Aptos senior Casey MacConnell took home three first place medals—two individual and one team—that he captured at the second annual Santa Cruz County Meet of Champions event at Harbor High School on March 15.
The Mariners’ standout athlete won both the 100-meters dash and high jump events, and was part of the 4×100 boys’ relay team (Damian Suchil, MacConnell, Deric Moren, Scott Catesi) that won its race in 49.91 seconds. The meet featured dozens athletes from 14 different schools within the county.
MacConnell sprinted his way to victory in 11.47 seconds to win the 100-meters, edging teammate senior Deric Moren (11.57) and Scotts Valley junior Anton Khomenko (11.60).
MacConnell then went on to jump 6 feet flat to win the high jump, outlasting St. Abraham junior Bryson Trent (5-10) in second and St. Francis junior Robert Gomez Jr. (5-8) in third.
Pajaro Valley senior Izaak Ocampo leaped to victory in the long jump with a winning mark of 21 feet, 4 inches, edging MacConnell (21-0) in second and Trent (19-8 1/2) in third. St. Francis junior Coy Jordan hopped 40 feet to claim the triple jump, while teammate junior Jacob Jimenez (39-6 1/4) took second and Moren placed third (37-1 1/2).
Pacific Collegiate sophomore Jude Holmlund (10-6) won the pole vault, beating Aptos sophomore Bryce Boudreault (10-0) in second and senior Daniel Perez-Corona (9-6) in third.
In the 200 dash, Harbor senior Luke Wyland won in 22.97, followed by Monte Vista Christian senior Joshua Tepoorten (23.46) in second and Scotts Valley senior Will Shilling (23.62) in third.
Tepoorten (51.43) won the 400, beating Santa Cruz senior Dylan Hermanson (52.04) in second and Scotts Valley senior Ian Jory (54.08) in third.
Santa Cruz senior and California Interscholastic Federation State Division IV champion Eli Fitchen-Young won the 800-meters in 1:53.58, followed by Aptos sophomore Sam Hansen (1:55.01) and junior Brady Bliesner (1:55.01) in second and third, respectively.
Hansen battled back in the 1600 with a first place finish in 4:30.68. He edged Scotts Valley junior Aaron Weiss (4:32.98) in second and Watsonville junior Desi Salinas-Holz (4:42.99) in third.
Watsonville freshman Noel Navarro dashed and hopped his way to victory in the 300-meters hurdles. He won the race in 43.69 seconds, beating out Pajaro Valley junior Giovanni Villanueva (43.26) in second and St. Francis senior Derek Anderson (47.85) in third.
Villanueva (18.44) placed second in the 110m hurdles just behind Scotts Valley freshman Aaron Wheeler (18.42) in first and ahead of Aptos senior Adrian Fernandez (18.68) in third.
Santa Cruz’s 4×400 relay team (Eli Fitchen-Young, Dylan Hermanson, Emiliano Villarreal, Alan Lee) won its race in 3:38.71, while Aptos’ 4×800 relay team (Anthony Sandford-Carroll, Andrew Pursley, Sam Hansen, Brady Bilesner) won its race in 8:46.71.
Aptos senior Logan Brantley won both the shot put and discus events with throws of 54-feet, 10 1/2 inches and 157-4, respectively. Behind him was Watsonville junior Lisandro Pantoja, who took second in both the shot put (41-8 1/2) and the discus with a throw of 149-6—putting him at No. 9 all-time in the Wildcatz’s record book.
On the girls side, Watsonville’s 4 x 800 relay team (Katelynn Ruiz, Azucena Sandoval, Aileen Reyes, and Lizbeth Gomez) won in 10 minutes, 38.69 seconds.
Aptos’ 4×100 relay team (Siena Black, Ella Boyes, Bella Hartnett, Izzy Graff) won its race in 49.92 seconds, while the 4×400 relay team (Bella Hartnett, Natasha Newcombe, Siena Black, Izzy Graff) won in 4:21.71.
Santa Cruz sophomore Joy Roberts (12.97) beat Aptos senior Izzy Graff (13.20) and freshman Myla Appleby (13.34) in the girls’ 100-meters. Roberts also won the 200-m in 26.04, just slightly ahead of Aptos sophomore Bella Hartnett (26.22) and Graff (27.09).
Hartnett redeemed herself in the 400 by winning the race in 59.64, beating teammate senior Natasha Newcombe (1:04.00) and Santa Cruz freshman Haisley Flanagan (1:04.34).
Scotts Valley junior Ava Decleve won the 800 in 2:20.53, followed by Pacific Collegiate freshman Iris Paten (2:25.51) in second and Scotts Valley junior Jennifer Brownfield (2:29.11) in third.
Santa Cruz senior Heidi Green won the 1600-meters in 5:17.62, followed by Monte Vista Christian senior Kylie Brunelli (5:19.66) and freshman Anna Conca (5:24.20) in second and third, respectively.
Brunelli rebounded by winning the 3200 in 11:37.61, while Santa Cruz freshman Isla Roake (11:46.62) took second and Aptos junior Maya Schiro (12:27.59) placed third.
Aptos junior Ella Boyes won the 100-meter hurdles in 16.28, followed by Santa Cruz freshman Haisley Flanagan (17.14) in second and San Lorenzo Valley senior Naomi Seastrom (17.16) in third.
Boyes also won the 300 hurdles in 47.16, ahead of Seastrom (47.52) and Watsonville senior Jocelyn Guzman (48.31) in third, which moved her up to No. 3 all-time in the ‘Catz’s record book.
St. Francis junior Camila Suarez’s toss of 27 feet, 7 inches was good enough to win the shot put event. Watsonville freshman Aaliyah Arellano (27-6) took second, while Aptos sophomore Ellie Marta (24-4) placed third. Soquel junior Summer Shields won the discus with a throw of 82-7, followed by Marta (80-8) in second and Suarez (77-9) in third.
SLV senior Orea Pollock won the high jump with a mark of 5 feet, followed by MVC freshman Carly Heitzenrater (4-4) in second and Pajaro Valley freshman Liz Zamora (4-4) in third. Pajaro Valley vaulted her way to win the pole vault with a jump of 7-6, followed by Watsonville senior Jayleen Arredondo (7-6) took second and Aptos freshman Charlotte Gubser (6-6) in third.
Boyes won the long jump with a mark of 17-3, while Mount Madonna senior Lagi Hunnicutt (15-9 1/2) took second and Aptos freshman Teagan Chevalier (15-5 1/2) placed third.
Mount Madonna senior Lagi Hunnicutt won the triple jump with a leap of 32-9 1/2, followed by St. Abraham senior Julia Alexander (32-9 1/2) in second and St. Francis sophomore Mary Sullivan (30-2) in third.
