Liberty and Grant rule schools in Westside Relays

Liberty and Grant schools ran, jumped and throw their way to the top in the 2016 version of the Westside Relays.|

Liberty and Grant schools ran, jumped and threw their way to the top in the 2016 version of the Westside Relays, a huge two-day track and field extravaganza that featured all elementary schools on the west side of town.

Schools are divided into large-school and small-school divisions to compete in individual running, throwing and jumping events as well as relays.

When the competition finally came to a happy conclusion, Grant was the large-school champion with 243.5 points, well ahead of second-place Penngrove (192.83) and third-place McNear (111.16).

Liberty, with 222 team points, took the small-school title, although it was closely challenged by Wilson (201.5), with St. Vincent third (174).

Fifth-grade boys

A well-balanced Wilson team dominated the small school fifth-grade boys competition, totaling 69 points to 42 for second-place Liberty.

Two Rock’s Diego Robledo was the muscular master of the throwing competition. He won the discus at 56-5 and was almost 4 feet farther than the nearest competition in the shot put, throwing 26-6.

Grant’s fifth-graders dominated among the large schools with 71 points, to 56.83 for runner-up Penngrove.

Penngrove distance runner Karson Goebel had an outstanding meet. He won the 300-meter run in 49.03 seconds and ran away from the field in the 600 meters, breaking two minutes with a 1:54.76 time, well ahead of Nic Chlebowski of Grant, who finished second in 2:03.85.

Fifth-grade girls

Liberty won every relay to dominate the small school fifth-grade girls competition, finishing with 80 points, more than double the total of second-place Two Rock (36.5).

A standout for the winners was Sofia Romano, who won the shot at 24-1, nearly 3 feet farther than second-place Hailey Goebel of Wilson, who threw 21-2. Romano was also second to Liberty teammate Lily Roberts in the discus, with Roberts throwing 41-6 and Romano 40-4.

Grant also swept the relays in the large-school competition as it totaled 71.5 points to 43 for runner-up McNear.

The versatile Mira Bruce-Low had an outstanding meet for McKinley, winning the 70-meter dash in 10.37 and the long jump at 11-8, nearly a foot farther than runner-up Katrina Johnson of Grant.

Sixth-grade boys

Powered by Kyle Machado and Ben Diaz, Wilson won the sixth-grade small-schools boys competition with 63 points to 58 for runner-up St. Vincent.

Diaz won both the long and high jumps, going 14-5 in the former event and 4-2 in the latter. Machado was the throwing champion, lofting the discus 73-0½ and putting the shot 27-9. His discus throw was almost 13 feet farther than runner-up Tyler Green of Two Rock (60-5).

Perhaps the best team competition was in the sixth-grade large-school boys division, where Penngrove prevailed with 62 points, despite strong challenges from Grant (49) and Tech Academy (48).

Will Donovan of Penngrove was the jumping champion. He was the only athlete to go beyond 15 feet in the long jump (15-1) and also won the high jump at 4-6.

Teammate Ryan Castiglia provided the speed for the winners, cruising to a 9.60 win in the 70-meter dash and winning the 100 meters in 13.41.

Sixth-grade girls

Relays were the difference in the large-school sixth-grade girls competition with Grant sweeping the team events to edge Tech Academy, 52 points to 45.5 for the team title.

Penngrove’s Karlie Berncich was the individual standout winning both the shot and the discus. She put the shot 28-2, almost four feet farther than her teammate Shelby Keen, who was second at 24-7. Berncich threw the discus 52-9, to best Isabella Hernandez of Tech Academy (49-10).

St. Vincent’s depth in several events gave it a win in the small-school competition with 62 points to 46 for runner-up Liberty.

The meet produced an outstanding competition between Two Rock’s Monica Flores and Wilson’s Johana Hernandez in the throws. Flores won the shot with a 24-2 effort to a 23-3 put by Hernandez. Turning things around, Hernandez won the discus at 49-8¾ to 48-9 for second-place Flores.

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