came up a little short of winning the 100 but caused him to drop out from competing in the 200 later in the meet and thus lost any chance advancing to the Division championships in that event.

Shasta prevailed in the varsity girl's competition 139 points to 118 for the Panthers with Foothill third with 98, Pleasant Valley fourth with 82 followed by Enterprise with 41 and Red Bluff 16. While the Panthers had a big presence on the track, winning 4 events, the Wolves were even more dominant in the field winning 5 of the 6 events. Chico junior Taylor Wellersdick successfully completed a distance double by winning both the 1600 and 3200 races. Enterprise's Aliyah Choi, Shasta's Jaiden Lynn were also double winners on the day with Choi taking the 200 & 400 while Lynn prevailed in the long jump and high jump.

EAL Championship highlights

Varsity Girls 4x100: Tight stick work and a superior anchor gives Foothill a come from behind victory over league rivals Chico and Pleasant Valley as the three are the only teams to run a seasonal best on the day.

Varsity Girls 1600: Too warm to really push the pace, Chico's Taylor Wellersdick goal is to win. Shasta's Elizabeth Merrill is her closest rival and the two quickly separate themselves from the field with Merrill shadowing Wellersdick for three laps until the Chico junior steady acceleration in the last lap finally gaps the Shasta senior.

Varsity Girls 100h: Chico's SiSi Marinescu opens up a small gap on the field by mid race and the lead widens by the race's conclusion. PV's Amarianna Sims is second barely ahead of Panther Grace Puterbaugh in third.

Varsity Girls 400: Aliyah Choi and Talyn Hanly are clearly focused on each other as they ran away from the field. Maintaining her form better, Choi doesn't wilt coming down the home stretch, when Hanly all but closes the gap between them, to pull out the win as both run personal bests. Chico's Sienna Jones is a distant third.

Varsity Girls 100: PV's Katherine Marinello, enjoying her first full track campaign in this her junior year, opens up some daylight over the field and holds it through the finish.Shasta sophomore Naia Kristoffersen, winner of the triple jump and runner-up in the long jump and high jump, edges Kajya Mello to take second.

Varsity Girls 800: In a race that sees Chico's Ava Csutoras return to racing after a two month absence (but only two weeks of training), PV freshman Avery Hankins takes an aggressive start to the race and leads wire-to-wire in winning her first race of the year. A nice finish gives senior teammate Holly Alchin second with Csutoras closing well to take third.

Varsity Girls 300h: Chico's Sienna Jones wins in her third try at the event over PV's Katelyn Enos and Foothill's Hailey Walton.

Varsity Girls 200: A battle of the 100 and 400 winners is not particularly close as Enterprise's Choi is not pressed at the line. Nevertheless Marinello does edge out the 400 runner-up Hanly to take second.

Varsity Girls 3200: Not a huge surprise as Wellersdick sets a pace no one but Merrill attempts to replicate. The Shasta senior stays close but ultimately doesn't have the gear to stay with (much less pass) the Chico underclassmen. Reese Alvistur pulls away from teammate Lillian Jeffords to take third.

Varsity Girls 4x400: Holly Alchin opening leg gives the Vikings a comfortable lead over Chico with the rest of the field further back. Katherine Marinello, Avery Hankins and anchor Katelynn Enos keep the pace robust as Pleasant Valley runs a seasonal best and tops the section's number two relay team by over six seconds.

Varsity Girls Shot Put: Shasta's Faith Ferguson has a comfortable win over the Foothill tandem of Kalli Smith and Evie Turner despite being over 2 feet short of her seasonal best.

Varsity Girls Discus: Wolves' Ferguson's second win on the day, as the Foothill duo of Turner & Smith switch places. Her effort here was a personal best by over a foot.

Varsity Girls High Jump: Shasta's Jaiden Lynn is the only one in the field to clear 5' 4. Kristoffersen takes second over Barlow on the basis of fewer misses as both clear 5' 2.

Varsity Girls Pole Vault: A pretty mediocre event for the league as it takes a clearance of 8' 0 for Emma Hawkins of Foothill to claim the league title.

