RV’s Little comes up big at state meet
River Valley High junior Rylan Little made his third trip to the CIF State Swimming & Diving Championships count on Saturday.
Facing off against the best divers from across California, Little recorded the best score of his career and finished third in the state during the finals at Clovis West High in Clovis.
Little made the trip to the state championships as a freshman and finished 15th, and qualified again as a sophomore when he took sixth.
On Saturday, he posted a personal-best score of 581.60 to move up the ranks to third.
“I was really just happy to be there my freshman year. My sophomore year, I wanted to do better, and this year I did exactly what I wanted to do – finish in the top three,” Little said. “I’ve been practicing on getting better and I was more confident. It was my third time being there so I was used to the pool and less nervous.”
The fact that he saved the best dive of his life for when it mattered most made the third-place finish even more rewarding.
“I was absolutely happy with the personal record,” he said. “There’s always a little bit of room for improvement, but not much more.”
TRACK & FIELD Seven Huskies headed to Masters In Yreka – Sutter will send seven of its athletes to the Northern Section Masters Meet after qualifying at the Division II Championships on Friday.
The top finisher for the Huskies was Savannah Bailey, who placed first in both the 200 (26.56 seconds) and the 400 (60.15). Bailey also finished second in the 100 (12.67) to qualify for Masters in three events.
Mia Ashby finished first in the 1,600 (5 minutes, 34.68 seconds) and second in the 3,200 (12.50.91), and Kayla Page qualified by taking third in both the 400 (1:03.63) and the 800 (2:31.91).
Bailey, Page, Maddie Kunkle and Kendal England also teamed up to take third in the 4x100 relay in a time of 53.84, but did not qualify for Masters.
On the boys side, Johnathon Adams was the top performer for Sutter by winning both the 100 (11.25) and the 200 (22.48). He also ran the second leg on the winning 4x100 relay team with Cason Reyes, Tyler Reynolds and Trever Facey, which timed in at 44.0.
Johnathon Zubia took third in the 400 (52.21), Reyes placed fourth in both the 200 (23.40) and the long jump (18 feet, 4 ⁄ inches), and Michael Adams was fourth in the 400 (52.95) but each did not advance.
Bailey, Ashby, Page, Adams and the relay team of Adams, Reyes, Reynolds and Facey will next compete at the Northern Section Masters Meet on Friday at West Valley High in Cottonwood. Season ends for YC, RV athletes In Fair Oaks – While Yuba City’s Kaiden Henry and KeRon Blackwell were the only two athletes to finish in the top seven overall at the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II-III Meet last Friday to punch their tickets to Masters, members of River Valley and Yuba City’s varsity teams finished their seasons strong.
River Valley’s Emmanuel Castrellon set a school record in the pole vault (11-10) while finishing fourth in Division III, Abishek Singh placed sixth in the long jump (20-8 ⁄ and John Kroeger finished seventh in the triple jump (41-2 ⁄ and ninth in the long jump (19-9).
Jack Farley took 12th in the shot put (40-1), Aidan Jukes was 12th in the 800 (2:11.49), and the Falcons’ 4x100 relay team of David Kyambadde, David Castrejon, Emmanuel Castrellon and Elias Sarraco finished ninth (45.27).
For Yuba City, Keith Halsey placed fourth in Division III in the 400 (51.69) and eighth in the 200 (23.06) and Henry was fifth in the discus (123-8), but neither advanced in those events after not finishing in the top seven overall.
Diego Early placed ninth in the 400 (53.02), Erik Palmquist was 11th in the 400 (54.18), Diego Early finished 11th in the 300 hurdles (45.55) and Atticus Driver took 11th in the 3,200 (10:56.30).
On the girls side, Dejah Duke finished fifth in the high jump (4-6), Sarah Holland took sixth in the 1,600 (5:30.68) and Cornelia Richardson placed eighth in the 100 hurdles (20.76) for River Valley.
Alaira Smith finished 10th in the long jump (14-6 ⁄ and 12th in the triple jump (30-0 ⁄ and Abby Titus was 10th in the discus (81-8).
Emma Nelson was the top girls performer for Yuba City by taking seventh in the 400 (63.57) and 10th in the 200 (27.25). Citlalli Fernandez placed eighth in the shot put (29-11), Hannah Owens was ninth in the 300 hurdles (51.16), and Alexah Owens finished 10th in the 400 (65.88) and 12th in the 800 (2:35.52) for the Honkers.