Manteca got some needed contributions across all disciplines to capture its first-ever Sac-Joaquin Section championship pennant Friday at Golden Valley’s Veterans Stadium.
Sophomore hurdler William Brown earned top-four medals in four different events while breaking a school record, highlighting the Buffaloes’ historic night in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III Finals. Manteca finished with 70 points to host Golden Valley’s 59. Vacaville came in third with 48.
Twelve Bridges (52) is the girls champion, fending off Nevada Union (43) and Del Campo (42).
“I think it truly was a whole team effort,” Manteca coach P.J. Lyons said. “Going into these things, you know you’ll need kids who do what they’re supposed to do, but there are also outliers — kids can have a bad day, or other kids can have great days.
“It was tight in the end. The boys and sore and beaten up, but they pulled through and I couldn’t be prouder.”
It came down to the final two events.
Manteca looked to distance standout Oscar Angel to rack up some big points, and the senior stepped up. The Buffaloes trailed Golden Valley by four points heading into the 3,200 run, and Angel placed second in 9 minutes, 24.32 seconds for eight points. Angel had to battle Vacaville brothers Cooper Stream (9:33.74) and Jackson Stream (9:26.50) along the way. Earlier in the meet, he narrowly finished third (4:18.46) behind Jackson (4:18.24) and Cooper (4:18.26) Stream.
With Angel vaulting Manteca into the lead, it was up to the 4x400 — competing without its best runner in the event — to bring it home. Mateo Esparza, Joseph Habibi, Julian Moncada and Brown took third with a season-best 3:29.87 and ahead of Golden Valley’s quartet that ended up sixth.
Jayden Scarver, who qualified for state in the 400 and mile relay last year, is out this week after suffering a hamstring injury during the Valley Oak League meet last week. Although he is out of the running in the 200 and 400, Lyons hopes the senior will be available for the relay events next week, May 23-24, in the SJS Masters meet a Folsom High.
The top seven placers out of the Division III meet along with at-large qualifiers advance.
“We’re fortunate to have enough in the stable that we didn’t have to utilize him at all this week,” Lyons said. “Our 4x100 competed without him and did well. This allowed him to rest.”
Two MHS record fell at the divisional meet this week.
On Wednesday, Joshua Mellion set the new mark at 178 feet, 3 inches, which was good for first place. He also took fifth in the shot put (52-00) on Friday.
Brown placed third in the 300-meter hurdles, breaking Lyons’ school record in 38.76. He took fourth in the 110 hurdles (15.01) and was on the second-place 4x100 (42.76) with Quinn Martinez, Moncada and Habibi.
Moncada is Masters bound in two individual sprints after placing third in the 100 (10.81) and seventh in the 200 (22.68). Martinez took seventh in the 100 (11.07).
Tyler Watkins earned two Masters berth on Wednesday in the high jump (fourth, 5-10) and triple jump (first, 44-06). Levi Perez secured his spot in the discus (seventh, 137-07).
Jackson Fay starred for East Union, capturing silvers in the 100 (10.70) and 200 (22.13). He also led the 4x100 relay (Cesar Salinas, JP Abrew, Darrion Brown) to a third-place finish in 43.42.
Sierra’s boys have Masters qualifiers in the shot put with Teagan Nazzisi (sixth, 50-05) and the 4x800 (third, 8:15.73) of Manuel Alvarez, Landen Nabb, Rishabh Gopal and Kenneth Roach.
Only two local female competitors are advancing to Masters out of the D-III meet.
Manteca senior Rylan Steckler did it in the pole vault (second, 9-06) and high jump (seventh, 4-08), while Sierra freshman Anna Dittman squeaked through with her seventh-place finish in the 3,200 (11:36.51).
