CHICO - A warm evening with breezy north winds greeted athletes, coaches, parents and track fans for the Division 1 track & field championships held on Mel Jones track on the campus of Chico High. These winds favored the short sprint events while making distance events more challenging due to steady breeze running down the back stretch. Wind legal results were still possible over the course of the meet as the strength of the wind as measured from nearby weather stations showed speeds averaging 3-5 mph with gusts to 11 mph. The winds were more problematic earlier in the day and picked up again after the meet was through as one system exited the Pacific Northwest as another one approached.

Unlike the league championships the week before, all events were run as finals with all but distance events limited to eight participants. The three distance events were capped at twelve. In addition, some athletes chose to limit the number of events they entered to more align with what they plan to compete in at the section finals in a week's time. As it was it was another close contest for the boys where Foothill this go around was able to turn the tables on Pleasant Valley and take the varsity boys Division 1 title 149 to 142 with Chico again left in third with 84 pts. Thanks to strong showing by the Chico distance runners, led by Taylor Wellersdick three wins, gave the Panthers the momentum to claim the Division 1 girls title, besting runner up Pleasant Valley by 70 points, 165 to 95. Foothill took third with 90 pts.

In the roll up columinating at the section (or state for some), the sprinters and hurdlers of Pleasant Valley and Chico, the distance runners specifically Taylor Wellersdick, the hurdlers of Foothill and the jumpers mostly from Shasta came another round of records as season comes to its dramatic conclusion. This was the final meet of the season for the vast majority of junior varsity athletes. A few would continue as members of the 4x800m relay, an event not contested at the league or division championships. Foothill boys and the Pleasant Valley girls were the easy winners in JV team competition.

Top quality performances of the meet were provided by Pleasant Valley senior Katherine Marinello won both the 100m (12.03) and 200m (24.76) races in meet record times. She was also a member of both winning relays with the Vikings setting another meet record in the short relay (4x100m). Teammate Amarianna Sims, in winning both hurdle events, set a meet record in the 100h (15.04). Chico's Taylor Wellersdick, like the week before, swept the distance events and also set a meet record of her own in her first race of the day the 1600m (5:04.85).

Division 1 Event Summaries

GIRLS

4x100m relay: Pleasant Valley, not quite as fast as the week before, wins in meet record time with their 48.89 time. Runner up Chico was also faster (49.26) than the previous record. This was the third time this season that the Vikings have dipped under 49 seconds.

4x400m relay: Pleasant Valley (4:03.75) is over ten seconds clear of runner up Chico (4:14.55) as each member of Panther quartet is about a second off their effort at the league championship while the Vikings show less deviation.

100m: PV's Katherine Marinello runs her fastest 100m to date with her 12.03 mark, leaving her well clear of Grace Puterbaugh trailing in second place, who also ran her seasonal best.

200m: Marinello (24.76) pulls away late to again just edge Enterprise's Aliyah Choi (24.82) as both dip under 25 seconds for the first time. These times, at the time of the meet, were the second and third fastest (FAT marks) all-time in the Northern Section

400m: Choi doesn't need a seasonal best to win as last week's runner up Avery Hankins passes on running the event to concentrate on the 800m. As it was Choi margin of victory is huge despite running almost a second slower than the previous week.

800m: A quality second win by Taylor Wellersdick as she turns a tight opening lap with PV's Avery Hankins into a fairly comfortable win 2:16.63 to 2:19.60. Chico freshman Anna Gist was a more distant third.

1600m: Wellersdick wins her first race of the day as she hits the halfway mark in 2:23 then holds on well to garner the win and set a new meet record. Teammates Anna Gist and Molly Shewey place second and third.

3200m: Wellersdick, not concerning herself with the time, goes for the win to save herself for anchoring the Panthers 4x400 relay. Foothill freshman Ryah Kellogg pulls away from Shewey over the closing 800m to come away with a new personal best in placing second as both finish well under 12 minutes.

100h: Amarianna Sims, in a tight battle with Chico's SiSi Marinescu, pulls away late as she runs a personal best, 15.04. Behind her Marinescu runs a seasonal best 15.37 in placing second. Panther Grace Puterbaugh, in third, also runs a personal best in dipping under 16 seconds.

300h: Sims again tops Puterbaugh, despite conditions leaving times a little slower than the previous week, yet they still finish well ahead of the rest of the field.

Shot Put: Jasmine Gordon of Chico tops teammate Sifiah Francis by five inches as they are the only ones in the field to toss the metal ball over 30 feet.

Discus: Enterprise's Jersey Huynh is best at threading the disc through the wind, take the division title by over 9 feet. No one else could eclipse 90 feet.

High Jump: Foothill's Theresa Barlow wins the battle over Shasta's Naia Kristofferson, the section leader, 5' 2 to 5' 0. Chico's Luciana Sufuentes is left alone with third at 4' 10.

Pole Vault: Foothill's Emma Hawkins wins with her clearance of 9' 0. Teammate Kinley Wilson is one notch down at 8' 6 to take second.

