DAVIS, Calif. – The foursome of junior Grace Dunham, senior Daphne Witherell, junior Kelsey Sutch and junior Kayla Townetied the 4x800 relay school record of nine minutes, 26.91 seconds, good for second place in the meet and a berth to the state championships, leading St. Francis on the first day of the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters track & field championships at Davis Senior High's Ron & Mary Brown Stadium Friday.
The runner-up time matched the previous record, set one week earlier at the SJS Division I championship.
The 4x800 relay race, the newest addition to the section championship program, comprised 25 teams in a single heat. Whitney won the championship at 9:26.10, with the Troubies less than a second behind. Granite Bay (9:31.36) and Franklin (9:31.47) crossed in third and fourth, respectively, with Lincoln of Stockton in fifth (9:33.74). That top five finished more than 20 seconds ahead of the remainder of the field.
The top two 4x800 relays advance to the state championship, whereas all other finals send three.
Towne followed her anchor leg in the relay by finishing second in the third heat and eighth overall in the 800 meters (2:22.16). The top 12 in the prelims qualified for Saturday's final, from which the top three will move on to the state meet. Towne entered the Masters meet with a seed time of 2:15.33, fourth in the section and fifth in school history. Friday's top advancing time belonged to Elk Grove's Lily Escorcia, who went 2:18.41 in Friday's fourth heat.
Towne was the only Troubadour to advance from a Friday prelim to a Saturday final. St. Francis had qualifiers in four other events. Among the highlights was junior Caitlin Hafenstein, who posted a 12.45 in the 100-meter dash. This is her fastest wind-legal mark by a Troubie since Reyna Johnson in 2019, putting her sixth in the school record book ahead of Micheli Arcuri (12.49 in 2004).
Senior Sarah Charles ran a 1:00.30 to finish 16th in the 400, then joined Colleen Medina, Pamela Vargas and Penelope Cole in the 14th-place 4x400 relay (4:11.51). This capped a solid overall final season for the Chapman-bound Charles, whose 58.84 at last week's section divisional lists her 10th in the SF record book.
Junior Elise Blomquist was the lone Troubie in a field event on Friday. She threw 30 feet, 7 inches on her first attempt to place 22nd overall in the meet. Blomquist qualified for the Masters meet by virtue of the PR 33-3.5 at the SJS D-I meet one week earlier, second on the team behind only senior Lauren Riley.
The Masters championship resumes on Saturday with three Troubies in action. Senior Maddie Pelfrey kicks off the day as one of only two entrants to have broken 12 feet in the pole vault, thanks to the season-best 12-2 at last week's D-I meet. The future UC Santa Barbara Gaucho holds the school record of 12-6, set at the 2022 Delta League championship. Dunham competes in the 1,600 final with the section's No. 6 time of 5:03.87, ninth in school history. Towne will conclude Day 2 for St. Francis with her 800 final, scheduled for 6:38 p.m.
2023 SAC-JOAQUIN SECTION MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS, DAY 1
Ron & Mary Brown Stadium (Davis, Calif.)
Events with SF entrants only • Winners plus SF finishers listed • All events were prelims except where noted
GIRLS' 4x800 RELAY FINAL - 1. Whitney (Soto, Scott, Ewers, Kopec), 9:26.10... 2. St. Francis (Dunham, Witherell, Sutch, Towne), 9:26.91
GIRLS' 400 METERS - 1. Cierra Kinsey, Armijo, 57.19... 16. Sarah Charles, 1:00.30.
GIRLS' 100 METERS - 1. Shanye Harris, Edison, 11.70 (w: +1.4)... 16. Caitlin Hafenstein, 12.45 (w: +1.4)
GIRLS' 800 METERS - 1. Lily Escorcia, Elk Grove, 2:18.41... 8. Kayla Towne, 2:22.16.
GIRLS' SHOT PUT FINAL - 1. Galadriel Mellion, Weston Ranch, 43-6... 22. Elise Blomquist, 30-7.
GIRLS' 4x400 RELAY - 1. Christian Brothers (Greer, White, Watkins, Hall), 3:57.18... 14. St. Francis (Medina, Vargas, Cole, Charles), 4:11.51.
