Ramona’s track and field out-matched by Westview

By Joe Naiman

Ramona High School’s boys and girls track and field teams lost their first home meet of the season against Westview on March 14.

“They had a lot more kids,” said head coach Sherri Edwards. “I was a little bit disappointed, but overall I think we competed very well.”

Westview’s boys won by an 88-60 score while the girls took a 93-43 victory at Ramona’s expense. The Wolverine girls won 13 of the 16 events while the boys won 10 of the 16 events.

“There were quite a few where they would get first and we would get second and third,” Edwards said.

Freshman sprinter Holly Stallman accounted for two of the Bulldogs girls’ three victories, winning both the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. Ramona’s problems that afternoon included the timing system for the sprints, so no times were recorded for those races.

The other Ramona girls’ win was in the pole vault, where junior Courtney Jackson cleared 9 feet.

Ramona’s boys swept the distance events and the throwing events. Senior Tristan Stidham posted a time of 9:54.9 in the 3,200-meter race, senior Forrest Riley won the 1,600-meter event in 4:25.6, and senior Cesar Corona raced for 2:09.9 in order to win the 800-meter run. Senior Paul Mehaffie threw the discus 123 feet, 10 inches, while junior Daniel Van Tol tossed the shot put 47 feet, 1 inch.

Ramona’s other win was in the 4x100 relay. Javier Dominguez, Colton Wood, Morgen Schmidt, and Nathan Cherek had a winning time of 44.59 seconds.

The Bulldogs also competed at the Falcon Relays that took place March 16 at Torrey Pines High School.

“I was happy because I got to run some JV relays and got a lot of our kids involved,” Edwards said.

Ramona’s best finish at the invitational was in the boys 110-meter shuttle hurdles relay. Dustin Hager, Wyatt Scott, Sean Stemm, and Keyshaun Crichlow placed second with a time of 1:12.9.

The boys distance medley team finished fourth at 10:43.9. Stidham opened the 1,200-meter portion, Javier Corona covered 400 meters, Cesar Corona ran for 800 meters, and Riley closed with the 1,600-meter leg. Riley’s time of 4:20.7 was a personal best for that distance.

“He was trying to make up the difference to come back and win but ran out of track,” Edwards said.

Cathedral Catholic won that race in 10:39.

Stidham also placed sixth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:02.86.

The girls’ highlights at the Falcon Relays included Claire Hagan’s fourth-place discus throw of 78 feet, 7 inches, and Courtney Ford’s long jump of 15 feet 5-3/4 inches which placed sixth.

The Bulldogs travel to Rancho Bernardo for Thursday’s non-league dual meet. Saturday’s Mt. Carmel Invitational meet accepts specific athletes rather than teams, and some of those invited athletes are Ramona High School students.