Palo Cedro - The Foothill High School track was the site of this year's Eastern Athletic League Track & Field Championships where athletes were greeted with mid to late afternoon temperatures topping out in the upper 80s under sunny skies. Plenty of fluids and any available shade was used by athletes to minimize heat related impacts on their performance as race conditions were likely to be the warmest they've encountered this spring. A late afternoon start to the competition did minimize the amount of time of direct sunshine as the bowl the track is located in is on the east side of the Foothill campus, putting the venue in full shade earlier than if located elsewhere. Most athletes must have taken their coaches advise to heed as performances by many were off the chart considering the conditions.

Since 2017, the EAL has been made up of six teams; Shasta, Enterprise and Foothill from the Redding area and Chico, Pleasant Valley from Chico along with Red Bluff. These teams are also the only Division I teams in the Northern Section. Consequentially the same teams will meet again in a week's time but with the number of competitors limited to accommodate a finals only competition at the Division meet, that is eight for all but distance events where up to twelve are allowed. The league championship and the division championship are both scored but the Northern Section Finals are not, as it is only used to determine berths to the state meet. Consequently, some of the better athletes will be doing more events than prudent if a state berth was on the line to maximize team scoring while noting that you can't skip an event and advance to the next round of competition in that event.

The varsity girl competition saw six meet records fall by the wayside while the varsity boys broke two records of their own. Topping these superior efforts were the PV girls 4x100m relay crew that not only torched the meet standard but also broke the section record that was held by their crosstown rivals Chico. The Panther's runner-up performance was also under the previous meet record and is the fourth fastest in section history.

This year the Pleasant Valley edged Foothill for the EAL varsity boys title 155 to 146 with Chico left in a more distant third with 88 points. PV did so despite only winning 4 events against the Cougars' seven. The remaining winners were from Chico with four while Enterprise took the remaining one. Chico girls easily distanced runner up Pleasant Valley in the varsity girl's competition, 155 ½ to 107 with Foothill third with 88. Taylor Wellersdick was Chico's only event winner, but it was a task she did three times in taking all the distance events. Pleasant Valley girls won seven events while Enterprise and Shasta had two winners with Red Bluff and Foothill having one winner each.

The Viking's were led by Katherine Marinello, who set meet records in winning the 100m and 200m races, then combined with three teammates to set meet records in the 4x100 relay and 4x400 relay. Amarianna Sims was also a member of both relays and won both hurdle races, setting a meet record longer one (i.e 300m race). Her winning mark (44.73) made her the ninth section girl to dip under 45 seconds in placing 8th on the all-time section list. Chico's Taylor Wellersdick was the big winner for the Panthers, claiming all the distance races by wide margins although only the 1600m race did she break the meet record with her 5:03.21 time. Combined with her times in the 800m (2:21) and 3200m (11:16) made for an unprecedented quality triple that has been attempted only a couple times in recent memory (PV's Erinn Gulbrandsen did the distance triple in 1998 with 2:24/5:32/12:19 marks; Chico's Kody Atkins quadrupled in 2012 with winning times of 59/2:33/5:29/11:42. Taylor also anchored Chico's runner up finish in the long relay with a nice 61 split. So all in all a high quality day for the Panther senior.

The other multiple winners at the championships include Foothill's Blake Lema, who won both hurdle races and ran a leg on both of their winning relay teams. His time in the 300m hurdles was a meet record as was 4x400m relay he was a part of. Shasta's Naia Kristoffersen topped the field in the high jump and triple jump and came in a close second in the long jump. Although not a multiple winner, Enterprise's Aliyah Choi 57.34 mark in the 400m broke the meet record while being edged in the 200m by Marinello and still ran a time (25.16) that is among the fastest in section history.

EAL Championship highlights

Varsity Girls 4x100: The race was dead even between the section's top two short relay teams until the last handoffs were made at which point the Viking's star sprinter Katherine Marinello opens up a noticeable gap over runner up Chico's anchor Luciana Sufuentes to come away with the win and a new section record 48.60. Tough loss to take for the Panthers as they ran the 4th fastest ever in the section.

Varsity Girls 1600: An aggressive opening lap by Wellersdick signals her intent to put Lindsey Kirschman's meet record in jeopardy. Sure enough, running out front all alone she maintains a steady enough pace to eclipse the old mark by a seconds with her 5:03.21 time. Too warm for anybody else to risk going out this fast as second place Panther teammate Anna Gist comes in twenty four seconds later.

Varsity Girls 100h: A tight spirited race between Chico's Sisi Marinescu and PV's Amari Sims with the latter getting the superior lean and the win. 15.44 to 15.56 a personal best for Sims and a seasonal best for Sisi.

Varsity Girls 400: A dominant win for Enterprise's Aliyah Choi over PV's Avery Hankins as a close opening 200m turns into a rout coming down the home stretch.

Varsity Girls 100: Dominant win for PV's Marinello

Varsity Girls 800: Taylor Wellersdick, in her second race on the day, runs a very conservative opening 400m (for her) keeps the chase pack relatively close but from there on accelerates away from the field to come home with a very comfortable win. Chico takes three of the top four places only broken up by Avery Hankins' runner up finish.

Varsity Girls 300h: A tight battle between Sims & Puterbaugh heading into the turn becomes a rout as the Chico senior comes off a hurdle off balance and never recovers her momentum while Sims maintains her form and concentration for an easy victory. The Viking senior, in her first full year of hurdling runs a quality race in breaking 45 seconds for the first time.

