On Saturday, April 15, 2023, the Heritage Valley Blazers hosted and competed in their first home track meet at the Fillmore High School Stadium where they hosted 270 plus athletes from Ventura, Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park. Photo courtesy HVB Board Members. On Saturday, April 15, 2023, Fillmore’s Heritage Valley Blazers competed and hosted their first meet of the 2023 season and turned out to be a huge success. Above is one of the Blazers sprinting down the track at last weekend’s meet. Photo courtesy HVB Members

Courtesy Heritage Valley Blazers (HVB) Board Members

Heritage Valley Blazers hosted their first home meet on Saturday, April 1st, 2023. The Blazers competed in their fourth track meet of the season this past weekend. The 270 plus athletes have been training hard and have competed with athletes from Ventura,Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park.

Intermediate runner Sebastian Weink of kicked off the track meet by singing the National Anthem and then hopped onto the track to run his 1st event, the 3200 with a 3rd place finish. Teammates John Frankenfield (PR 12:07.44) and Daniel Letteney (13:47.05) took 1st and 2nd place. Next on the track was the hurdle event. Junior boy Joseph Navarro took 1st place with a PR (Personal Record) of 16.00 secs. Our youth boys Ambrose Faulk (3rd place, PR 20:19) and Alex Franenfield (5th place, PR 20:19). Our 4x100 teams took 1st place in the following divisions 9/10 girls (Aubree Ponce, Itzel Arana, Zealiana Carillo, Itzel Abrego), 17/18 girls (C’enna Uribe, Sarah Cedillos, Sofia Aviles, Kimberely Magana, 13/14 Boys (Timothy Pillado II, Abel Villela, Santiago Felix, Isaiah Morales).

Gremlin Blazers Mila Castro (PR 7:07.86) & Sofia Cortez (PR 7:22.26) started off the 1600’s with a 1, 2 finish. The Bantam girls dominated the race with a 1, 2, 3 finish. Itzel Arana took first with a PR of 6:11.18 followed by teammates Itzel Abrego (6:31.31) and Brooklyn Limon (6:46.86). Also coming in with a 1, 2 finish were 11/12 year old Lucy Zuniga with a 1st place finish and a PR of 6:08.32 and teammate Anika Uribe (6:28.40). Sarah Perez (PR 5:47.86) and Isabel Hernandez also took 1st in their divisions. Boys 15/16 division also had a 1, 2, 3 finish with John Frankenfield, Blaise Mohun and Daniel Letteney.

The 400 meters were up next. Gremlin girl Audree Valenzuela took a 2nd place overall finish. Bantam Aubree Ponce also took 2nd with a PR of 1:22.16. Also taking 2nd in their divisions were Sebastian Fraga, Peyton Noriega and Klarize Robledo. Intermediate boys took a 1, 2 finish with Andrew Estrada taking first and teammate Blaise Mouhn coming in 2nd with a PR of 56.87.

Dashing into the 100 meters, Youth girl Kimberly Magana ran away with a first place finish and a PR of 13.12. Youth boy Abel Villela also took overall first with a PR of 12.63. Andrew Estrada had a PR of 12.55 and earned his second 1st place finish of the day.

Taking 1st in 800 meter race was gremlin girl Sofia Cortez (3:35.56). Bantam girls Brooklyn Limon and Aubree Ponce (PR 3:19.87) took a 1, 2 finish. Sarah Perez (2:39.09) and Gigi Abbit also took a 1, 2 finish in the youth girls division. John Frankinflied had a PR of 2:29.02 and earned his third 1st place finish.

Our field events were blazing hot. Long jumpers Ivan Ambriz and Vincent Halcon took first in their divisions. Ralph Avila had a personal best in the shot put event with a throw of 35-05.00 earning him a first place finish. Youth boys Derek Velazquez (29-02.00) and Saul Fraga (29-01.00) took a 1, 2 finish. Also taking a 1, 2 finish were intermediate boys Andrew Estrada (33-00.25) and Joseph Newman (30-09). Gunner Root also took a 1st place finish in the 17+ division. First year high jumper Sarah Perez took 1st place with a PR of 4-05.00. Bantam boy Wyatt Vessels had a PR of 5-02.00 and a 1st place finish. In our intermediate division Blaise Mouhn took 1st (5-02.00) and teammates Daniel Letteney and John Frankefield tied for 2nd (4.06.00). Coach Jose Uribe was very proud of the performance, “The kids did great! They jumped above and beyond expectation”.

Finishing off the day were our 4x400 relays. Bantam girls started the 1st place winning streak with Aubree Ponce, Siani Lomeli, Itzel Arana and Itzel Abrego with a time of 5:43.01. Junior girls ran a time of 5:13.58 with the team of Alexis Amaro, Bella Hurtado, Luzy Zuniga and Peyton Noriega. Youth boys finished their race in 4:35.68 with teammates Salvador Perez, Adrian Uribe, Abel Arana and Santiago Felix. The Blazers will be hosting their next home meet on April 15th. Come out and support our youth.

Heritage Valley Blazers is a non profit organization. Our mission is to provide each athlete the opportunity to reach their full potential by developing endurance, strength, self-esteem, discipline, personal accountability and goal achievement while encouraging positive attitudes, good sportsmanship, respect and love for the sports.