Five alive for Lodi High track at DI meet

Handful qualify for section; more have chance at finals

After one day at the SacJoaquin Section Division I track and field championships, five Lodi High athletes have qualified for the sections’ Masters tournament.

Erik Ebert (boys 400-meter run and 200-meter), Paige Sefried (girls 300 hurdles and 400), Bryan Quintero (boys discus), Darrius Hart (boys triple jump) and Emily Dubois (girls triple jump) have all secured their spots in next week’s Masters meet.

Some field events had their finals on Wednesday, while most of the running events are split into prelims on Wednesday and finals on Friday.

But because the top 12 move on to the Masters meet, those who qualify in for the finals (top eight) are qualified for Masters, even though they still have to run in the Division I Finals on Friday.

That’s what Ebert and Sefried did. Ebert placed fifth in the 400 at 49.83 seconds and third in the 200 at 22.13, while Sefried was sixth in both the 400 (57.87) and the 300 hurdles (46.00).

The other three had their finals on Wednesday, during which Quintero placed seventh in the discus at 147 feet, 6 inches, Hart placed 11th in the triple jump at 42-9.25 and Dubois placed eighth in the triple jump at 35-5.5.

Ten other Lodi athletes will have everything to race for on Friday in the consolation finals (places 9 through 16), which will send the top four on to Masters.

That’s where the Flames have Jackie Westerterp (12th in the girls 300 hurdles at 48.14), James Angel (13th in the boys 800 at 2:00.17), Ryan Westerterp (14th in the boys 110 hurdles at 16.06), Kimani Bell (14th in the boys 200 at 22.89), Dubois (16th in the girls 100 hurdles at 16.05), Mason Pascal (16th in the boys 200 at 23.22) and the girls 4-by-400 relay team of Brooke Aberle, Jackie Westerterp, Lyneth Alacar and Amelia Ellison, which was 12th in the prelims at 4:14.57.

Two Lodi athletes missed the consolation finals by a single spot — Luis Torres was 17th in the discus at 123-11 and Aberle was 17th in the girls 800 at 2:27.12.

Other Flames competing included Bryson Goehring (20th in the boys 800 at 2:02.31), Alacar in the girls 400 (23rd at 1:05.55), Ellison in the girls high jump (no height) and the boys 4by-400 relay team (21st at 3:34.98).

Division IV

In the Division IV preliminaries on Tuesday, Galt’s Sabrina Welch and Liberty Ranch’s Dylan McDonald qualified for the finals. The top five placers in each event at today’s finals in Stockton will advance to the Masters meet.

Welch finished fourth in the girls 300 hurdles (49.88) in the prelims, while McDonald placed seventh in the boys 400 (53.75).

Other competitors included Galt’s Welch in the girls 100 hurdles (ninth at 18.44), Rogelio Andrade (12th in the boys 800 at 2:23.57) and Rigoberto Yepez in the boys long jump (12th at 18-5) and Liberty Ranch’s Edgar Reyes (11th in the boys long jump at 18-11.75).