Area’s track best are honored on the All-Empire team

Casa Grande High School’s Adria Barich is the only south county girl named to The Press Democrat’s All-Empire Girls Track first team.

Three area athletes - Casa Grande’s Zachery Esponda and Aaron Lu and Petaluma’s Brendan O’Neill - were chosen for the boys first team.

Barich finished second to Santa Rosa’s Delaney White in both the North Bay League championship meet and the Redwood Empire Championships in the 1600. She ran 5 minutes, 16.04 seconds in the league meet, improved that time to 5:01.02 in the Redwood Empire meet and dropped it even further to 4:57.93 while finishing 11th in the North Coast Section Meet of Champions. That time was the 11th-fastest ever run in the Empire. She also had the seventh-fastest Empire time this season in the 800, running 2:21.85.

Esponda won the North Bay League Meet 800 in 1:56.28 and ran second in the Redwood Empire Meet in 1:56.98. He was 11th in the MOC in 1:56, the 34th-fastest time ever in the Empire.

Lu won the NBL Meet 300 hurdles with an Empire best 41.34, followed up by finishing second in the Redwood Empire Meet in 41.38 and was 11th in the MOC in 41.56.

O’Neill had a tremendous sophomore season for Petaluma. He was a triple winner in the SCL championship meet, winning the long jump at 20-1, the triple jump at 41-2, and even taking first in what for him was a relatively new event, the high jump at 5-10. In the Redwood Empire meet, he won his best event, the triple jump, with a 41-5, which was second best in the Empire this season, and was second in the long jump in 20-3¾. He finished 11th in the MOC in the triple jump at 41-5.

Named to the second team were Eamon McMahon and Justen Santa of Petaluma to the boys team and Hannah Barlow and Destiny Williams of Casa Grande, Clare Pierce of Petaluma and Olivia DeGraca of St. Vincent to the girls team.

McMahon was one of the fastest sprinters in the Sonoma County League, winning the 200 in the SCL championship meet in 23.41, and finishing second in the 100 in 11.79.

Santa won the SCL championship meet discus with a throw of 146-11 and went on to finished seventh in the meet of champions with a throw of 152-3, the seventh-best throw in the Empire this year.

Barlow was third in the NBL 100 meters in 13.04. Her 12.74 best time was third best in the Empire for the season and 36th best ever in the Empire. Williams was third in the NBL 200 in 25.44. Her best time of 25.57 was second best in the Empire this season and 18th best all time.

Barlow and Williams joined Annie Gallo and Jordan Boehning to set a Redwood Empire record in the 4x100 relay of 49.10.

DeGraca had the Empire’s best triple jump this season, winning the Coastal Mountain Conference meet with a leap of 35-½. She also won the league long jump with a 16-6 jump that was seventh best in the Empire this season.

Pierce won the SCL shot put with a throw of 32-9¼ and was second in the high jump at 4-6. Her 34-4 shot in the MOC was the third best in the Empire on the season.