High schools: Local athletes miss out on state track
May 20—The Sac-Joaquin Section Track and Field Championships are complete, and the local schools came up short of qualifying any individuals for the state meet.
Two athletes made it as alternates though, as Lodi's Keily Ramirez and Tokay's Jacob Ray placed fourth in their events.
Lodi's Ramirez, a junior, cleared 11 feet, 6 inches in the girls pole vault to tie for third with Rocklin's Grace Sloan, and lost a jump-off at 11-3 to miss out on the state berth. Tokay's Ray, also a junior, tied for third with Center's Sean Joyner in the boys high jump at 6-4, missing out on the tiebreaker. Joyner made 6-4 on his second attempt, and Ray made it on his third.
The SJS sends its top three finishers to the state meet, along with fourth place as an alternate.
Other Lodi athletes competing in Saturday's finals at Davis High were
Kiah Aitken, who just missed out on an alternate spot by finishing fifth in the girls 800-meter run at 2 minutes, 17.84 seconds after she had the second-best time of the field in the preliminaries at 2:18.75, her sister Zoe Aitken, who placed seventh in the 800 at 2:20.72, Nick Isaiah Gaona, who was 10th in the boys pole vault at 13-6, Stephen Holbo, who placed 11th in the boys discus at 145-1, and Gracelynne Duenas, who was 17th in the girls shot put at 34-1.75.
For Tokay, Kayleen Tuavao was in three events: she was seventh in the girls discus at 120-1, eighth in the shot put at 36-7.5 and 13th in the triple jump at 34-8. Joshua Young was ninth in the boys pole vault at 14-6.
Liberty Ranch's Kyle Oltmanns placed 19th in both the boys 1,600 at 4:28.15 and the boys 3,200 at 9:57.70.
In preliminary action on Friday, Lodi's Mark Adkins was 10th in the boys 300 hurdles at 40.85 and 13th in the boys 110 hurdles at 15.45, Liberty Ranch's Joseph Brown was 15th in the 300 hurdles at 41.59, Lodi's Kaitlynn Harper was 16th in the girls 400 at 1:00.45, Liberty Ranch's Yousef Diab was 16th in the boys 800 at 2:00.51, Liberty Ranch's Larry Lucas was 16th in the 110 hurdles at 15.60, Liberty Ranch's Ellianna Keiser was 21st in the 100 hurdles at 17.47, and the Liberty Ranch boys 4-by-400 relay team of Brown, Diab, Oscar Romero and Camren Hudson was 11th at 3:27.42.
