Joe Lang & Maggie Delay headed to state in three events

ROYAL CITY — Zillah took the team titles in boys and girls competition in the SCAC District Track Meet held on the Royal High track last Friday.

But Royal advanced nine quality performers to the state meet at Cheney this weekend. Wahluke High advanced one girl.

Zillah won the boys meet with 139 points. Royal took fifth place with 67. Zillah won the girls title with 126.5 points. Royal finished fourth with 93.

Of the nine athletes who qualified from Royal, only one is a senior. And several of the Royal athletes who did not qualify had great days, giving personal record performances all over the field.

As expected, Joe Lang and Maggie Delay made it to state in three events. Not so expected was Noelia Juarez’s advance in two, and Gracelynn Miller’s advance in three, and Arturo Villa just missed qualifying twice.

Lang set a school record time of 14.80 (same as the winner) to take second in the 110-meter hurdles. Villa set a personal record of 15.77 for third place and a ticket to state.

Athletes had to place third or higher in all events to qualify. Villa took fourth in the 300-meter hurdles with a clocking of 42.13.

Lang had the best long jumping day of his career. He recorded a leap of 21-5 on his first attempt, then stretched to 22-3.75 on his second attempt.

That leap was a personal record for Lang, only one-fourth of an inch off the school record. With the district title in hand, he skipped the remaining flight jump and all finals jumps to concentrate on other events.

One of those was the triple jump, which he won with a school record mark of 45-10.

Maggie Delay won the pole vault with a mark of 10 feet. She won the 100-meter high hurdles with a time of 15.69. She qualified in the triple jump with third place at 34-9.

Delay will be accompanied to state by Berenise Rodriguez in the pole vault. Rodriguez took third with a mark of 8-0.

Juarez, the sophomore whom basketball coach Phil Daubel dubbed “The Deer,” demonstrated why. A first-year track athlete, she qualified for state with third in the 100-meter dash at 26.75 and second in the 400 with a clocking of 1:01.3. Both were personal records.

Gracelynn Miller qualified for state three times. She was third in the 400 at 1:02.33, third in the 800 at 2:31.39, and she ran the first leg of the second-place team in the 1600-meter relay in a school record time of 4:11.94.

The 1600 relay performance got long-distance runner Kay Lester back to state. A nagging knee problem hampered her entire season and she was unable to qualify again in the 1600 and 3200.

“She ran a real good anchor leg,” Assistant Coach John Trepanier said.

The second and third legs of that relay were run by freshman Abigail Delay and Juarez.

Jessica Arellano was the lone state qualifier for Wahluke. She started the 3200 in sixth place at the second turn, moved up to fourth by the second lap and took third place at the end with a school record time of 12:27.65. She beat her previous personal record by 30 seconds.

District meet results for Royal and Wahluke athletes follow:

Boys

• 800 – 7. Silver Beltran, R, 2:17.30
• 1600 – 4. Salvador Horta, R, 4:48.67, PR: 7. Victor Garcia, R, 4:52.13, 14. Cesar Renteria-Camacho, R, 5:28.48; 15. Ezequiel Rodriguez, W, 5:36.21.
• 3200 – 6. Salvador Horta, R, 10:47.29; 11. Silver Beltran, R, 11:12.84; 12. Alex Ramirez, R, 11:38.87, PR; 14. Cesar Renteria-Camacho, R, 12:13.63; 15. Ezequiel Rodriguez, W, 12:58.18.
• 110 hurdles – 2. Joe Lang, R, 14.80, PR, SR; 3. Arturo Villa, R, 15.77, PR.
• 300 hurdles – 4. Arturo Villa, R, 42.13; 7. Fernando Soto, R, 44:02, PR.
• 400 relay – 7. Royal (Ryan Sandberg, Gerrit Larson, Fernando Soto, Arturo Villa) 49.21.
• 1600 relay – 4. Royal (Arturo Villa, Fernando Soto, Salvador Horta, Victor Garcia) 3:36.88.
• Shot put – 13. Jose Jimenez, R, 38-10.5; 14. Luis Contreras, W, 37-4.5.
• Discus – 7. Luis Contreras, W, 122-9; 9. Javier Martinez, R, 102-1.
• Javelin – 4. Ramses Gonzalez, R, 145-1.
• High jump – 8. Gerrit Larson, R, 5-4; 10. Gildardo Rincon, R, 5-0.
• Pole vault - 7. Kevin Pastor, R, 10-0; 12. Oswaldo Lopez, R, 7-0; 14. Ryan Sandberg, R, 7-0.
• Long jump – 1. Joe Lang, R, 22-3.75, PR.
• Triple Jump – 1. Joe Lang, R, 45-10, PR, SR; 11. Fernando Soto, R, 35-5.75; 12. Gerrit Larson, R, 34-7; 14. Gildardo Rincon, R, 33-7.75, PR; 15. Juan Rodriguez, W, 32-2.

