Hankins wins pole vault flight at Escondido Invitational

Bulldogs to host Oceanside Thursday to conclude dual meets

Ramona High School’s track and field teams spent May 1 at Escondido High School for the Escondido Invitational meet, and junior Brandon Hankins cleared 12’0” in the boys pole vault to win the open flight.

“I think he’s been competing really well,” said Sherri Edwards, head coach for Ramona’s boys and girls teams. “It’s nice that Brandon is reliable.”

The Bulldogs, who had the previous week off and who will close out the dual meet portion of the season Thursday with a home meet against Oceanside, participated in three meets during a four-day period, although the May 2 Dick Wilkins Frosh-Soph Invitational meet at Del Norte High School was for freshmen and sophomores only. Ramona’s athletes traveled to Fallbrook High School for an April 29 dual meet against the Warriors.

The girls improved their Valley League record to 2-1 with a 79-49 victory at the expense of the Warriors, whose girls have a 1-3 league record.

“I was excited that we won the girls part of the meet,” Edwards said.

Ramona’s boys fell to 1-2 in league competition while the Warriors’ 3-1 record reflects an 84-50 win over the Bulldogs.

“I thought the score would be closer,” Edwards said.

The teams had to endure Fallbrook’s 98 degree heat that afternoon.

“Overall we had a pretty good effort,” Edwards said.

Ramona’s 4x100 girls relay team of Jenny Rivera, Morgann Wilson, Tuesday Christopher and Holly Stallman finished the race in 53.8 seconds, a time attributable to Stallman lightening her pace due to a lead of more than 50 meters rather than to the heat. The Warriors did not field a girls 4x400 relay team, so Emily Sojourner, Rayna Valade, Katherine Lorentz, and Ally Luna won that race by default.

The Bulldog girls swept the 200-meter dash with Stallman winning in 26.5 seconds, Rivera finishing with a time of 27.1 seconds, and Wilson taking third at 28.1 seconds. Stallman had a winning time of 12.2 seconds in the 100 dash with Rivera taking second at 12.8 seconds. Stallman added a third individual win with a personal record of 17’0” in the long jump.

The Bulldogs took the top two 400 run positions. Christopher had a winning time of 1:03.6 and Lorentz completed her lap in 1:04.2.

Wilson won the 100 hurdles in 16.5 seconds with Brittany Poler taking third at 17.9 seconds. Sojourner had a time of 49.6 seconds to win the 300 hurdles.

Kim Klarer won the pole vault with a distance of 10’0” while Makenna Krueger cleared 7’0” for third place. Jaycee Smith cleared 4’8” to win the high jump. Anna Sundrud had a winning time of 5:44.8 to win the 1,600-meter race.

Ramona’s boys took first and second in the two throwing events against Fallbrook. Connor Anderson threw the discus 156 feet 4 inches and the shot put 43 feet 3 1/2 inches for his two wins. Oscar Reyes had the second-place discus throw of 129’10”. Trevor Hodges hurled the shot put 39 feet 0 1/2 inches for second place.

Hankins cleared 11’6” at the dual meet to win the pole vault with Grant Tallman taking third with a distance of 11’0”. Ramona’s only other boys win against the Warriors was in the high jump, in which Isaac Smith cleared 6’2”.

The Escondido Invitational included Matt Meskell finishing second in his 800-meter race heat with a time of 2:08.03.

“It was really exciting. He beat somebody out right at the end,” Edwards said.

Sojourner had the best heat finish among Ramona’s girls at the Escondido Invitational, placing third in her 300 hurdles race with a time of 49.51 seconds. Stallman was in invitational heats and flights for all three of her events and placed sixth in each with a long jump of 16’10” and times of 12.49 seconds in the 100 dash and 26.13 seconds in the 200-meter dash.

During the Dick Wilkins Frosh-Soph Invitational the Ramona quartet of Sierra Crenshaw, Christopher, Wilson and Christina Brown took second in their sophomore 4x100 heat with a time of 52.59 seconds. Jaycee Smith tied for second in the freshman high jump with a height of 4’9”.

Christopher’s third-place time of 1:02.8 in the open 400 race was a personal record, as was Crenshaw’s fifth-place mark of 1:03.3. Valade took fourth in the invitational 400 race with a personal record of 1:04.14. Luna’s personal record of 51.51 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles race also earned fourth place.

Ramona’s best boys finish at the freshman-sophomore meet was the third-place showing of Caleb Berman, who posted a time of 43.23 seconds in his 300-meter hurdles race.

“Good things happened there,” Edwards said.