Several Gauchos shine as Casa hosts NBL league meet

Casa Grande High School’s Gauchos had an opportunity to show off their glistening new track Friday night, and while they were at it, they put on display some outstanding athletes of their own as they hosted the North Bay League Track and Field Championships.

Despite a glitch with the new electronic timing device, track officials were able to recover and bring the championship meet to its conclusion right on time.

The host Gauchos did not have enough depth with either the boys or the girls to stay with powers Maria Carrillo, Santa Rosa and Montgomery, but they did have several outstanding efforts.

Maria Carrillo pretty much dominated the boys competition and held off Santa Rosa to win the girls meet as well. Final boys totals were 158 points for Maria Carrillo, 118 for Santa Rosa, 79 for Montgomery, 42 for Casa Grande, 41 for Cardinal Newman, 36 for Windsor, 17 for Ukiah and 14 for Rancho Cotate. Maria Carrillo won the girls meet with 162 points, followed by Santa Rosa (141.5), Montgomery (69), Casa Grande (53.5), Windsor (49), Ukiah (13), Rancho Cotate (5) and Cardinal Newman (3).

In addition to running and jumping for team points, athletes were competing for one of the top six places that qualify them for advancement to the Redwood Empire Championships to be held next Saturday at Piner High School.

Boys

Zachary Esponda and Aaron Lu were spectacular for Casa Grande.

Esponda won the 800 meters in 1:56.0 seconds, the 15th fastest time ever in the meet. The Gaucho was more than a second faster than second-place finisher Luca Mazzanti, who won the 1600 in 4:29.3.

Lu took the 300 hurdles in 41.1, the best time in the Empire this year. Lu’s teammate, Noble Schlueter, was second in 41.44.

Casa Grande received a strong effort from its 4x100 relay team, finishing second to Maria Carrillo in 44.75.

Girls

Casa Grande’s girls earned the right to be called the fastest relay team, winning the 4x100. Hannah Barlow, Jordan Boehning, Annie Gallo and Destiny Williams ran 49.6.

The Gauchos’ Adria Barich continued to rank among the Empire’s best distance runners, finishing second to Santa Rosa’s Delaney White in the 1600 in 5:15.73. White was timed in 5:05.61 as she swept the two long runs for the third straight year, winning the 3200 in 11:27.7.

Barlow ran a swift 100, finishing third in 12.72 behind Amani Baker of Maria Carrillo (12.18) and Giselle Saleby of Windsor (12.36).

Casa’s speed was also on display in the 200 with Williams third in 25.61 behind Kirsten Carter of Santa Rosa (24.95) and Baker (25.15).

The 200 victory was one of four for super soph Carter, who also won the long jump (17 feet, 5½ inches), the 400 (58.2) and ran a lap on the Panthers’ winning 4x400 relay team.