Petaluma boys take second to share title

Petaluma boys and girls both finish second in Sonoma County League track meet.|

Running at Piner High School, Petaluma High’s Trojans received a bevy of exceptional performances but not quite enough, finishing second with both its boys and girls teams in the Sonoma County League track and field championships.

Petaluma’s boys totaled 126 points to finish just behind Piner with 136, followed by El Molino (88), Sonoma Valley (52), Analy (52) and Healdsburg (26). Petaluma’s girls (115.50) were second to Sonoma Valley (134), followed by Piner (91), Healdsburg (54), El Molino (49.50) and Analy (44).

The Trojan boys’ second-place finish in the league meet was enough to give them a share of the league championship since they had run undefeated through the dual-meet competition, beating Piner in their head-to-head competition.

In addition to league titles, at stake were places in the Redwood Empire Championship Meet that went to the first six finishers in each event. The meet will be held Saturday back at Piner.

Boys

Standout not only for Petaluma, but for the entire boys meet was Petaluma sophomore Brendon O’Neill, who swept the jumps, winning the triple jump at 41 feet, 2 inches, the long jump at 20-1 and the high jump at 5-10.

Petaluma’s Eamon MacMahon narrowly missed winning the 100, taking second to Analy’s Isaiah Moore, with the winner timed in 11.76 seconds and the Trojan clocked in 11.79. MacMahon later took the 200 in 23.41.

Justen Santa went well beyond his previous best to win the discus in 146-11.

The judges ruled that El Molino edged the Trojans in the 4x100 relay, clocking th Lions with a 45.72 win to 45.73 for the Trojans.

Petaluma was third in the 4x400 in 3 minutes, 39.22 seconds.

The Dunbar twins did well in the middle and distance runs. Will was third (4:30.05) and Jack fifth (4:31.78) in the 1600. Will took third (52.86) and Jack fourth (53.53) in the 400. It was the same finish in the 800 for the brothers, with Will third (2:00.03) and Jack fourth (1:59.24).

Travis Plank and Jack Crayne were second and third in the shot, with Plank throwing 41-9 and Crayne 40-2.

Petaluma competed without Ty Pearson, perhaps the league’s best hurdler and one of the fastest sprinters, who missed most of the season with a serious illness.

Girls

Although the Petaluma girls had only one individual winner, Clare Pierce who took the shot put at 32-9.5, the Trojans had enough all-around depth to challenge Sonoma Valley for the team title. Pierce also took second in the high jump at 4-6 and fourth in the discus at 92-1.

The Petaluma 4x100 relay team started the meet impressively for the Trojans, winning in 51.86 with Sonoma Valley second in 52.13. The Trojans were also second in the 4x400, running 4:17.64.

Camille Flynn had an outstanding meet, finishing second in the 800 in 2:23.37 and third in the 1600 in 5:17.66.

Madison Parratt ran very well in the 3200, challenging winner Gabrielle Peterson most of the way, before falling back to finish second in 12:02.27.

Erika Gilmore was third in the pole vault at 8-6, the same height cleared by teammate Sallie Hollinshead, who was fourth.

Camille Leoni had an excellent long jump (16-5) to finish second to Piner’s Itzel Gonzalez, who won at 17-1. Leoni was also fourth in the 100 in 13.61 and fifth in the 200 in 27.88.

Her teammate, Kylie McCorkel, was second (31-3) and Nora Lindsay fourth (29-4) in the triple jump.

Petaluma picked up a bundle of points in the 300-meter hurdles with Sydney Dennis fourth (50.51), Nora Lindsay fifth (51,21) and Payton Draper sixth (52.90).

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