CHICO, CA - The adrenaline rush when facing a cross-town rival brought out the best in many of the Chico and Pleasant Valley High School athletes in Wednesday's dual at Chico High School. Many personal best times and marks were recorded, and the Pleasant Valley girls 400-meter relay team came within 0.2 seconds of setting a new school record.
The PV girls 400-meter relay team - consisting of Katelynn Enos, Sophia Guichard, Amarianna Sims and anchored by Kate Marinello - defeated Chico's relay team by 0.79 seconds in the varsity race with a time of 49.60 seconds. Both teams set personal bests, as Chico's team of Ahdyamond Owens, Grace Puterbaugh, Nyssa Santos and Luciana Sufuentes set a new personal best with a time of 50.39 seconds. Both the Chico and PV relay team set the top-2 best times in the Northern Section this season.
"It's fun to go out and compete, we knew it was going to be a close race, so we're super happy to PR and we were 0.2 seconds away from the school record so that's also exciting," Marinello said. "We're very happy with that race."
Marinello went on to set another personal best in the 100-meter dash, finishing with a time of 12.68 seconds. Chico's Owens set a personal best of her own finishing in second place with a time of 12.89. Marinello came back to garner her second individual win taking the 200-meter in a time of 26.32 seconds,
In the most impressive performance on the day, Chico's Taylor Wellersdick finished with personal best in the 800-meter race, closing it out with a time of 2:15.59 to overcome a spirited opening lap by PV sophomore Avery Hankins, who ended up a relatively distant runner-up. Taylor's time is second best in the Northern Section this season, behind only CORE Butte's Brianna Hayes' time of 2:14.93. Wellersdick currently holds the fastest time in the Northern Section this season in both the 1,600 meters and the 3,200 meters. In her lone race at the 3200m distance she broke the school record.
Chico's Santos also set a personal best of her own in the long jump, finishing with a mark of 15 feet, 0.75 inches. Santos' mark was two feet further than her previous mark, and after her jump she went to her coach with an ear-to-ear grin in excitement despite finishing seventh in the event. It was just Santos' second time competing in the event, as she is normally a sprinter in the 100-meter dash and 400-meter relay.
"I feel like my adrenaline I had from my 4-by-100 was really good and I just felt a lot more confident going into this, and also I had a really good practice before this so I felt really prepared for this," Santos said.
Chico's Selija Marinescu won the long jump with a personal best mark of 15 feet, 11 inches. Chico's Sufuentes won the high jump with a personal best mark of 5 feet; and PV's Friederike Kronisch won the triple jump with a personal best jump of 29 feet, 2.25 inches. Chico's Sifiah Francis won the shot put with a personal best mark of 31 feet, 11 inches, before winning the discus with a mark of 88 feet, 3 inches.
PV's Brooklynn Garbin won the 1,600 meter race; Chico's Puterbaugh won the 100-meter hurdles with a personal best of 16.7; and PV's Sims won the 300-meter hurdles in a personal best time of 47.86. PV's team of Marinello, Avery Hankins, Guichard and Angelina Smith won the 1,600 meter relay in another personal best time of 4:13.35.
In the boys shot put Pleasant Valley's Grayson Drake, a senior, needed all of his throws, but on his final throw he set a personal best and won the competition with a throw of 47 feet, 8.5 inches. With Drake's throw it puts him third in the Northern Section, behind Lassen's Joseph Martin (47 feet, 10 inches) and Chico's Luke Schabert (48 feet, 5.5 inches). Schabert finished second in Wednesday's meet with a mark of 46 feet, 1.5 inches. In the event Wednesday six PV throwers had personal best marks in the shot put.
"It was just going against a cross-town rival, I just put a little something extra into it," Drake said. "It's been something I've been working at in practice all week, getting rid of the pause in the middle, so I knew it was there. It's a great feeling to come across town and show out."
After Drake finished first in the shot put and Schabert behind him, the two throwers switched places in the discus. Schabert finished first with a new personal best mark of 141 feet, 8 inches, with Drake finishing second with a mark of 128 feet, 1 inch.
In the boys 100-meter dash PV's Rowan Fragoso finished first in 0:11.07, before winning the 200-meter race in 0:22.59. Chico's Kohen Struyf finished first in the 400-meter race in 0:50.89; Chico's Nathan Gist finished with a personal best in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:06.57; PV's Juan-Rigby Lugo finished first in the 1,600-meter race with a personal best time of 4:43.59; PV's Kaleb Kopek finished first in the 110-meter hurdles in 0:16.53 and first in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 0:44.26;
Chico's team of Struyf, Zahmir Martin, Shamar Riley and Adrian Morales finished with a personal best in the 400-meter relay of 0:45.09. PV's team of James Sanders, Lucas Jimenez, Brendan Cashman and Kopka won the 1,600-meter relay with a personal best time of 3:43.62.
PV's Ezra Mebrahtu set a personal best in the long jump, finishing first in the event with a mark of 5 feet, 10 inches. Chico's Martin finished with in the long jump with a mark of 20 feet; as well as finishing first in the triple jump with a mark of 44 feet, 1 inch.
In the team scores Chico defeated Pleasant Valley 47-38 in the varsity girls competition and Pleasant Valley defeated Chico 47-39 in the varsity boys competition.
Chico now prepares to host The Chico Invitational on Saturday, where 30 teams including Pleasant Valley will be competing. The first event begins at 9:30 a.m.
