2008 Pioneer Valley League Championship

Placer High athletes ran, jumped and threw to their fourth consecutive Pioneer Valley League Track and Field Championship Friday, May 9th at Whitney High School. Near perfect weather proved to be ideal conditions for the high school competitors as 12 new PVL League meet records were set, five by the Hillmen.

Seniors Jordan Burke, Tomas Evangelista, Matt Freie, Bruno Gotzmer, Tawny Lambuth and Bryce Peterson led the favored Hillmen to a dominating win over their PVL counterparts. Placer also qualified 14 Varsity Boys and 12 Varsity Girls for next weeks Division III meet in Modesto (Tuesday and Thursday, May 13th and 15th). The final team scores are listed below:

VARSITY - Boys VARSITY - Girls JV – Boys

Placer 185 Placer 154 Placer 250

El Dorado 91 El Dorado 127 Whitney 68

Colfax 63 Whitney 61 El Dorado 62

Whitney 44 Lincoln 56 Colfax 46

Lincoln 43 Colfax 41 Mesa Verde 39

Mesa Verde 36 Mesa Verde 31 Bear River 15

Bear River 31 Bear River 26 Lincoln 6

In Varsity Boys track events, Peterson bettered his 2007 league and stadium records in the 300 IM Hurdles, placing first with a quick 40.58. Peterson (52.1) teamed with Gotzmer (51.0), Junior Max Halverson (51.8) and Sophomore Asher Gotzmer (51.9), to set another new meet and stadium record with a first place 3:26.8 clocking in the 4 x 400m relay. Peterson also won the 110 High Hurdles in 15.92 seconds.

Bruno Gotzmer took first in the 200m by .02 seconds over John P. Turner of Eldorado with a time of 23.09. Gotzmer also ran the opening leg on the 4 x100m relay team which won the event in another meet and stadium record, 43.58 seconds (5th best all-time for Placer High). Bruno completed his busy day by anchoring the winning 4x400m relay team. Freie’s standout performance was highlighted by anchoring the winning 4x100m relay team, placing first in the 100m (11.51) and jumping 6’ 0” to place third in the high jump.

Evangelista led the Placer distance runners with a first place in the 1600m (4:33) and a third in the 3200m (10:23). Luke Stancliff took second in the 1600m (4:37) and third in the 800m (2:02.1). Louis Lazar ran a personal best 2:00.75 to place second in the 800m run. Derrick Hicks ran a personal best 41.9 to place second in the 300 IM hurdles and took fifth in the 110 hurdles with a time of 16.58.

Derrick Hinch led the Hillmen in field event points taking first in the pole vault with a personal and season best 15’ 1” and tied for fourth in the high jump with teammate Zach McFarlane (6’ 0”). Tony Mangino took second in the discus with a toss of 132’ 3” while teammate Caleb Cartwright grabbed third with a throw of 131’ 8”. Wie Jie Ho took third in the triple jump for the Hillmen with a leap of 42’ 1”.

In Varsity Girls track action, Burke took first in the 1600m and 3200m runs without being pushed to improve upon her season best efforts. Lambuth was busy competing in four events. She took a second in the Pole Vault clearing 10’, ran the anchor leg on the winning 4 x 100m relay in a PVL league and stadium record 50.86 seconds (Kelsey Lardner, Dylan Swisley and Kaci Knighton completed the relay team), finished third in the 100m (12.65) and third in the 200m (26.93).

Swisley garnered critical points for the Hillgals placing second in the 100 hurdles (16.49), third in the Pole Vault (9’ 0”), fourth in the 100m (13.3) and ran the second leg on the winning 4x100m relay team. Shannon Harcus took second in the 1600m (5:26.57)and 3200m (12:05.57)runs and finished fourth in the 800m (2:27.25) to complete a very difficult triple event combination. Hannah Peterson improved upon her fifth place qualifying run to finish third in the 800m final (2:26.96) and anchored the winning 4x400m relay team (Lisa Reese, Laura Byrd and Thea Hardy completed the relay team) in a new meet and stadium record time of 4:09.28.

