MHS track teams win Golden West Relays
Monache High School track and field teams faced 10 teams at the Larry Lung Golden West Relays, including Lindsay, Mt. Whitney, Golden West, Foothill, Fowler, Lemoore, Tulare Union and Hanford West.
The Monache boys won the team standings with a score of 270 to Lindsay’s 222 and Tulare Western’s 160. The Monache girls team also won with a score of 239 to Golden West’s 199.
“We faced some solid teams that have been on the rise,” said MHS coach Seth Ishida. “The Tulare schools did not bring their full teams and had gone to other events during the week. We were looking at each other in person for the first time and measuring and scouting. We have one victory in league and were seventh at the Kern County Invitational out of 14 of the best teams in that county, so I think we can do well in the EYL. We wanted to have some good performances during our spring break so we could work towards winning EYL and improving marks for the post season push.”
Monache’s Ivan Mendez won the 1600, 3200, and anchored a second place distance medley relay team (Joachim Del Rosario, Geovanni Sanchez and Joel Garcia) and was awarded the Male Athlete of the Meet.
“It was nice to see Ivan get recognized with the award,” Ishida said. “He has been on a roll lately. I think he was edged out by Cal full-scholarship athlete Moises Madrano for best athlete on the track at Kern. Our goal is to go to the state championship and run in the finals and place. These are the type of awards that go along with that final goal.”
The MHS girls distance medley team of Marilou Ruiz, Trinity Ramirez, Alyssa Quinones and Imelda Suarez won with a school record time of 13 minutes and 19 seconds. Suarez also won the 3200 with a 12:02 and placed third in the 1600 with a 5:29 behind teammate Ruiz in second with a personal best of 5:26. Ruiz was also second in the 800 with a 2:28.05 and
Quinones was third with a 2:28.88.
The Monache boys sprint medley team won gold with the excellent performances of Joey Vath, Montrese Fields, Bryce Arce and Julian Andrade. Andrade went on to earn third in the open 400 meter race with a 53.83 and anchor the second place finishing 4x400 meter relay.
“He has been working really hard and sacrificed being a part of our EYL champion basketball team so that he can lead this team back to the Valley championship race and win league as well,” Ishida said. “He is our team captain and leads by example.”
Joey Vath was back in jumping form again with a 20 footer to earn second in the long jump and Montrese Fields was third in the triple jump with a 38-10 jump.
“They had a little later start because of their basketball playoff run, so they are just beginning
to show signs of greatness,” Ishida said.
Mikayli Moore had an excellent day running two different 400 meter races at 63 seconds with gold in the open 400 meters and the 4x400 meter relay (consisting of Alexa Queenan, Adriana Loya and Laila Alghonaym) and earning a second in the sprint medley with teammates Raquel Calo, Loya, and Quinones. Queenan was also third in the 400 meter open race. Laila Alghonaym won gold in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 19.15.
Chris Martinez and Austin Valencia were first and third in the 300 meter hurdles.
Annaleesa Vasquez was third in the girls discus with a throw of 99 feet.
“It was a total team effort and it was a long day battling great athletes with Marauders on top,” Ishida said. Meet results are posted on Athletic. net.