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Oakdale Track, Field Dominates VOL Meet
Track and field

By PETE SIMONCINI

Sports Correspondent

A radio disc jockey, if asked to summarize the latter part of the Oakdale Mustangs’ track and field season, would likely say, “And the hits just keep on coming!” After an outstanding performance at the Sacramento Meet of Champions, followed by the varsity girls’ and varsity boys’ teams winning respective VOL dual meet championships (see the May 3 online Leader), all four Mustang teams won team championships at the Valley Oak League Meet on the campus of Sierra High School in Manteca on May 4. Indeed, the hits have kept on coming.

In the six-team 2023 Valley Oak League meet, Mustang athletes performed marvelously.

“Our runners did an amazing job, as did the whole team,” said head distance coach Guy Fowler in summarizing the meet. “Our training is starting to pay off. We just need to keep following the plan we laid out months ago and stay healthy.”

The varsity girls overwhelmed the rest of the league by earning 200 of the 511 total points awarded, beating second place Kimball High School by 97.5 points (200-102.5). The varsity boys enjoyed a 21-point cushion over second place Manteca, while the frosh/soph girls and the frosh/soph boys narrowly got past Manteca by two points and Kimball by five points respectively.

The Mustangs recorded 22 individual championships out of 68 total events, with the varsity girls winning nine of 17 events, the varsity boys winning seven of 17 events, and the frosh/soph girls and boys each winning three events.

The varsity girls were led by senior distance phenom, Stanislaus State-bound Kassidy Fmura who stormed to victories in the 800-meters (2:31.82), the 1,600-meters (5:25.57), and the 3,200-meters (11:45.76).

Said Fowler, “Kassidy Fmura pulled off an amazing triple … winning all three distance races at a league meet is very hard to do.”

Joining Fmura on the top rung of their events’ ladders were Brookelyn Baba in the 100-meters high hurdles (17.27 seconds), Kylie Nunes who set a new Oakdale High School record in the 300-meters low hurdles with a time of 46.16 seconds, Memphis Carr in the shot put (39’8”), and Hayden Morton in the discus throw (107’10”). Also earning championships were the Mustangs’ 4 by 100-meters relay team of Gabby Carranza, Lynsey McPhee, Kylee O’Neal, and Nunes, running the event in 49.48 seconds, and the 4 by 400-meters relay team of Brady Wylie, Rylee Harris, Nunes and McPhee who completed the 1,600 meters in 4:13.23.

Several Mustangs also earned valuable second through sixth place points. Nunes finished second in the 100-meter dash in 12.63 while O’Neal finished fifth. McPhee earned a third-place medal in the 200-meter dash in 27.04 and complemented that performance with a second place in the triple jump (32’6”), while Wylie and Harris earned third and fifth place respectively in the 400-meters. Freshman Bradie Evans finished fourth in the 800-meters and second to Fmura in the 1,600-meters. In the latter race, Evans ran a strong 5:29.08. Baba led a sweep of the 100-meter-high hurdles with Savannah Rivera finishing second and Emma Weber third. Baba also finished fourth in the 300-meter hurdles, and second in both the long jump and the high jump. In the weight events, Morton finished fifth in the shot put and Carr finished second to Morton in the discus throw. Libby Hector earned third place in the high jump, Savannah Rivera got fourth in the long jump, and Holli Schmidt earned third in the triple jump.

The varsity boys garnered victories by Caleb Cavanaugh in the 800-meter run, Omar Alsaidi who led a Mustang first through fourth place sweep in the 1,600-meters and a first through fifth place sweep in the 3,200-meters, Cameron Guthrie who won both the 110-meter high hurdles and the 300-meter low hurdles, Tyler Cooley in the high jump, and Aiden Vargas in the pole vault. Regarding the 3,200-meter run, Alsaidi crossed the finish line stride-for-stride with teammate Dax Daley and was electronically declared the winner by three one-hundredths of a second (9:40.16 to 9:40.19). Ismael Dominguez and both Jackson and Mason Oliveira were all within two seconds of Alsaidi and Daley. The next placer, from Sierra, was 26 seconds behind the Oliveira twins. Similar to the 3,200-meters, Daley was but two-tenths of a second behind Alsaidi (4:35.38 to 4:35.58) in the 1,600 meters. Cavanaugh finished third in 4:38.11 while his brother, Jacob finished fourth in 4:38.25.

In the high hurdles, freshman Wes Burford and Vargas finished third and fourth behind Guthrie, while in the 300-meter low hurdles, Vargas picked up fourth and Burford fifth. Freshman Eri Rubio finished third in the discus throw, Declan Hynes earned third in the high jump, and Grant Gardner finished second in the pole vault. The VOL meet included a 4 by 800-meter, or 3,200-meter, relay, and the Mustang team of Gabe Archuleta, Carlos Martinez, Abner Gonzalez, and Nathan Luca earned second place in the event with a time of 8 minutes, 45.44 seconds.

Frosh/soph girls champions included Jordan Wylie in the 400-meters in 1 minute, 6.84 seconds (Jaelyn Ghiglia finished a close second), Jaedyn Riley (high jump with a leap of 4 feet, 4 inches), and Avery Stueve (pole vault at 7 feet even). Picking up key places and points for the frosh/soph girls were Katelyn Scharffenberg (second place in both the 100-meter high hurdles and the 300-meter low hurdles), Danika Savage (third place in both the 100-meter high hurdles and the 300-meter low hurdles), Hayley Kuppens (third in the high jump), and Stueve with a second place in the triple jump to complement her victory in the pole vault. The team of Scharffenberg, Ghiglia, Wylie, and E’laya Brown earned second in the four by 100-meter relay while the team of Scharffenberg, Ghiglia, Brooke Deniz, and Wylie took second in the four by 400-meter relay.

In the frosh/soph boys’ meet Mustang champions included Joseph Delte (both the high jump (5’6”) and the long jump (18’7.75”) and the boys’ 4 by 100-meters relay team of Spence Ballard, Delte, Jason Martinho, and Sonny Torres. Other key placers included Ely Gomar and Caden Adams who finished second and fourth respectively in the 400-meter dash, Dirk Scott who finished second in the 3,200-meter run and third in the 1,600-meter run, Troy Peterson who finished fourth in the 3,200, Brock Boysen and Selso Rodriguez who finished third and fourth respectively in the 300-meter low hurdles, Kayden Duenas who earned third place in the shot put, Adams who was the second place triple jumper, and Ballard who was the second place high jumper. The team of Adams, Rodriguez, Gomar, and Torres placed third in 4 by 400-meter relay.

Full results of the Valley Oak League meet can be found online at Athletic.net (https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/480210/results.)

The next two weeks will include the Division III Track and Field Championships at Lincoln High School in Stockton, May 9 and 11, followed by the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Championships at Davis High School in Davis, May 19 and 20.

“It is going to be an exciting next two weeks,” said Fowler in anticipation of several Mustangs improving times, distances, and heights and continuing to advance toward the California State Meet at Buchanan High School in Clovis on May 26 and 27. And the hits just keep on coming.