A pair of Master’s Meet champions from Oakdale was crowned at Elk Grove High School, as Kyle Peterson and Hannah Chappell brought home the honors from the 2014 CIF Sac-Joaquin Track and Field Masters Meet. Competition was held on May 29 and May 30.
Oakdale High School sent eight student athletes to Elk Grove to participate in the event. Senior Kyle Peterson powered his way to first place in the discus throw. In day one of the competition, Peterson participated in the shot put but fouled his first two attempts before recording a 50-03 throw, which landed him in ninth place in that event. The second day saw him come out determined in the discus after his struggles in shot put. It was a more focused and relaxed Peterson on Friday, and he dominated the discus throw competition with a Master’s best toss of 176-00. The monstrous throw was his third of the day. In an impressive overall showing, his first toss of 167 feet, which was his lowest on the day, was still 14 feet further than the third place finisher’s best throw of 153 feet. Peterson will be heading to the State Meet coming up Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June 7 at Buchanan High School in Clovis to seek a state medal in the discus.
Peterson is not the only Oakdale High School representative going to Clovis, as sophomore Hannah Chappell equaled his feat and clinched her spot at state on day one with her impressive performance in the girls discus. Chappell tossed for an event best 139-09, which came on her final throw of the day. Chappell’s toss was four feet, nine inches better than second place finisher Kayla O’Brine, a senior from St. Francis.
“Hannah and Kyle along with their throwers coach Brett Chappell, did an amazing job on Thursday and Friday,” said OHS Athletic Director Dave Bacigalupi. “It is not easy to come into a very competitive competition seeded number one and win. Both of them returning to the State Meet, for the second year in a row, says a lot about their character and their hard work. Oakdale High School, the track team and coaches are very proud of the two of them.”
Freshman Sara Stevens was active in the two day event as well. She placed ninth in the girls 400 yard dash preliminaries with a time of 58.95, just missing the cut to compete in day two. Stevens fell short by a step as Amari Smith of Franklin edged her out for the final spot with a time of 58.78. Stevens was also a part of the girls 4x400 meter relay along with teammates Kyla Novotny, Candy Jauregui and senior Dezirae Pennington. The four finished 14th overall with a time of 4:08.31. Stevens also competed in the long jump, where she finished 18th with her best jump being 15-11.75.
Pennington competed in the triple jump and captured fifth place honors with her best leap of 36-1.25. Sophomore Kai Tanner represented Oakdale in the shot put and placed ninth overall with a toss of 37-00.75. Senior Grace Perreira made the trip to Master’s in the pole vault with a qualifying height of 9-03 but did not make it to the finals.