Girls

• 100 – 7. Maria Herrera, R, 13.69, PR; 8. Brisa Mendoza, W, 13.94.
• 200 – 3. Noelia Juarez, R, 26.73, PR; 7. Maria Herrera, R, 28.78, PR; 8. Brisa Mendoza, 29.12.
• 400 – 2. Noelia Juarez, R, 1:01.30, PR; 3. Gracelynn Miller, R, 1:02.33, PR; 8. Mirla Diaz, W, 1:06.38.
• 800 – 6. Kay Lester, R, 2:38.72.
• 1600 – 5. Kay Lester, R, 5:44.5; 10. Jessica Arellano, W, 6:11.99; 12. Elizabeth Guadarrama, R, 6:15.67, PR. 13. Ana Villafana, R, 6:18.86, PR .
• 3200 – 3. Jessica Arellano, W, 12:27.65; 6. Elizabeth Guadarrama, R, 13:20.90, PR; 7. Ana Villafana, R, 13:25.20, PR; 11. Isabel Quiroz, R, 15:25.16; 13. Sarai Gutierrez, W, 15:40.77; 14. Wendy Castro, W, 15:46.62; 15. Leslie Moreno, R, 16:18.96, PR.
• 100 hurdles – 1. Maggie Delay, R, 15.69.
• 300 hurdles – 4. Alicia Callahan, R, 51.08, PR; Brisa Mendoza, W, 53.12.
• 400 relay – 5. Royal (Maria Herrera, Abigail Delay, Berenise Rodriguez, Noelia Juarez) 52.50.
• 1600 relay – 2. Royal (Gracelynn Miller, Abigail Delay, Noelia Juarez, Kay Lester), 4:11.94, SR.
• Shot put – 12. Cynthia Rodriguez, R, 24-9.25; 14. Hannah Fanning, R, 24-0.75; 16. Lesly Raygoza, R, 21-10.5.
• Discus – 6. Abby Yorgesen, W, 91-3; 8. Cynthia Rodriguez, R, 89-11, PR; 11. Hannah Fanning, R, 84-7.
• Javelin – 15. Lesly Raygoza, R, 61-4.
• High Jump – 6. Abby Yorgesen, W, 4-6; Anabelle Booth, R, 4-2.
• Pole vault – 1. Maggie Delay, R, 10-0; 3. Berenise Rodriguez, R, 8-0, PR; 8. Isela Aguirre, R, 6-0, PR; 9. Elizabeth Esparza, R, 6-0; 10. Jasmyne Valdez, R, 5-6.
• Long Jump – 12. Anabelle Booth, R, 13-7, PR; 16. Maira Cortez, R, 12-4.
• Triple Jump – 3. Maggie Delay, R, 34-9; 11. Abigail Delay, R, 30-3.50, PR; 14. Maira Cortez, R, 27-1.50.