Bulldogs win boys relay at Bronco Invite

Despite missing two top 400-meter runners, Ramona High School’s track and field team won the boys 4x400 relay event at the Bronco Invitational March 13 at Rancho Bernardo High School.

Ryan Morgan was taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) that day while Walker Poortinga had a soccer commitment, but the Ramona team of Tim Wertz, Chris Koohler, Zach Kovach,and Paul Reynolds had a time of 3:34.81 to take first place in the mile relay.

“It shows we’ve got a lot of depth in the 400 this year,” said Ramona head coach Steve Albanese.

Ramona’s track and field team began its season March 11 at Fallbrook High School with a dual meet against the Warriors.

Fallbrook’s boys took a 75-61 victory while the Warrior girls defeated Ramona by a 73-62 score. Morgan also missed that meet, as he was studying for the SAT.

“That’s a lot of points right there,” Albanese said of Morgan’s absence.

Two years ago Morgan and Fallbrook’s Marquis Sumpter both qualified for the state meet in the boys 400-meter run. Sumpter now plays football for Western New Mexico University, but his brother Caleb beat Wertz to win the 400-meter event at the dual meet.

Although Caleb Sumpter leaned Ramona’s Seth Drake to give Fallbrook a win in the boys 4x100 relay, Drake’s time of 11.3 seconds won the 100-yard dash. A battle in the boys 800-meter run between Fallbrook’s Justin Jones and Ramona’s Dylan Blankenbaker saw Jones post a winning time of 2:04.7 while Blankenbaker finished at 2:04.9.

Ramona’s Tyler Jordan and Fallbrook’s Andy Harwood battled each other in three boys jumping events. Jordan’s 6’6” took first place in the high jump while Harwood cleared 5’10” to finish second. Harwood’s 40’4” relegated Jordan’s 39’6” to second place in the triple jump while Jordan’s 20’1” long jump was exceeded only by Harwood’s 20’10” distance.

Lindsey Spieker, who missed the Bronco Invitational due to a volunteer service commitment, won the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter girls races at Fallbrook. She had a time of 5:56.6 in the 1,600-meter race and ran 3,200 meters in 12:53.3.

Kelly Helman’s time of 18.3 seconds won the girls 100-meter hurdles at Fallbrook while Kendra Koohler posted a time of 1:04.4 to win the girls 400-meter run.

“Ramona’s a very solid program and a very good team,” said Fallbrook head coach Troy Hamlin. “It was a good meet.”

Jordan cleared 6’2” at the Bronco Invitational two days later to take second place, and his distance of 18 feet 10 1/2 inches placed seventh in the long jump. Chelsey Cortez had a time of 11:19 to place fourth in the girls 3,200-meter race despite feeling poorly enough to scratch out of the 1,600-meter run.

Logan Peterson threw the discus 138’0” to place sixth among the boys while Preston Johnson was ninth in the shot put at 43’9”.

Drake’s time of 11.44 seconds in the 100-yard dash placed him eighth, and Becca Hickle placed tenth in the girls triple jump at 30 feet 1-1/2 inches.

Albanese took over the head coaching duties this year from Bob Verhoest, who remains with the program as the assistant coach in charge of the pole vaulters. Damon Baldwin is the assistant coach for sprinters, Allison Stang coaches horizontal jumpers and hurdlers, Matt Curtis and Eddie Brisendine are the new throw coaches, and Albanese also handles distance runners and high jumpers as well as the head coaching duties.

“It’s a good benchmark to see where we need to improve,” Albanese said of the season’s first week of competition. “Should be a promising and fun season.”