FOLSOM, Calif. – Junior Grace Dunham ran a personal-best five minutes, 3.87 seconds to place second in the 1,600 meters, junior Kayla Towne matched that runner-up finish in the 800 meters, while throwers Lauren Riley and Elise Blomquist each hit huge PRs in the shot put, leading St. Francis at the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I track & field championships, hosted by Folsom High at Prairie City Stadium Friday.

The Troubadours ranked sixth in the team race with 46 points, although that total did not include the girls' long jump. Whitney dominated the field with 100 points, with St. Mary's (69.5) and Rocklin (61) in the next two spots. Davis (51) and Franklin (47) were the top teams from the Delta League. St. Francis managed those points despite having several athletes opt out of the divisional championship.

The top eight finishers from the D-I meet advance to the SJS Masters championship, hosted at Davis on May 19 and 20. The Masters meet will then send three qualifiers (except for the new 4x800, which will have two qualifiers) to the CIF State Championships, held at Buchanan High on May 26 and 27.

Dunham's time in the 1,600 marked a sixth-tenth improvement from her previous PR of 5:04.47, set at this year's Sacramento Meet of Champions, and moved her up one spot to ninth in the school record book. Towne later matched Dunham's eight points for second place, crossing the line in 2:16.50. She had the fastest first lap of 1:05.51, but fell to fourth with approximately 200 meters to go. Towne then stormed past Lodi's Kiah Aitken and Franklin's Theone Divinagracia on the home stretch to move up to second.

Towne's time is her second fastest of her career, and likely would have won the Div. I title if not for an incredible postseason streak by champion Lily Escorcia of Elk Grove. Escorcia won with a 2:15.15 for almost a three-second improvement from her prelim time of 2:18.05, which in turn was a one-second jump from her previous PR from the Delta League championships.

Riley led the Troubies in the shot put with a personal-record 34 feet, 1-inch push. This not only garnered sixth place in the meet, but it made her just the ninth athlete in school history to surpass the 34-foot barrier, and the first since three SF throwers achieved the feat in 2014.  In that same event was one of the bigger surprises for SF, as Blomquist popped a 33-3.5 throw on her first attempt. A former hurdler/long jumper, Blomquist began throwing as a 10th-grader in 2022, and had never even reached a 30-foot throw until the fifth meet of the 2023 season. The new best was good for eighth place in the meet, a point toward the team scoring, and a spot in the SJS Masters meet next week.

Junior Caitlin Hafenstein added two team points with her wind-aided 12.56 in the 100-meter dash. In fact, she picked up an extra point, as the FinishLynx photo had her a mere one thousandth of a second ahead of Whitney's Jasmine Beasley, 12.555 to 12.556. Hafenstein continues to knock on the door of the St. Francis top 10 list, but her times of 12.44 at the league championship and the 12.45 on Friday had tailwinds in excess of the maximum 2.0 meters per second for record.

St. Francis did gain a break in the 4x400 relay, as the foursome of Colleen Medina, Penelope Cole, Pamela Vargas and Sarah Charles appeared to have finished ninth – one place from advancing and one spot from team points. However, third-seeded Davis was disqualified after the race, slipping out of scoring contention and moving the Troubies up a spot into the Masters meet. For her part, Charles previously finished seventh in the 400 (59.41) prior to the long relay.

The Troubies entered the day with some scoring help, as senior Maddie Pelfrey won the pole vault on Wednesday, the crew of Dunham, Towne, Daphne Witherell and Kelsey Sutch placed second in the new 4x800 event, and Riley chipped in sixth-place points in the discus throw.

The SJS Masters start with field events at 1 p.m. and running events at 3:05 p.m. Live results will be available at redcaptiming.com, while tickets are available exclusively through GoFan.

2023 SAC-JOAQUIN SECTION DIV. I CHAMPIONSHIPS, DAY 2
Prairie City Stadium (Folsom, Calif.)
Events with SF entrants only • Winners plus SF finishers listed • All events were finals

GIRLS' 1600 METERS - 1. Katie Kopec, Whitney, 4:59.26... 2. Grace Dunham, 5:03.87.

GIRLS' 400 METERS - 1. Ihe Okoh, Franklin, 56.29... 7. Sarah Charles, 59.41.

GIRLS' 100 METERS (w: +2.3) - 1. Ciella Seals, Tracy, 11.87... 7. Caitlin Hafenstein, 12.56.

GIRLS' 800 METERS - 1. Lilly Escorcia, Elk Grove, 2:15.15... 2. Kayla Towne, 2:16.50.

GIRLS' 3200 METERS - 1. Katie Kopec, Whitney, 10:56.64... 9. Daphne Witherell, 11:54.13; 13. Paige Quigley, 12:15.02; 17. Ryann Strawn, 12:32.42.

GIRLS' 4x400 RELAY - 1. St. Mary's (L. Hackley, D. Hackley, Lee, Brown-Carrier), 3:55.21... 8. St. Francis (Medina, Cole, Vargas, Charles), 4:10.83.

GIRLS' SHOT PUT - 1. Lele Tanuvasa, St. Mary's, 37-7.5... 6. Lauren Riley, 34-1; 8. Elise Blomquist, 33-3.5.