LOCAL ATHLETES QUALIFY FOR STATE
Tokay’s Sandoval, Liberty Ranch’s Ullrich head to state; two are alternates
ELK GROVE — Andres Sandoval kept his promise.
Competing at the Sac-Joaquin Section’s Masters Track and Field finals at Elk Grove High on Friday, Sandoval trailed in the boys’ 1,600-meter race. But the senior Tiger prevailed to take third place with a time of 4 minutes, 14.54 seconds, which is a personal best and new school record, according to Tokay coach Zak Walcher.
The third place finish propels Sandoval into the 99th annual CIF State Track and Field Championships, which will be held at Veterans Memorial Stadium at Buchanan High of Clovis next Friday and Saturday. The top three in each event at the Masters advance to the state meet, with the fourth place finisher going as an alternate.
Liberty Ranch’s Collin Ullrich will join Sandoval in the trek to the Fresno area toward the end of next week. Ullrich took third place in the boys’ 3,200meter race.
Lodi’s Paige Sefried and Liberty Ranch’s Kamil Jones will also be joining Sandoval and Ullrich in Clovis. Sefried and Joines took fourth place in the girls’ 400 meters and boys’ 300 hurdles events, respectively, to snag an alternate spot.
At the start of his race, Sandoval stayed with a pack of runners. Entering the third lap, Sandoval broke away from the pack, but trailed the first six runners.
Going into the final 400 meters, Sandoval, now in the fifth spot, raced past Placer’s Ryman Crone and Woodcreek-Roseville’s Robert Williams. In the final 100 yards, he sped to keep pace with Davis’ Michael Vernau and Armijo-Fairfield’s Luis Gruijalva.
“The gap was getting bigger,” Sandoval said.
Walcher added, “Andres won a smart race from start to finish. What more could a coach ask for?”
When it came to crunch time in the end, Sandoval delivered.
“I told my family, friends, coaches that it’s going to come down who really wants it more,” Sandoval said. “I started kicking, kept going and going.”
Ullrich, who like Sandoval, competed at the CIF State Cross-Country Championships last November, was
clocked at 9:18.33. That’s a huge drop in time for Ullrich, only a junior. In the section’s Division IV meet at California State University, Stanislaus in Turlock toward the end of last week, Ullrich won at 9:41.60.
Sefried, still nursing a left knee injury sustained in a Tri-City Athletic League meet last month, started her 400-meter race trailing the pack of runners. But just like Sandoval, Sefried also picked up the speed, bypassed five runners to finish the race at 56.84. Her time is a new personal best for her, and according to Lodi coach Greg Wright, a new school record.
“That’s what I was hoping for,” said Sefried of breaking her personal best. “I was close to them, and I was trying to gain on them.”
Sefried ran in the 300 hurdles, where she took seventh place at 45.20.
Jones, who earned a finals berth in the 300 hurdles at the section’s trials on Thursday at third place after the original third place leader fell after clearing the final hurdle, finished his race with at time of 38.57. At last week’s D-IV finals, Jones won at a time of 40.51.
Lodi had two participants in the finals. In the boys’ 400 meters race, the Flames’ Erik Ebert was took eighth place at 50.72. Tokay’s Aldo Perez competed in the boys’ 800 meters race, but did not place in the top eight.
In the field events, Lodi’s Damien Biegler competed in the boys’ high jump. After he cleared the bar at 6 feet, 1 inch, he was unable to get past 6-03 in three attempts.