DAVIS, Calif – Sophomore Kayla Towne and senior Tatiana Cornejo each won their respective heats in the girls' 800-meter preliminaries to advance to Saturday's final, leading a small crew of St. Francis student-athletes on the first day of action at the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Championship Friday at Davis High's Ron & Mary Brown Stadium.
Towne finished the course in two minutes, 18.55 seconds to beat Davis' Norah Dulaney (2:18.68) and Vacaville's Hailey Wurzbach (2:19.05) in the second heat. The Cal Poly-bound Cornejo crossed in 2:19.06, almost a half second ahead of Whitney's Ava Kopec (2:19.51) and Ripon's Annie Wild (2:19.85) in Heat 4. The top two finishers in each of the four heats plus the next four best times overall earn spots in Saturday's 6:38 p.m. final.
Also representing St. Francis were senior Grace Heisinger, who placed 18th overall in the 300-meter hurdles at 49.26; and junior Lauren Riley, who posted a personal best of 31 feet, 4.5 inches for 17th place in the shot put. Riley's previous best was a 30-7 at the CIF-SJS Division I meet one week earlier. She hit a PR of 31-3 on her first attempt, then improved to 31-4.5 in her third throw.
Finally, the 4x400 relay team of Towne, Heisinger, Caitlin Hafenstein and Cornejo placed sixth in the second prelim heat and 19th overall with a 4:17.16 time.
The CIF-SJS Masters Meet continues on Saturday. Cornejo and fellow senior Cate Joaquin are seeded No. 3 and No. 2, respectively, in the 1,600 at 5:19 p.m. Joaquin will compete again at 7:29 p.m. in the 3,200, in which she is again the No. 2 seed. The future Georgetown Hoya also ranks among the top 10 in each distance event among California runners, and in the top 25 nationally (17th in 1600, 24th in 3200).
In Saturday's field events, Troubie junior Maddie Pelfrey enters the pole vault as the No. 2 seed behind only Alison Sahaida of Oak Ridge. Senior Kenna DeLemos will compete in Flight 2 of the girls' long jump final. Those events run at 2 and 3 p.m., respectively.
The top three finishers plus any athlete surpassing an automatic-qualifying standard will earn berths in the CIF State Championships at Buchanan High on May 27-28.
2022 SAC-JOAQUIN SECTION MASTERS, DAY 1
Ron & Mary Brown Stadium (Davis, Calif.)
Results with SFHS entrants only • Leaders/winners plus SFHS finishers listed
GIRLS' SHOT PUT FINAL - 1. Galadriel Mellion, Weston Ranch, 40-4… 17. Lauren Riley, 31-4.5
GIRLS' 800 METER PRELIMS - 1. Haleigh Humble, Oakdale, 2:17.37… 3. Kayla Towne, 2:18.55; 4. Tatiana Cornejo, 2:19.06.
GIRLS' 300 HURDLES PRELIMS - 1. Kellee Hall, Christian Brothers, 44.01… 18. Grace Heisinger, 49.26.
GIRLS' 4x400 RELAY PRELIMS - 1. Edison (Hill-Brown, Lyons-Wright, Rogers, Phillips), 4:01.28… 19. St. Francis (Heisinger, Towne, Hafenstein, Cornejo), 4:17.16.
