Middletown pole vaulter also qualifies during Class A Championships
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SANTA ROSA >> Needing a top-three finish to reach next weekend’s Meet of Champions in Dublin, Clear Lake High School senior Kaylah Billig qualified in both the shotput and discus Saturday during the North Coast Section Class A Track and Field Championships at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa.
Middletown pole vaulter Bryton Caviness also qualified with a third-place finish but will be unable to attend the MOC. Instead, it will be younger brother Dylan Caviness taking his place. Dylan came in fourth Saturday.
Middletown’s Makayla Mace, Krystal Ocken and Crystal Duval, and Upper Lake’s Saphira Hughesalso had fourth-place finishes. In fact, Mace, a senior, finished fourth in three different events – the 100 meters, 100 hurdles and pole vault – in addition to taking eighth in the 200.
Girls
Billig was unquestionably the standout performer from Lake County on Saturday, with Mace a close second. Billig earned a second-place medal in the shotput with a throw of 33 feet, 7 ½ inches and a third-place medal in the discus with a toss of 102-5.
Mace posted times of 12.81 seconds in the 100 and 16.43 in the 100 hurdles, which is a Middletown record. She cleared 8 feet even in the pole vault.
Hughes cleared 15-11 in the long jump. Ocken had a throw of 32-3 1/2in the discus while teammate Duval had a throw of 89-3 in the discus. Ocken also placed seventh in the discus at 86-8.
Middletown’s Isa Barnes, only a sophomore, finished sixth in the 300 hurdles (51.82) and seventh in the 100 hurdles (17.28). Also for Middletown, Cat Barriga placed seventh in the pole vault (7-0) and Jolene Holley, a freshman, cleared 4-6 in the high jump to take eighth.
Boys
The Caviness brothers both cleared 9-6 in the boys pole vault, Bryton needing fewer attempts to reach that height. Dylan’s mark was a personal best.
Among other county athletes, Clear Lake’s Nolan Ewing was eighth in the 100 (11.45) and Upper Lake’s Jack DeMunck was eighth in the shotput (38-2).
Cloverdale’s Van Smith ran third in the 110 hurdles (16.44) to punch his ticket to next weekend’s MOC, which is the qualifier for the CIF State Championships the following weekend.
“I just want to start by saying I am proud of all my athletes that competed at the NCS Championship,” Middletown head coach Wyatt Hall said. “They all worked hard to get there and gave it everything they had.”
In addition to breaking her own school record in the 100 hurdles, Mace had personal-best times in the 100 and 200 meters.
“Mace performed well at the meet,” Hall said. “She just missed out at advancing to MOC.”
Redwood Empire Meet
At Fortuna, a handful of Lower Lake High School athletes took part in the Redwood Empire Championships, but none placed in the top six, which was necessary to advance to the MOC.