Varsity Girls 200: Neck and neck the whole way between PV's Marinello, the 100m winner, prevailing over Enterprise's Choi, the 400m league champion, by a very slim margin as both run personal bests.

Varsity Girls 3200: Despite a long wait for the race, Wellersdick executes a race plan to perfection by clicking off 85 second laps for 7 circuits of the track before picking it up a bit on the final lap to come away with a nice 11:16 & change mark and the win. It was a time faster than she ran all of last year, not bad for her third race on the day.

Varsity Girls 4x400: A comfortable win for the Vikings over an inspired Chico team that runs a seasonal best but still comes up over five second short of their crosstown rivals.

Varsity Girls Shot Put: In a field with only three competitors having thrown better than 30 feet this season and an unseasonably warm day left a logjam at the top with the top five within a foot of each other. None reach 30 feet as Red Bluff senior Avyon Bonner prevails with her 29-02 toss.

Varsity Girls Discus: Enterprise's Jersey Huynh, after placing tenth in the shot put, comes out on top here with her 90-10 toss. The league's top-ranked thrower Chico's Sifiah Francis finished fifth here with a best effort under 80 feet.

Varsity Girls High Jump: Shasta's Naia Kristoffersen wins clearing 5-2 with Foothill's Theresa Barlow in second at 5'0. They were the only two in the field to top five feet.

Varsity Girls Pole Vault: Foothill's Emma Hawkins is an easy winner with her winning vault of 10'6, a mark 2 1/2 feet better than second place.

Varsity Girls Long Jump: PV's Katelynn Enos outjumps Kristoffersen to win 17-05.75 to 17-00 as the Viking scores a seasonal best while the Shasta sophomore is over a foot short of hers.

Varsity Girls Triple Jump: Kristoffersen gets her second win on the day, besting Barlow again this time 36-01.50 to 35-07.25.

Varsity Boys 4x100: Foothill has enough fire power to keep Shasta at bay as these two teams have little problem dispatching the rest of the field. Chico, missing three of their best sprinters due to injury, had a makeshift team in contention until they dropped the baton during the second exchange.

Varsity Boys 1600: No serious favorite among the field and it shows as the pace, though a bit hot early, settles to something more manageable for most of the runners over the next two laps before Justin Plummer throttles the pace down with only Chico's Kenton Girt able to stay close until Plummer pops a gear than Girt doesn't possess to garner the victory.

Varsity Boys 100h: No contest. Foothill's Blake Lema is the class of the field (his best is sub-15, nobody else in the field is sub-16) and wins easily in 15.07.

Varsity Boys 400: The top four finishers all run personal bests putting some quality into a field missing a couple of Chico runners who came up lame at the wrong end of the season. As it was Foothill's Brady Jones held off the Panther's remaining 400m runner, Alexander Hernandez for the win with his 51.15.

Varsity Boys 100: Foothill sophomore Peyton Foss gains an early advantage and maintains it through the finish to get the win over two seniors, Rowan Fragoso of Pleasant Valley and Kosi Iwualla of Shasta in a race that saw all come up a little short of their seasonal bests.

Varsity Boys 800: A bit of a tactical affair as PV's Lucas Jimenez leads a large pack through the opening lap in 62. Doubling back from the 1600m, teammate Justin Plummer briefly takes the lead rounding the final turn before Chico's Nathan Gist surges through the splintering pack and gets the victory in 2:03.72. Jimenez repasses Plummer as the Vikings runners finish second and third.

Varsity Boys 300h: Lema wins by a wide margin and despite hard hits on the last two barriers comes away with a personal best of 38.48.

Varsity Boys 200: Peyton Foss proves again he's the class of the field winning in a personal best 22.05 in which the next five finishers do the same as most take advantage of the warm conditions.

Varsity Boys 3200: Plummer and two teammates, Juan-Rigby Lugo and Issac Lara return to match up against the Panther's Girt. None of them do the early leading that's left to diminutive Devin Bedolla from Foothill. Needless to say, the major contenders are happy to have him lead at a comfortable but not particularly taxing tempo until the PV boys grab the lead with 800m to go and promptly rachet down the pace. Bedolla struggles to stay in contact and is eventually gapped by the group. Vikings make their last lap their fastest as they finish 1-2-3 with Plummer winning as he holds off a late surge by Lugo.

Varsity Boys 4x400: Foothill wins by a wide margin as no other team in the league has the horses to contend.

Varsity Boys Shot Put: Chico's top weight man, Luke Schabert, decides to skip the event and concentrate on the discus, his better event. Grayson Drake of Pleasant Valley out duels Shasta's Lucas Leaverton and takes the league title with his 47-05 mark, seven inches better than Leaverton.

Varsity Boys Discus: Chico's Luke Schabert wins comfortably with a 151-08 mark, 17 feet better than the runner up PV freshman Tyler Snelling.

Varsity Boys High Jump: Shamar Riley bests Shasta's James Sehrt on the basis of fewer misses as both clear 6-02.

Varsity Boys Pole Vault: Only Redding schools contest this event. Kash Joseph of Enterprise proved to be one height better than Foothill's James Messenger with his clearance of 13-0 as the Cougar senior went out after clearing 12-6.

Varsity Boys Long Jump: PV sophomore Colton Jackson bested last year's section champion in the event, Shasta's Kosi Iwualla by a mere inch 21-01 to 21-00 to take the EAL title.

Varsity Boys Triple Jump: Chico's Zahmir Martin was nearly a foot clear of Colton Jackson with his 42-06 mark.