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Bulldogs sweep Mustang Relays distance medleys

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Ramona High School’s track team swept the Silver Division distance medleys at the Mustang Relays at Otay Ranch High School on Saturday.

The Bulldog girls’ win in the distance medley was followed by a win by Ramona’s boys.

“It’s pretty neat to have your distance medley teams go back to back and win,” said Coach Bob Verhoest. “That was probably the highlight of the day.”

Lindsay Spieker opened the girls distance medley by running the 1,200-meter portion, Tess Balcom took the baton for the 400-meter segment, Amy Jordan was Ramona’s 800-meter runner, and Brittany Balcom completed the 1,600-meter anchor laps.

“We thought we put together a pretty good team. I guess we were right,” Verhoest said.

The boys distance medley team saw Paul Reynolds run 1,200 meters, Ryan Morgan cover 400 meters, Tanner Jorgenson race for 800 meters, and Connor Jensen represent Ramona for the final 1,600 meters.

Jordan, a freshman, also won the non-scoring girls 1,500-meter race with a time of 5:12.

“That was a real nice win for her,” Verhoest said. “She went right to the front, led all the way.”

In the Silver Division girls 1,500-meter race Brittany Balcom finished second and Spieker placed seventh. Chance Varnardo-Richardson was fifth in the boys Silver Division 1,500-meter race.

The Mustang Relays utilized the 1,500-meter distance rather than the traditional 1,600-meter race so that runners can work on speed prior to the league and CIF meets.

In the Mustang Relays, the field events combine the distances of two teammates to determine team place. Ramona finished second in both the boys pole vault and the girls pole vault.

In the boys pole vault, Jared Engler cleared a personal record 12’6” while Cody Engler cleared 12’0”. Chelsea Maurer and Hannah Reed were Ramona’s girls pole vaulters. Ramona’s boys high jump teammates Tyler Jordan and Lyndon Scott each cleared 6’4” to give Ramona third in that event.

Ramona also had a Valley League meet during the week, hosting Valley Center on April 23 and splitting the varsity results with the Jaguars.

“That was a good meet,” Verhoest said.

Ramona’s boys, whose previous dual meet was a 75-61 loss to Mount Carmel, took an 82-60 victory over Valley Center.

“Our boys team, they bounced back pretty well,” Verhoest said.

Ramona’s boys won seven of ten running events and five of six field events against the Jaguars. Tyler Creswell’s time of 14.9 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles was his first time this season under 15 seconds.

“His speed is really starting to come around now,” Verhoest said.

One of Valley Center’s running wins was in the 300-meter hurdles.

The Jaguars also won the 800-meter and 3,200-meter races, although Jensen’s time of 4:34 gave Ramona a victory in the 1,600-meter race. Ryan Morgan won both the 200-meter and 400-meter runs, Seth Drake triumphed in the 100-meter dash, and the Bulldogs prevailed in both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.

Valley Center’s only field event win was in the shot put. Scott and Jordan both cleared 6’4” in the high jump, Scott won the triple jump with a distance of 43’7”, Matt Laws won the long jump at 21’7”, Logan Peterson threw the discus 137 feet, and Cody Engler cleared 12’6” in the pole vault.

Valley Center’s girls won a decisive victory over the Bulldogs.

“They beat us up pretty good,” Verhoest said.

Ramona travels to Westview for today’s Valley League dual meet.

Members of the track and field team will also participate in the Dick Wilkins Frosh-Soph Invitational May 2 at El Capitan High School.

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