Kaci Knighton (32’ 5’ in the triple jump) and Bailey Bill (4’ 10” in the high jump) garnered second place points for the Hillgals. In the discus, Suzzie Padilla took fifth with a toss of 86’ 7” and Chelsea Hedenland picked up sixth place points with a discus throw of 85” 4” and sixth in the shot put with a heave of 30’ 8”. Kiah Robison placed fourth in the shot put with a seasons best throw of 32’ 10”.

The future of Placer High track looks very bright given the results for the Junior Varsity Boys. Darren Centi led the way taking first in the 800m with a personal best 2:02.31, first in the 1600m (4:58) and ran a leg on the winning 4x400m relay team (3:40.2). Kody Combs ran in four events including both first place relay teams and added a first in the 100m (12.03) and a third in the 200m (24.53). Max Fagan placed first in the 300IM hurdles (43.27), second in the 110m hurdles (16.61) and ran on the winning 4x100m relay tream. Ethan Halbert matched Fagan’s team points contribution placing first in the 400m (54.63), second in the 200m (24.38) and anchored the winning 4x400m relay team. Koal Swisley had an eventful day and ran well despite a slight hamstring injury. Swisley took first in the 110 hurdle (16.54), tumbled over the final hurdle in the 300m event but got up and placed fourth. Koal also ran a leg on the 4x100m relay team.

Other event winners for the JV team were Brett Lenz in the pole vault with a personal best 11’ 2”, and Gordon Sprowl ran to a personal best 10:58.5 to win the 3200m run. Other top performances were turned in by Ryan Sage in the pole vault (9’ 6”), Dylan Day’s second place 45.46 in the 300m hurdles, Tan Yurdanna placed second in the 3200m (11:31.6) and ran to a third place time of 5:01.1 in the 1600m run, and Jake Turney tossed the discus 109’ 0” to take second in that event.

Section Qualifiers from PLACER (qualifying position):

EVENT

100m Matt Freie – Sr (1st); Tawny Lambuth – Sr (3rd)

200m Bruno Gotzmer – Sr (2nd); Tawny Lambuth (3rd)

400m B. Gotzmer (2nd), Max Halvorsen – Jr (3rd)

800m Louis Lazar–Jr (2nd), Luke Stancliff–So (3rd);

Hannah Peterson – Fr (3rd)

1600m Tomas Evangelista – Sr (1st), Stancliff (2nd),

Stuart Ballew – Sr (3rd); Jordan Burke – Sr (1st), Shannon Harcus – So (2nd)

3200m Evangelista (3rd); Burke (1st), Harcus (2nd)

110HH Bryce Peterson – Sr (1st); Dylan Swisley – Jr (2nd)

300IMH Peterson (1st), Derrick Hicks – Sr (2nd)

4x100m R (1st) Asher Gotzmer-So, B. Gotzmer, Halvorsen,

Seth Parrish–Sr; (1st) Lambuth, Swisley, Kelsey

Lardner-So, Kaci Knighton–Sr

4x400m R (1st) A, Gotzmer, B. Gotzmer, Halvorsen,

Peterson (or Nick Kenoyer-Jr); (1st) Lisa Reese –

Sr, Kayla Reeves – Fr, Laura Byrd – Sr,

H. Peterson (alternate is Thea Hardy – Sr)

Discus Tony Mangino-Sr (2nd), Caleb Cartwright–Sr (3rd)

High Jump Matt Freie (3rd); Bailey Bill – Jr (2nd)

Pole Vault Derrick Hinch – Jr (1st); Lambuth (2nd),

D. Swisley (3rd)

Triple Jump Wie Jie Ho – Sr (3rd); Knighton (2nd)

Complete event results at: www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/Division.

Congratulations to Coach Rick Foley and his staff for their dedication and expertise in preparing their athletes for personal and team success this year. A shout out also must be made to all of the talented and dedicated student athletes who gave so much of themselves to continue the track legacy at Placer High. Best of luck to all of the competitors at Sections as the Hillmen continue their run to the Masters and State Track and Field competitions.