After an undefeated Valley Oak League varsity girls title and a 5-2 showing from the varsity boys, Oakdale High’s track and field program began the first step of a difficult postseason schedule by tackling a tough field of competitors at the VOL championships on May 5 at Sierra High.
The top-3 finalists in each event advance to the SJS Division IV-V meet, with an opportunity to advance to the Masters Meet.
Oakdale qualified 20 athletes to the next level and saw a handful reach Divisional qualification in multiple events. For Kellie Gratigny, Me’che Brown and Deziree Pennington, all four of their events will see D-IV comparisons.
Gratigny won the triple jump easily with a 35 foot, 10.25 inch leap, was third in the 400, third in the long jump and joined Brown, Kim Linder and Pennington on the winning 1600 relay team that nabbed the second fastest team in school history with a 4 minute, 9.51 second mark.
Brown was also second in the 100, 200 and 400 relay team with Linder, Justina Keith and Jennifer Guzman. Pennington finished second in the triple jump, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. She lost the 300 by just one tenth of a second to nab a school record with a 46.6. Linder won the 400 with a sharp 1:01.62 time while Hayley McIntyre won the high jump with a 5-0 leap (Domi Powell was second).
Lorissa Rutledge was also third in the 300 hurdles while Jennie Siemsen ended third in the 3200. Carly Rodgers ended second in the pole vault while Brooke Wong was third. Alyssa Flores was third in the discus as well.
Oakdale’s boys were led by another championship from Manny Hernandez in the high jump (6-2). Kyle Peterson also won the discus with a 165-03 toss while Trevor Mirassou was tops in the 110 hurdles after a 16.15 time.
Wyatt Coffey ended second in the 800 and ran a leg a of the third place 1600 relay team with Erick Padilla, Hernandez and Andrew Markel.
The 20 qualifiers will take on the best programs from 13 conferences in a two-day showdown at Modesto Junior College on May 15 and 17. The top-six place winners in D IV-V will qualify for the Masters Championships on May 24 and 25 at Elk Grove High.
