A local contingent of some of the top runners and field athletes in the area turned in some impressive showings Saturday at the Sacramento Meet of Champions.
Leading the way was Sonoma Academy junior Josie Hill, who broke a nearly 20-year-old meet record as she won the Invitational 800-meter race. Hill finished in 2 minutes, 7.34 seconds, over four seconds ahead of the second-place runner. While not a personal record, it’s the third-fastest time in the event in the state this season and broke the old meet record of 2:07.84 set by Alex Kosinski in 2007. Kosinski is the former national high school record holder in the 1,600.
While Hill was the local headliner, competitors from Casa Grande, Vintage and Justin-Siena also had strong showings.
In other Invitational events, the Vintage boys 4×100 relay team of Mason Howell, Sean Butler, Ruben Sanchez and Angel Borrayo placed sixth with a time of 42.87, Justin-Siena senior Lainey Reiter took sixth in the girls’ 400 in 57.53 and Casa Grande senior Jack Dufour finished seventh in the boys’ 800 in 1:57.21.
In standard varsity events, Grace Sheehan hit a new personal best in the triple jump as she hit a mark of 35 feet, 5.5 inches. She also placed seventh in the long jump with a leap of 16-01.5.
Casa Grande senior Jackson Metzler placed 13th overall in the varsity boys long jump (19-05) and 15th in the 100 (11.08) while Justin-Siena junior Mackenzie Cutler placed 16th overall in the varsity girls 100 with a time of 12.58.