Riley, vanTol earn first place at league track and field meet

By Joe Naiman

Two Ramona High School boys took first place at the Valley League track and field meet.

Senior Forrest Riley won the 3,200-meter race in 9:40.36 while junior Daniel vanTol threw the discus 47’7”. The league meet at Valley Center High School consisted of preliminaries May 7 and finals May 11.

“I was really pleased with how everybody competed,” said head coach Sherri Edwards.

Riley’s win came in his first race since an April 18 dual meet; he is still undergoing medical testing to determine the cause of his physical symptoms.

“We were happy to see that he did as well as he did,” Edwards said. “He led the race the whole time.”

Ramona senior Tristan Stidham was fourth in the 3,200-meter event at 9:54.80, which would qualify for the CIF meet only if enough qualifying runners scratched out. Stidham would likely scratch out himself, as his time of 4:25.32 placed second in the 1,600-meter run.

VanTol did not match his winning shot put position or CIF qualification in the discus, where his distance of 113’4” placed sixth, but senior Paul Mehaffie had a discus toss of 129’9” to qualify for the CIF meet.

Senior Dustin Hager set personal records of 16.22 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles and 41.51 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles and placed fourth in both races. The 300-meter time is among the county’s top 27, which should earn him a lane in the CIF preliminaries.

Junior Cesar Corona, sophomore Christian Dominguez, Hager, and junior Austin Minnocci completed the 4x400 relay in 3:33.26; Minnocci had a time of 51.8 seconds on his anchor lap.

“It was really exciting. He leaned out the guy for third place at the finish line,” Edwards said.

Ramona’s time was among the county’s top 27.

The CIF preliminaries will be held Saturday, May 18, at Mt. Carmel High School. The 4x400 race begins at 5:45 p.m.

May 18 is also the day of Ramona’s prom. “I’m hoping that all of them are going to choose track over prom,” Edwards said.