Varsity Girls Long Jump: Another win by Shasta's Jaiden Lynn as she pops a winning jump well over 18 feet. Teammate Kristoffersen near 17 foot give her second over Chico Ally Sasaki, the only other competitor to leap over 16 feet.

Varsity Girls Triple Jump: Shasta's Naia Kristoffersen wins by a foot over Theresa Barlow with a solid but hardly spectacular mark of 36' 4.

Varsity Boys 4x100: Close competition between Pleasant Valley, Enterprise and Chico where the Vikings overcome the Hornets early lead to win.

Varsity Boys 1600: A wire to wire win for Jackson Hein. Teammate Nolan McLaughlin does his best to stay close and does come in second with a personal best despite collapsing near the finish line. Section leader in the 3200 Quentin Clarke, recovering from a recent illness, rallies to place fourth.

Varsity Boys 100h: Two man race between Enterprise's Dallas Carter and Foothill's Blake Lema. Little more than a lean separates the two at the end with Carter prevailing.

Varsity Boys 400: Jackson Hein's second race of the day. Running smart he runs a controlled race, taking the lead for good halfway through and powers his way to a comfortable win over a pair of Panthers, who finished second and third.

Varsity Boys 100: A tight race with McNally holding a slight edge over Wilkes until losing this advantage late as apparent back spasms derail his chances of winning although the Shasta senior still manages to hold off a surging Andrus.

Varsity Boys 800: A very pedestrian opening lap that Hein mostly leads before accelerating away from the field in the closing lap. Chico goes 2-3 as Carter is the first to leave the chase pack and give chase to Hein while Ibanez sweeps by Enterprise's Newell late to place third.

Varsity Boys 300h: Three man race with Lema taking control early and maintaining it into the home stretch about a stride ahead of both Carter and Solece. The closing 50m see Lema and Solece tire while Carter, holding onto his pace better, pulls into the lead after the last hurdle.

Varsity Boys 200: A tight contest coming off the turn is made much clearer as Wilkes opens up some daylight over Enterprise's McFall and even more over the rest of the field, coming down the homestretch

Varsity Boys 3200: 4 Vikings, 2 Panthers and one very erratic Spartan make up the lead pack. PV's Nolan McLaughlin takes point and holds the nominal lead until Flores-Solis pops a ridiculously fast (sub-70) that he can maintain for only a lap before quickly fading to the back of the pack at which point McLaughlin takes over and more methodically ratchets the pace down to come away with a comfortable victory. A less than 100% Clarke surges around a couple of his teammates and a couple Panthers late to place a distant second. The two Chico runners, Nigel Daly and Kenton Girt, both run personal bests in placing 4-5.

Varsity Boys 4x400: Enterprise forges a small lead in the opening leg, lose it in leg 2, regains it in the third circuit and holds Chico at bay on the race's anchor leg both of whom are able within stay ahead of the Viking's fast closing anchor, Jackson Hein, in part due to the lead the first three runners gave them before the final exchange and the fact that Hein's high end was probably slightly reduced since he had run three races prior to this one. The times of all three were the best so far this season.

Varsity Boys Shot Put: Chico's Scharbert bests runner-up Leaverton of Shasta by two and a half feet and was another three feet ahead of third place PV's Coleman.

Varsity Boys Discus: Leaverton tops Scharbert by over 8 feet with PV's Drake in third. They were the only competitors to toss the plater over 120 feet.

Varsity Boys High Jump: Costantino Thompson wins with a 6' 4 clearance. Foothill's Sehrt taps out at 6' 2 to place second while a successful attempt at 6' 0 leaves Iwvalla alone in third.

Varsity Boys Pole Vault: Messenger edges Joseph on the basis of fewer misses as both go no better than 11' 0.

Varsity Boys Long Jump: Shasta's Kosi Iwvalla wins by over 2 feet with his 22' 5 ¾ leap.

Varsity Boys Triple Jump: Foothill's Sehrt takes the title with a mark over the 40 foot mark, the only one in the competition to do so.