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Clearing The Bar: Hernandez, Rogers Reach School Records
4-4 OAK Track1
Another big clear propels Oakdale senior Manny Hernandez through stages of the long jump event en route to his match of a school record at 6 feet, 8 inches on Thursday at The Corral. - photo by IKE DODSON/THE LEADER

No slow clap needed.

Oakdale High track and field standout senior Manny Hernandez arced his body over a height of six feet, eight inches to tie a school record and land the second-best mark in the state during Oakdale’s complete program sweep of Lathrop on Thursday.

Hernandez erupted into celebration after his historic jump (he later narrowly missed 6-10), and watched teammate Carly Rogers soar to a school record at 11-1 ¼ in pole vault just minutes later. The two top school marks were the highlight of a dominant day for an Oakdale track program that remains undefeated in Valley Oak League competition.

The varsity girls (3-0) continued a streak of 54 consecutive conference wins by ousting Lathrop 108-22. The boys also advanced to 3-0 after a 98-38 decision over Lathrop. Oakdale’s frosh-soph boys remain undefeated after a 115-16 win while the frosh-soph girls sit 1-2 after a 71-34 win.

“I thought we had a really good day,” Oakdale track coach Dave Bacigalupi said. “It’s surprising what we were able to do when the weather was not all that great.

“Manny is on a roll right now and Carly has really come into her own this year.”

Rogers was one of 12 Oakdale girls to land first place finishes. Kelly Gratigny claimed four titles by winning the triple jump (34-1), long jump (15-11), 400 (1:01.73) and joining Me’che Brown, Justina Keith and Kim Linder on the 1600 relay.

Brown was first in the 100 (12.41), 200 (26.72) and won the 400 relay with Keith, Linder and Deziree Pennington, who won the 110 hurdles.

Ashlyn Durham won the 800 (2:29.9) and 1600 (5:43) while Jennie Siemsen won the 3200 (12:08.66).

Lorissa Rutledge was first in the 300 hurdles (52.10) while Macey Caris (5-0) was first in the shot put. Haley McIntyre won the discus (98-5) while her sister Kelsey claimed top honor in the shot put (31-10).

Kyle Peterson paced Oakdale’s boys effort with wins in both the shot put (45-10) and discus (147-2). Austin Jones won the long jump and triple jump (39-4) while Brynden McAndrews won the pole vault (11-6). Chris Davis won the 400 (51.34) and joined Wyatt Coffey, Joey Flores, Chase Higgs and Israel Aguilar on the winning relay teams. Coffey also won the 800 while Mario Jimenez ended first in the 1600 and 3200.

Johnny Torres won four events for the frosh-soph boys while Rodrigo Rodriguez was first in three events. Austin Steves, Mitch Molletta, Erik Ruiz, Tyler Flores, Kurtis Bishop, Garrett Garcia, Kevin Corral, Caleb Clavin and Gabriel Ramirez also won events.

Jennifer Guzman led frosh-soph girls with four wins while Brieanna Antonio won three events. Vivianna Aguilera, Joselyn Garcia, Grace Perreira, Jessica Gonzales, Stephanie Kupper, Christina Cobarruvias and Leah Burchell also finished first.

Oakdale’s sophomore-strong (Davis, Peterson, McAndrews) varsity boys will be tested during a meet at Manteca on Thursday. The Buffaloes stepped to the top of the league race by ousting reigning champs, Sierra. Oakdale’s girls should see the next big test to their unbeaten league streak when they travel to Sierra (3-0) on April 26.

“The girls are getting faster, stronger and jumping farther,” Bacigalupi said. “It’s been amazing that year after year we somehow get enough freshman girls to come in and take the place of senior girls on their way out. We have had a really consistently strong team and it is hard to figure out how.”