FIELD Cardenas, Grotegeer headed back to State Meet
Gridley High senior Stephanie Cardenas and Wheatland junior Erica Grotegeer are headed to this week’s CIF State Meet after winning two events at the Northern Section Track and Field Championships on Friday at West Valley High in Cottonwood.
Cardenas, who competed at the state meet as an alternate in both hurdle events last year, won the 100 hurdles in a time of 15.18 seconds and took first in the 300 hurdles in 45.0 on Friday.
She also joined Willow Sturdivant, Whitney Sannar and Michael Curry on the Bulldogs’ first-place 4x400 relay team to qualify for state in three events. They timed in at 4 minutes, 9.22 seconds.
Grotegeer placed first in the discus with a throw of 147 feet, 6 inches and won the long jump with a leap of 17-6 ⁄ to make it to state for the third straight year. She also finished third in the 100 with a time of 12.98 seconds.
It marked the third straight year Grotegeer was the section champion in the discus. She was also the defending champion in the shot put, but scratched on all three of her attempts on Friday.
The first-place finishers in the Northern Section qualify for the state meet, while second-place finishers are alternates.
Also turning in a strong performance in Cottonwood on Friday was Sutter junior Savannah Bailey, who finished second in the three sprinting events. Bailey took second in the 100 (12.95), the 200m (26.17) and the 400 (59.45) and will be an alternate for state.
Gridley’s Curry also placed sec- ond in the triple jump (34-9 ⁄ and was third in the long jump (15-10 ⁄ while Wheatland’s Abby Meder was fifth in the shot put (32-7 ⁄
Sutter’s Kayla Page placed fifth in the 800 (2:26.91), and teammate Mia Ashby placed was sixth in both the 1,600 (5:29.67) and 3,200 (12:23.83).
Biggs’ Jamie McEntire finished third in both the 400 (59.91) and the 800 (2:22.32), and Live Oak’s Isabel Hernadez took fifth in both the 100 (13.30) and the 200 (27.38).
Williams’ Lizbeth Hernandez was sixth in the 100 (13.41) and seventh in the 200 (27.49) to round out the top local girls finishers.
On the boys side, Sutter’s Johnathon Adams placed third in both the 100 (11.30) and the 200 (22.7). He also took home a third-place medal in the 4x100 relay team with the help of Cason Reyes, Tyler Reynolds and Trever Facey. The foursome ran a personal best of 43.85 seconds.
Wheatland’s C.J. Duncan finished second in the 800 (1:57.63) and teammate Anthony Alvarez was fourth in the 300 hurdles (41.38). The Pirates’ 4x400 relay team of Duncan, Alvarez, Travis McCane and Xavier Sanchez also took fifth in 3:31.40.
Wheatland’s Aryam Lora-Martinez was sixth in the 100 (11.63), Wheatland’s Travis McCane took sixth in the 400 (51.72), Live Oak’s Jagger Bains was seventh in the 100 (11.68), and Sut- ter’s Jonathan Zubia took eighth in the 800 (53.50).
Cardenas, Grotegeer, and shot putters Parker Jenks from Marysville and Kaiden Henry from Yuba City will represent the Mid-Valley area at the 99th annual CIF State Track and Field Meet starting Friday at Buchanan High in Clovis.