Long Jump: A vigorous competition with three girls over 17 feet. Maya Slaugenhaupt, a sophomore from Red Bluff wins with a near 18 foot leap (17'10.5) after finishing fourth last week. PV's Katelynn Enos takes second with her 17' 6. Kristoffersen is left in third 17' 1

Triple Jump: Kristoffersen finally wins in the event she does best. Two feet clear of second place with her 35' 7.5 over Theresa Barlow.

BOYS

4x100m relay: Foothill, the section leader in the event coming into the meet, was smoked by Shasta as the Wolves run a near perfect race despite the breezy conditions while the Cougars didn't and barely hold off third place Enterprise.

4x400m relay: Foothill, possessing too much depth to lose this relay, have little trouble dispatching the field despite running almost a second per runner off from their best.

100m: In a race where the top four run windy personal bests (2.2 m/s), Payton Foss impressvie close overcomes Rowan Fragoso's exploxive start to nab the win. Defending section long jump champion, Kosi Iwvalla is a very close third.

200m: Foss has a little more wiggle room over Fragoso in his win at the longer distance. Both would again get windy (2.1 m/s) personal bests with times under 22 seconds.

400m: Foothill goes 1-2 with Brady Jones edging Jeremaih Wheeler with Chico's Alexiver Hernandez in third.

800m: Lucas Jiemenez, the runnerup at the EAl, claims the 800 title at the division level as Nathan Gist, last week's winner, scratches to focus on the 1600m. Jimenez leads wire-to-wire easily dispatching a second lap challenge by Barnhart, who takes second. A late kick by Bilinski gets him third.

1600m: A lead pack coalesces behind Oliver Liberato as the pace settles after a brisk opening 200m. All the major contenders continue to let Liberato lead through the halfway point even as the pace slows. PV's Plummer surge into the lead in the penultimate lap splinters the field as he ratchets down the pace with Girt, Gist and Newell doing the best to stay in contact. Gist swings by Girt down the homestretch and settles a little behind Plummer with a lap to go. Gist moves to Plummer's shoulder, assesses the situation for a moment then surges into the lead with 200m to go. The Chico junior is unchallenged as he pulls away through the finish. Plummer loses momentum coming off the turn and is passed by Newell and almost caught by teammate Lugo, who closes almost as fast as the race winner.

3200m: Foothill sophomore Devin Bedolla graps the early lead and rest of the contenders let him lead through the halfway mark even though the pace is quite pedestrian. Even though passed Bedolla stays in the lead pack for another lap before fading in lap six as the pace noticeably quickens as Lugo assumes point. The tempo further quickens in the penultimate circuit with only Bergmann, Girt, Plummer remaining in serious contention. Lugo turns the last lap into a sprint that nobody can match although his senior teammate with a late rally does grab the runnerup spot. Fresh legs allowed Bergmann to be unpressed for third.

100h: Foothill teammates Blake Lema, Nick Catalano and Logan Reid sweep the short hurdle race that somehow was not wind aided.

300h: Lema and Catalano go 1-2 again in the longer hurdle race by finishing well ahead of a pair of Viking teammates, Paxton Quezada (3rd) and Rocky Graham (4th).

Shot Put: Pleasant Valley goes 1-2 with Grayson Drake taking the division title with his 48' 4.5 toss, ahead of teammate Jaeden Garmany (46' 8) who edged Shasta's Lucas Leaverton (46' 6 1/2) for second.

Discus: Defending division champion and the section leader in the event, Chico's Luke Schabert comes through again easily claiming the discus title even with a winning mark (148' 1) well short of his best.

High Jump: Only two in the field are able to clear 6 feet with Panther Shamar Riley besting Hornet Ja'kye Rawls 6'4 to 6'2.

Pole Vault: Seven athletes, all from Redding area schools vie for the pole vault title with Foothill's James Messenger, the runnerup last week, topping the field by a foot over EAL champion Kash Joseph of Enterprise and third place Cougar Dylan Tackett, who both clear 11' 6.

Long Jump: Viking sophomore Colton Jackson wins over his more experienced opponents, seniors Kosi Iwvalla of Shasta and Zahmir Martin of Chico with his 21' 5 leap. Kosi is the defending section long jump champion .

Triple Jump: Panther Zahmir Martin wins here by almost two feet with his top mark of 44' 1.5 over the long jump titlist Jackson, who places second here. Foothill's James Sehrt who was third.

JV team titles went to the Foothill boys and the Pleasant Valley girls. Chico boys, runner up to the Cougars' 131 pts, accumulted 97 pts to edge Pleasant Valley and Red Bluff who tied for third with 95 pts. On the girls side, Chico took second with 109 pts or 82 pts short of the Vikings. Foothill was a more distant third with 64 1/2 points.

Junior Varsity performances of note: Chico sophomore Molly Alling won the long jump by over a foot with her leap of 16' 3, finished second in the short hurdles but was DQ'ed for false starting in the long hurdles. Gen Matthews, an Enterprise freshman, won both the discus and shot put. Her marks would have won the varsity shot and put her runner-up in the varsity discus. PV sophomore Maleeah Reckley won the short hurdles and was second to her teammate Peyton Robbins in the long hurdles as they were the only ones in the field to break 50 seconds.