The San Marcos High track and field team came away as Grand Sweepstakes Champions from the Santa Barbara County Championships, with the Royals victorious in the boys varsity, boys frosh/soph and girls frosh/soph divisions, with the varsity girls coming away in fourth behind first place Righetti as well as Dos Pueblos and Santa Barbara, which tied for second.
“We take a lot of pride in having a well rounded track program. I am very proud of all our kids today,” said San Marcos Coach Marylin Hantgin. “I want to thank all our seniors who came to the meet and then ran back down to Santa Barbara to get to their senior prom.”
Royal Justin Hess was a top contributor, winning the 400m and 200m races while contributing to wins in the 4x400m and 4x100m relays.
“The conditions were very windy and not ideal for running fast,” said Hantgin. “Justin continues to dominate his events. All of the hard work he has put into his training is helping him close off his season strong.”
Other wins for SanMarcos included Makenzie Fauver, who won the 100m and 300m hurdle events, Jacob Snodgress in the 1600m, and Benji Rodriguez in the discus.
Santa Barbara High also acquitted themselves well in the meet, with boys varsity finishing in second place, girls varsity tying for second with Dos Pueblos, frosh/soph boys finishing in second, and frosh/soph girls taking third.
Highlights for Santa Barbara included personal best performances from Andreas Dybdahl and Blaise Snow in the 3200.
“That was an impressive performance by a couple of sophomores who don’t really run that event much. They were out front trading pulls in the wind from the start,” said Santa Barbara Coach Olivia Perdices.
The girls 4x400m team of Laila Goodman, Olivia Gaspar, Naiya Molitor and Mackenna Show brought home a win for Santa Barbara, with Show and Goodman also finishing first and second in the 400m race.
“Mackenna and Laila are such a huge part of everything we do, running on both relays and picking up places and points wherever we ask,” said Perdices.
Dos Pueblos’s varsity girls turned in the top performance for the school, tying for second with Santa Barbara. The varsity boys tied for fourth with Lompoc, the frosh/soph boys brought home a third place finish with the girls coming in fourth.
Ellie Gleason and Phoebe Wolfe Lyons brought home victories for Dos Pueblos, winning the 1600m and 800m, respectively. In addition, the boys varsity pole vault competitors dominated their event, with three Dos Pueblos pole vaulters in the top five spots led by Colby Todd’s second place finish.
Event host Santa Ynez placed highest in the girls frosh/soph division, showing the potential for a bright future with a second-place finish.
Individually, Santa Ynez’ top performer was underclassman Kate Mazza, who emerged victorious in the 400m, 800m, 1600m and 3200m races. Upperclassmen Zachary Liljenquist and Gabriela Robles brought home wins for the Pirates in the 800m and pole vault, respectively.
The Channel League Finals are at Santa Ynez on Wednesday.
San Marcos softball fall to Stockdale
The San Marcos softball team lost its final game of the Best in the West tournament, falling to Stockdale 5-3.
Gracie Verdugo led San Marcos with a two home run day, launching a solo shot in the second inning and later a two run shot in the fourth that gave her three RBIs on the day.
Caitlyn Early continued her hot hitting, going 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles, while Emma Foster contributed two hits of her own.
Early’s performance capped a week that saw Coach Jeff Swann nominate her for Athlete of the Week. Early went 13-for-19 (.684) with two homers, five doubles, six RBIs and eight runs over the course of the week.
San Marcos fell to 13-13 with the loss, and will play Lompoc tonight and Wednesday with a second-place finish in the Channel League on the line.
Dos Pueblos softball splits on final day of tournament
The Dos Pueblos softball team won one game and lost another on the final day of the Best of the West Tournament, beating Huntington Beach 7-2 before losing 8-0 to Oaks Christian.
In the semifinal game against Huntington Beach, Lacy Spear and Bella Nuno each had two hits and two RBIs to lead the Chargers to victory, while Georgia Wilson gave up only two runs on the mound. Dos Pueblos committed no errors for the third straight game in the contest.
The Chargers did all their damage in two innings. In the second inning Mackenzie Ensign led off with a single and after Paulina Avina walked, Ensign stole third on a ball in the dirt with Avina advancing to 2nd. Spear then hit the first of her two doubles on the day to score 2. Nuno followed with a double of her own to give the Chargers a 3-0 lead.
In the 5th, Leila Chisholm beat out a dropped third strike to lead off the inning. Nuno promptly doubled down the line, scoring Chisholm from first. Jessica Reveles singled in a run after a walk and hit batter to give Dos Pueblos a 5-0 lead. Two more hit batters and a grounder by Ensign made it 7-0 to finish out the scoring.
Huntington Beach’s runs were also scored in the fifth, but it could have been more without a diving catch by Trisha Lo that prevented a run.
Dos Pueblos’ win propelled the Chargers into the final round of the tournament, but that was as far as they would go as they ran into overpowering pitching from Oaks Christian. Dos Pueblos managed only two hits against the Lions, who are a perfect 26-0 on the season.
“This was a great tournament for us. We got three wins vs. high quality opponents and programs,” said Coach Mike Gerken. “Georgia Wilson was an absolute workhorse for us, going 26 innings. Lacy Spear had a particularly great day on offense. The defense is the best I’ve seen it , turning 4 double plays, and we continue to have quality at-bats up and down the lineup. I’m really proud of how we competed today, even in the loss to Oaks Christian we showed a lot of mettle. They just had too many weapons for us.”
The Chargers now have an overall record of 19-5, with a 12-1 record in league play.
email: sports@newspress.com
