Big Cat Season Opener @ Santa Rosa HS 4 March 2023
Weather: Crappy and cold (45 deg and rain showers)
The meet got underway with the 4 X 100. Our squad of Julius, Jonah, Zack and Gavin grabbed 2nd place with a 45.42. Carrillo was running scared just ahead. Their day will come…Stay tuned
The 1600 saw Jack throw down a season's best of 5:17 with some nice kicking down the homestretch ! Diego took it out in the JV race and held on for most of the way before getting passed on the last lap. His 5:49 was great in the rain and fresh from basketball. Nathan was close behind in 5:55. In the women's race, Andrea notched a 6:49 for 14th.
Next we saw some big time action in the 100 Meters !
To start us off, Hannah not only had the fastest JV 100 time in all 9 heats, but was also the 3rd fastest varsity time in the NBL ! Over 100 runners. 13.77 Look out for this freshman!
In the Men's division, Pasha got us started by winning the first heat. He celebrated with a little Usain Bolt thunder arrow pose :)
Clearly inspired by Pasha's victorious romp, the rest of the Cardinal lads had a field day ! JHeats were then won by Logan, Jonah, Trent, and finally Gavin ! All from lane 8 ! (they love us) Five of the eight heats were won by Cardinals! We also had 2nds by Zack and Carson, as well as thirds by Clayton and Patrick. Gavin was the overall winner in a season best 11.38. It was a Newman sprint parade! Cold and windy. Not too bad ! Clearly some people have been working hard !
Over in the throws, Jake had a big day, winning both the shot and the discus in miserable conditions. Hard rain and wind in his face. 44-10 PR ! Right behind him was Mahdi in 2nd with his PR of 40-2. Jake's throw of 124-2 in the discus was enough to seal the double win.
Back on the track in the 400 meters, we saw some good things. Dominic took his heat out in 23-24 sec through 200 and held that for 100 more meters before a fridge got strapped to his back down the homestretch. His willpower somehow kept him on his feet to hold onto 2nd place. But he came back with a vengeance in the 200 by winning his heat easily in 25.05. Possibly the only guy in history to run the first 200 of his 400 faster than he ran the 200. We'll have to check that with the Guiness Book of records…. A fine showing nevertheless!
In the following 400 meters heat, Kenyon took second in a fine 56.81 considering the conditions and how much waiting around in the most archaic seeding process this reporter has ever seen in his 40 years in the sport. Julius also ran a great 400 in a later heat, also taking second in a super 55.95, which was good enough for 2nd place overall in the NBL ! Kenyon's time was good enough for 4th overall in the NBL.
The long jump gals were the unanimous stud award winners as they braved the worst conditions of the whole day in the middle of their event and still managed to get jumps off. They huddled under an umbrella between jumps (until the umbrella broke and was rendered useless !), then they resorted to a blanket. Hannah's 13-7 was good enough for 4th in the NBL and Vivien's 13-3 was 7th in NBL. Proud of you gals ! In the 400, Rachel ran a season best 1:17 for 10th with a very stout headwind down the backstretch. We felt bad for Amy who never got her step down in the LJ as the sideways rain and winds made it pretty tough.
The 200 Meters was also a nice event for us. As earlier mentioned, there was Dominic's convincing win in his heat and then Julius and Kenyon braved the cold for another TWO HOURS to run in theirs. Julius took 3rd in his heat with a 25 second race and Kenyon grabbed 2nd with a 24.70 time which was good enough for 7th overall in the NBL.
We're off to a great start. We just need the weather to warm up and we will see the times come down. Great job everyone ! We coaches are proud of you for not whining in the abysmal conditions and competing hard out there.
We just got the soccer players out, so it will be a HUGE boost to see Liam, Oliver, Jacob, Josh, Lily, Hennessey, Ashley, Gianna and Siena perform with their vast talents out on the oval ! Rumors have been circulating that we will see 3 ladies hoopers out soon too. This is getting exciting !
Stay tuned ! Twilight Meet on Friday at the JC…Early releases.
