LO senior wins high jump as Lady Acorns place ninth out of 32
teams Saturday
MOUNTAIN VIEW — Competing against some of the athletes she could face at section finals, Stephanie Armstrong of Live Oak High School cleared 5 feet, 4 inches to win the high jump in Saturday’s St. Francis Track and Field Invitational.
The senior won with the fewest failed attempts, edging Taryn McDonalds of Clovis West and Kirsten Kozlovsky of host St. Francis. Armstrong provided one of several key performances that helped the Lady Acorns place ninth out of 32 teams with 25 points.
Seniors Pauline Olsen and Erika Rodriguez respectively clocked personal-record times in the 400 meters (58.85 seconds) and 100 meters (13.07) to place fourth and 13th. Live Oak also won the 800-meter sprint medley (1:50.42) and benefitted from a strong showing by Nikki Dronek, who placed 13th in the discus (71-09) and 14th in shot put (25-04).
In the mile, Chelsie Faulk (6:02.49) crossed in 13th for the Acorns.
The LOHS boys scored 15 points to take 15th out of 36 teams.
The Acorns’ mile relay of Jacob Daw, Eric Tolson, Kean Vaziry and Jacob Montoya led the way with a third-place finish in 3:34.28. Live Oak also took third in the 800 medley (1:39.69) and eighth in the 400-meter relay (45.84).
T.J. Ornduff placed an impressive seventh in long jump at 19-11 and set a new PR in the process. The junior also leaped 39-0 1/2 in triple jump to place 11th; six spots ahead of teammate Dominic Leach who PRed at 36-3 1/2.
Taylor Alonzo finished 16th in long jump (18-2) and 11th in the 100 meters (11.77). Daw’s best height (5-06) in high jump was good for 11th place, and Adam Groen placed 13th in the mile with a personal-best 4:56.54.
Anchored by top-10 performances from Alan Rios, Ralph Jackson and Brandon Mancini, Sobrato High School finished 19th in boys competition.
Jackson placed fifth (52.34) in the 400 and 10th (11.76) in the 100; Rios settled for fourth (1:57.05) in the 800 meters despite finishing less than two seconds from his PR, and Mancini took seventh in pole vault, matching five other athletes at 11 feet.
Also for the Bulldogs, Marek Zhang recorded the 16th fastest time in the 300-meter hurdles.
The SHS girls featured mile and 4×100-meter relays that placed fifth (4:25.54) and eighth (53.49). Cassandra Valenzuela was 15th in the 400 (1:04.54), and Marissa Benjamin finished 18th in the 100 (13.44) for the Lady Bulldogs, who were 24th as a team.
BASEBALL
Leigh 5, SHS 4
The host Longhorns scored twice in the seventh inning Friday to get by the second-place Bulldogs, who had a three-game winning streak in Mount Hamilton Division play snapped.
Sobrato had a 10-7 edge in hits, including three by senior outfielder Deric Horan.
Leigh improved to 2-4-1 overall and 2-2-1 in league.
The Bulldogs (3-4, 3-2) followed that with a 2-0 defeat Saturday at The King’s Academy.
Branham 6, LOHS 1
The Mount Hamilton-leading Bruins (6-2, 4-0) scored four runs in the first two innings and surrendered three hits Friday on the way to their second straight win against the visiting Acorns.
For Live Oak (4-5, 2-4), Ryan Muir doubled and drove in a run, and Rich Martinez struck out four in as many innings.
