Oakdale hosted Manteca in the regular season track and field finale on Tuesday, May 5 at The Corral. The varsity girls entered the day winners of 78 consecutive dual meets, and with a chance to win their 11th Valley Oak League title in a row. In front of the home crowd, the girls accomplished this feat with a convincing 93-43 victory over the Buffaloes.
Helping secure the historic run was junior Melody Johnson who won the 100 meter hurdles, T.J. Verdegaal on the 300 meter hurdles, and sophomore Sam Nickerson, who took first in the high jump with a four foot, ten inch leap. Oakdale’s dominant throws duo of Kai Tanner and Hannah Chappell displayed their power again when Tanner took first in the shot put and Chappell put up her season best 149-0 throw in discus. In a rare tie for the long jump, freshman Kayla Budine and junior Madison Falconi shared first place at 15-8. Freshman Cassie England turned in a season best jump of 34-3 in the triple jump. Also impressive in the field for the girls was senior Sara Courtney winning the pole vault competition. Elsewhere, freshman Francesca Immediato ran away with the 3200 meter race. Anchoring the varsity girls victory were the foursome of Kyla Novotny, Marnel Salie, Sara Stevens and Budine, who came up with a first place finish in the 4x400 relay. Oakdale finished the season 7-0 in league dual meets. Adding to their great run, four varsity girls were named to the All-Valley Oak League team: Courtney, Chappell, Budine and England.
The varsity boys battled but fell 78-58 to wrap up their regular season. Notable performances were put in by senior Tyler Flores who won several events. Flores claimed first in the 100 and 300 meter hurdles and was a part of the first place 4x100 relay team along with teammates Chance Ginger, C.J. Domingo and Kevin Corral. Sophomore Michael Everett powered his way to a first place showing in the shot put, while junior Matt Vandergriff vaulted his way to the top in the pole vault competition. Oakdale’s varsity boys finished with a 4-3 VOL record to end the season.
Manteca did not bring a large number of junior varsity members for the meet, thus Oakdale took the JV meets in a landslide, 121-12 for the boys and 69-5 for the girls.
Oakdale also took part in the VOL Finals at Sierra High School in Manteca over the weekend. Notable performances were varsity boys Isaiah Aguilar who got second on a personal record (time was not disclosed) in the 800 meter race. The speedy Aguilar also claimed second in the 1600 meter. Flores earned a second place finish in the 300 meter hurdles. Claiming third place for the boys was Vandergriff in the pole vault and Everett in the shot put. The varsity girls took first, second and third in the pole vault and the triple jump and first, third and fourth in the long jump and in discus.
