The Running Jaguars achieved near peak performance at the North Bay League Track & Field Championships on May 1 and 3, with more than a dozen athletes extending their season with outstanding individual efforts.
Held on the newly renovated Montgomery High School track in Santa Rosa, the goal for most competing athletes was a top six finish in their respective events, good for advancement to the North Coast Section Redwood Empire Area meet on May 11 at Maria Carrillo High School. Additionally, the top six marks (that didn’t qualify as a top six in league) will also advance to the NCS Redwood Empire meet.
The NBL meet combined all 12 teams in both the Oak and Redwood Divisions, with many of the county’s best athletes going head to head. The Jaguars logged their best league finish since joining the NBL in 2012.
“We had a great performance at the NBL Championships,” WHS coach Brandon Bronzan confirmed. “Our girl’s team opened a lot of eyes with a third place finish (out of 12). We’re one of the smallest teams in the league, but we finished just 12 points behind Maria Carrillo. Our team is set up to excel in meets like this because while we lack depth, we have top level talent,” he added.
Leading the way for the Lady Jaguars was sophomore Emily Johnson, who pulled off a double in capturing first place in both the triple jump and long jump. Also logging NCS qualifying efforts for the girls were sprinters Kendall Campos (2nd place 200 meters in 26.48, WHS record, 3rd place 200 meters), Isabella Chavez (2nd place 100 meters, 12.57), Jayda Pignataro (6th place 800 meters), Lilja Chung (4th place 3,200 meters) and Kaitlyn Macauley (5th place discus). In addition, the girls 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relay teams will advance as well.
The Windsor boys did nearly as well, finishing fourth overall among 12 teams.
Logging winning performances were sprinter Max Sandwina (1st place, 100 meters, 11.30, 4th place 200 meters) and distance star Lucas Chung (1st place 3,200 meters, 9:32, 3rd place 1,600 meters). Other qualifying marks were had by Ralph Manalac (3rd place 110 meter high hurdles) and Vince Corday (4th place 400 meters, 4th place 300 intermediate hurdles, 6th place triple jump).
The Jaguars suffered a blow in the NBL trials when school record holder Jaden Fernandez was injured, ending his season.
“The boys finished fourth, an extremely strong finish when considering we lost one of the best sprinters in the league,” Bronzan noted. “Despite a bit of adversity, we had our best finish since 2014.”
