High schools: Lodi and Tokay athletes punch their tickets to section track meet

May 11—A number of local athletes qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Championships with their performances on Thursday at the finals of the Division I meet.

The top eight in each event qualify from D-I to the Masters.

On the boys side, Lodi's Mark Adkins will compete in both of the hurdles events, while three of the eight pole vault qualifiers were locals (Joshua Young and Simon Kolber from Tokay, and Nick Isaiah Gaona from Lodi).

In the girls competition, sister Kiah and Zoe Aitken will compete in the 800, with Lodi's Gracelynne Duenas and Tokay's Kayleen Tuavao representing in the shot put.

Kiah Aitken had the best place among the local athletes, running second place in the 800 at 2:17.61. Zoe Aitken finished eighth at 2:2.76, and teammate Samantha Stone was 11th at 2:31.79. Zoe just missed on the 1,600, finishing ninth at 5:18.32, with teammates Amelia Johnson and Laena Burke in 18th (5:40.14) and 22nd (5:46.75), respectively.

In the shot put, Duenas was sixth at 36 feet, 5.75, and Tuavao was seventh at 34-9.75.

Also qualifying is Lodi's Kaitlyn Harper, who finished seventh in the 400 at 1:00.38. In the high jump, Tokay's Brooke Frisk just missed out on moving on with a ninth-place finish at 5-, and Lodi's Keara Shoup was 14th at 4-11.

In the boys competition, Adkins was fourth in the 110 hurdles t 15.04 and fifth in the 300 hurdles at 40.85, while Young was third in the pole vault at 14-4 (two inches away from his own school record). Kolber was sixth at 13-4, and Gaona was eighth, also at 13-4.

In the discus, Lodi's Stephen Holbo placed third at 147-10, while teammate Victor Manuel Hernandez just missed out with a 132-9 mark for ninth place.

Lodi's 4-by-100 relay team also qualified, placing eighth at 44.30.

Others missing out on qualifying were Tokay's Brandon Le, who was ninth in the boys 400 at 51.93, Lodi's Alex Mendoza (13th in the boys 1,600 at 4:32.65), Tokay's Daniel Barajas (18th in the 1,600 at 4:47.60 and 21st in the 3,200 at 9:31.51) and Tokay's Edmond Zimmer (20th in the 1,600 at 5:48.43 and 22nd in the 3,200 at 11:06.99).

SOFTBALL

Section brackets released

Fresh off winning a co-championship in the Tri-City Athletic League, the Lodi High softball team was awarded the No. 6 seed in the SJS Division I playoff bracket.

Lodi will face No. 11 Turlock on Tuesday at Lodi Softball Complex, with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.

The Flames finished the regular season with a 20-6 record, which included at 13-2 mark in the TCAL, tying with Tracy (21-3-1, 13-2). According to Lodi High athletic director George Duenas, Lodi holds the tiebreaker for playoff seeding based on a 2-1 record against Tracy during league play, though they will go into the league's record books as co-champs.

According to coach Michelle Souza, this year's team also goes down as the program's first TCAL champion since Lodi High joined the league in 2013.

Tracy was given the No. 1 seed in Division II, where the Bulldogs will face No. 16 Bear Creek in the first round.

Turlock finished the regular season with a 13-11-1

record, and went 8-7 for third place in the Central California Athletic League.

In Division IV, the opening round on Tuesday will see No. 8 Liberty Ranch host No. 9 Oakmont at 4 p.m. at Galt Softball Complex.

Liberty Ranch finished 14-7 in the regular season, and went 12-3 in the Sierra Valley Conference for second place. Oakmont went 13-12, and finished third in the Foothill Valley League at 6-4.

BASEBALL

Wheatland 6, Liberty Ranch 5

The seventh-seeded Hawks exited the SJS D-4 playoffs with Thursday's loss, sending No. 2 Wheatland on to face No. 3 Twelve Bridges in the D-4 semifinals.

Wheatland (17-10) outhit Liberty Ranch (16-9) 12-7, though Garrett Owen went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs. Mario Rubalcava went 2-for-4, Kade Lecompte singled and drove in two runs, Vance Moe singled and scored twice, and Shaye Setter singled.

Moe pitched a complete game for the hawks, with three strikeouts.

DIVING

State Championships

St. Mary's freshman Lucius Haddad, a Lodi resident, finished 15th at the CIF State Diving Championship on Thursday at Clovis West High.

Haddad, the SJS champion, was seventh in the prelim with 233.10 points, then finished 18th after the semifinals with 324.55 points, just making the cut to the top 18 divers.

In the finals, Haddad finished with 453.35 points to move up three spots to 15th.