Smith wins open high jump at Bronco Invitational
Between Ramona High School’s first track and field meet March 5 and the March 12 dual meet at Mission Hills High School, CIF — the governing body of high school athletics — cleared Ramona’s transfer students from Oregon.
Junior boys jumper Isaac Smith, formerly of Coos Bay, received CIF clearance, and junior pole vaulter Montgomery Cowlbeck, who had lived in Bend, also made his debut March 12.
Cowlbeck cleared 12 feet 6 inches in the dual meet for first place while Smith’s high jump of 6’0” was also a winning distance.
Ramona’s next meet was the March 14 Bronco Invitational at Rancho Bernardo High School, where Smith had a distance of 6’2” to win the open high jump.
The Bulldogs, whose next meet will be Saturday’s Falcon Relays at Torrey Pines High School, lost the dual meet against Mission Vista by a 75-61 score.
“It was close,” said head coach Sherri Edwards.
The Bulldogs trailed by 8 points before the final two events. Although Mission Hills received the 5 first-place points in the triple jump, Smith took second place with a distance of 39’7” while Jeffry Guthrie had a third-place performance of 38’6”.
The Grizzlies won the 5 points for the 4x400 relay. A sprained ankle kept Ramona’s Max Edwards out of the dual meet and the Bronco Invitational.
In the dual meet Ramona took the top two positions in both hurdles races. Wyatt Scott won the 110-meter event in 17.33 seconds with sophomore Eddie Saucedo posting a time of 18.63 seconds. Scott completed the 300-meter hurdles in 42.85 seconds while Saucedo took 46.86 seconds. The varsity points were the first for Saucedo.
Connor Anderson also won two events against the Grizzlies, throwing the discus a personal record of 152’4” and the shot put 42’8”. A discus throw of 111’6” gave junior Trevor Hodges second place and his first varsity points.
Garrett Binkley had a first-place long jump distance of 19’8” while Parker Christopher was third at 18’11”. Ramona also took first and third in the 1,600-meter race, where Gabe Plendcio finished in 4:38.83 and James Meskell had a time of 4:53.30.
Logan White had a second-place time of 2:10.82 in the 800-meter race. Brandon Gansch took second in the 100-meter dash at 11.94 seconds.
“I still think that we competed well against them,” Edwards said. “They have some strong runners.”
Anderson’s personal record in the discus lasted two days. His Bronco Invitational distance of 153’9” also gave him third place in the invitational flight. He placed eighth in the invitational shot put with a personal record of 45’9”.
Scott was fourth in the invitational 110-meter hurdles race with a time of 17.46 seconds. In the open pole vault Cowlbeck cleared 12’7” for third place. Hodges threw the discus 116’1” for fourth place in the open flight and a personal record.