(l-r) Taylor Brown, one of the top 20 freshman girl 100m runners in the state and Carlos Briceno, one of the top 20 sophomore boy high hurdler runners in the state

The first half of the Flashes track and field season winds down to a close and has seen some solid performances by key veterans and outstanding performances by fresh faced newcomers. This will certainly be an interesting season in the newly refurbished tri-valley league.

The girls’ varsity, although small in early season action, is still formidable with returning veterans such as Kiana Hope, Jordyn Vassaur, and Maria Villalobos. The sprints reunite Kaytlin Magana, Alissabeth Hernandez, Banely Arevalo and Andrea Robles. Kaytlin and Sarena De La Cruz will also be moving into the long jump and triple this year. A key pick up in the throws is powerhouse Kayla Grove who teams up with Jessica Mayhew to heave heavy objects very far.

For the boys’ varsity the returning distance experts come fresh off their cross country state win and include Justin Beach, Vincent Chavez, Frank Chavez, Nicolas Frias, Isaac Gomez, Adrian Mejia, Anthony Rivas and Hugo Valdovinos. For the sprinters, Alexander Banales, Javier Rodriguez and Andrey Sanchez return to show their speed. Hurdler Tyler Hackworth has already shaved over a second off of his best from last year and Joey Orozco will soon be recovered and jumping with Alexander. Ricardo Gutierrez anchors the varsity throwing team.

The girls’ junior varsity has real talent waiting to step up. Taylor Brown is already one of the top 20 freshman girl 100m runners in the state with a best of 13.17. Assisting in the middle sprints is Jordan Manzano and going just a little bit further in the distance category is Irma Torres. Dasy Cota is the lone jumper covering both horizontal jumps and the high jump.

By far the largest section of the team the boys’ freshman sophomore team is highly competitive. With Carlos Briceno in the top twenty sophomores in the state for the high hurdles and Daniel Flores close on his heels it seems incomprehensible that there are also speedy individuals in the sprint such as Hayden Wright, Demitriouz Lozano, Aaron Cornejo, and Arnulfo Izarraras. Their relay team has placed highly in several very tough meets. Francisco Erazo and Jorge Hurtado return to bring the distance to the forefront and Esteban Herrera, Chad Hope, and Chad Petuoglu help the throwers spin through the ring.

There are many, many other athletes that help bring a team together and absolutely deserve recognition. They will be integral parts of our success in the coming weeks. Hopefully they will also be recognized as the season progresses. For now we thank them for their contributions.

The team travels to Santa Barbara City College this Saturday for the Easter Relays. They will take on Santa Paula on Wednesday and then travel to the Spartan Relays on the following Saturday. Upon returning from spring break they will begin the exciting league completion phase of the season.