Banegas 2nd in shot put at league

By Joe Naiman

Ramona High School sophomore Kara Banegas placed second in the shot put during the Palomar League meet May 11 at Poway High School.

Banegas had a distance of 33 feet 5 inches on her best throw.

The top two finishers in each league automatically qualify for the CIF meet, which will be held at Mt. Carmel High School and will consist of preliminaries May 19 and finals May 26. Athletes with automatic times or distances also qualify for the CIF meet. Four other Ramona girls posted qualifying marks as did four Ramona boys.

Ramona senior Caitlyn Choy extended her high school career at least one more week with a third-place time of 59.47 seconds in the 400-meter race. Kelly Helman also gave her high school career at least one additional meet with a 100-meter hurdles time of 15.68 seconds, which earned fourth place at the league finals.

Senior Brooke Brean also had a fourth-place finish after clearing 4’11” in the high jump. Lauren Cortez’s senior season was extended after her fifth-place time of 11:32.92 in the 3,200-meter race.

Preston Johnson had the best finish of any of Ramona’s boys at the league meet after throwing the shot put 46’4” to give the senior fourth place. The distance qualified Johnson for the CIF meet.

Two of Ramona’s junior boys qualified for the CIF meet in the 3,200-meter race. Tristan Stidham finished sixth with a time of 9:40.38 while Forrest Riley’s time of 9:43.33 gave him ninth place.

Ramona’s other boys qualifier was senior Alec Richardson, who finished tenth in the 800-meter race but with a time of 1:59.57.

“That was real exciting because he’s been trying to break two minutes,” Coach Sherri Edwards said.

Although freshman Max Edwards did not qualify for the CIF meet, his 10th place time of 4:43.82 in the league finals was faster than what injured senior Dylan Blankenbaker posted in ninth grade. “Pretty good for a freshman,” Edwards said.