FAIR OAKS, Calif. – Senior Grace Heisinger won the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 46.62 seconds, while sophomores Kayla Towne and Kyah Pickett record huge personal records in the 400 and 100, respectively, highlighting St. Francis action at the Bronco Speed Festival track meet at Bella Vista High Saturday.
The meet featured only sprints, hurdles and relays, with no field events.
Heisinger's time fell just 13 hundredths of a second behind her own PR of 46.49, set at the Holy Spikes dual with Christian Brothers earlier this season. The Fair Oaks native is only one of nine Troubadours to run that event faster than 47 seconds, and the first since Serena Shimada went 46.43 at the 2019 Sacramento Meet of Champions.
Pickett ran the team's first sub-13 100-meter dash of the year, placing sixth overall at 12.85. Earlier in the morning, Towne went 1:01.88 in the 400, eclipsing her old best of 1:02.93 by more than a second. Towne finished third overall, just ahead of Sarah Charles, who broke her PR for the second time in four days.
Charles went 1:02.22 on Saturday, edging the 1:02.87 she posted at the Delta League center meet in Davis on Wednesday, then followed with another PR of 28.19 in the 200-meter dash. In that latter event, Simone Sagay notched a team season-best 27.51, eighth overall in the meet and only .03 shy of her personal best.
The Speed Festival got underway as St. Francis' foursome of Pickett, Heisinger, Caitlin Hafenstein and Sagay compiled a 50.94 in the 4x100 relay, more than a half-second improvement from the 51.48 at Wednesday's Delta League center meet.
The Troubies' track & field program returns to action in a week. The trio of Tatiana Cornejo (mile), Cate Joaquin (3,200) and Maddie Pelfrey (pole vault) will represent SFHS at the famed Arcadia Invitational, while the rest of the team will take part in a late-added dual with Davis.
2022 BRONCO SPEED FESTIVAL
Bella Vista High School (Fair Oaks, Calif.)
Girls' results only • Winner plus SFHS finishers shown
4x100 RELAY - 1. Bella Vista 'A' (O'Brien, Bluemel, Ragagli, Rasmussen), 49.16… 3. St. Francis (Pickett, Heisinger, Hafenstein, Sagay), 50.94.
100 HURDLES (w: not available) - 1. Kathleen O'Brien, BV, 15.35… Magdalena Becerril, DNF.
400 METERS - 1. Abigail Peterson, GB, 58.63… 3. Kayla Towne, 1:01.88, 4. Sarah Charles, 1:02.22; 8. Peyton Carson, 1:03.63.
100 METERS (w: not available) - 1. Lily Holman, Vacaville, 12.17… 6. Kyah Pickett, 12.85; 11. Simone Sagay, 13.17; 12. Caitlin Hafenstein, 13.18; 67. Sophia Mcintosh, 17.51.
300 HURDLES - 1. Grace Heisinger, St. Francis, 46.62.
200 METERS - 1. Lily Holman, Vacaville, 24.78… 8. Simone Sagay, 27.51; 19. Sarah Charles, 28.19; 25. Peyton Carson, 28.54; 26. Kayla Towne, 28.59; 52. Jacqueline Gamette, 31.20.
4x400 RELAY - 1. Bella Vista (O'Brien, Chilcutt, Walton, Rasmussen), 4:09.45.
