Lodi’s McDowell wins D1 long jump, among athletes headed to section

A Lodi athlete notched a divisional title at the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I Track and Field Championships on Friday at Folsom High.

The Flames’ Maceo McDowell launched himself 22 feet, 7.25 inches for the win in the boys long jump, a close win over Lincoln’s Ethan Fong, who landed at 22-4.

McDowell now heads to the SJS Masters Meet, which is May 19 and 20 at Davis High. The top eight in each event qualify from Division I, and there are automatic qualifying marks.

A few local athletes will join McDowell at the section meet by placing in the top eight — Tokay’s Joshua Young placed fourth in the pole vault with a 13-foot, 6-inch clearance, Lodi’s Talisa Heinitz placed fourth in the girls long jump at 1610.5, Lodi’s Kaiden Merryman placed sixth in the boys 100 with a 10.95-second run (a mark equaled by Whitney’s Isaiah Bickham; a closer inspection of the time gave Merryman the edge at 10.944 to Bickham’s 10.958), the Lodi boys 4-by-100 relay team placed seventh at 43.90, and Lodi’s Stephen Holbo placed eighth in the discus with a 137-2.

Two Lodi athletes finished just outside of the auto qualifying, with Nick Isaiah Gaona placed ninth in the pole vault at 13-0, and Grace Duenas placing 10th in the shot put at 325.5.

Other local boys athletes in the event included Lodi’s VictorManuel Hernandez (12th in the discus at 124-4), Tokay’s Simon Kolber (15th in the pole vault at 11-6), Lodi’s Alex Mendoza (17th in the 1,600 at 4:38.99 and 22nd in the 3,200 at 10:37.79), and Lodi’s Brian Puac Ramos (19th in the discus at 108-9).

Other local girls athletes included Lodi’s Samantha Stone (13th in the 1,600 at 5:31.86 and 14th in the 3,200 at 12:21.72), Lodi’s Keeli Reinken (15th in the 1,600 at 5:35.02 and 22nd in the 3,200 at 12:58.93), Lodi’s Laena Burke (16th in the 3,200 at 12:23.45), Lodi’s Zoe Aitken (19th in the 1,600 5:38.54 and

19th in the 3,200 12:46.29), Tokay’s Ariana Villareal (20th in the shot put at 26-3), Lodi’s Amelia Johnson (21st in the 1,600 at 5:42.14 and 20th in the 3,200 at 12:47.97), and Lodi’s Stacie De La Rosa (21st in the shot put at 25-2.5).

SWIMMING CIF State Championships

A handful of Lodi athletes competed at the state swim championships late last week at Clovis West High.

The 400-yard relay team of Olivia Stevenson, Ellie Mortenson, Claire DeVries and Molly Thurow, all juniors, placed 18th in the preliminaries on Friday, just outside of the consolation finals, with a 3-minute, 32.45-second swim.

DeVries also swam in the 100 breaststroke, placing 36th at 3:32.45.

They joined Lodi senior Savanna Berry, who placed eighth in the diving competition on May 11 with 490.05 points.

SOFTBALL SJS brackets released

After placing fourth in the Tri-City Athletic League standings, Lodi was given a spot in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.

Lodi, the 12th seed in Division II, will travel to play at Woodcreek today at 4 p.m. Lodi went 8-13 overall, and 7-8 in TCAL play to place fourth. Woodcreek finished the regular season with a 15-8-1 record, and went 10-2 in the Capital Valley Conference to split the title with Inderkum.

The winner between the two will face the winner between No. 4 St. Francis and No. 13 Mountain House.

In Division IV, Liberty Ranch is the No. 6 seed, and after a bye today will face No. 3 Capital Christian on Thursday.