On a very cold, windy and rainy day where it was definitely preferable to be inside and not outdoors, the Dos Palos High School Broncos hosted the initial West Sierra League track meet at Frankian Field/Bill Hume Stadium.
The meet, held last Wednesday afternoon, finally had to called off with about four events left when a cloud burst opened up and soaked the athletes, coaches, and spectators.
But throughout the day, there was one athlete who shone like a rainbow in the otherwise dark day.
Bronco senior Marissa Merrell ignored the sorry conditions and tied a school record in the high jump with a leap of 5”2’. She now sits beside Bronco Hall of Famer Lacy Turner, who set the record back in 2000. Turner went on to compete in track and field at the D-1 college level.
Merrell also won the 300-meter hurdles, the long jump and the triple jump.
“Marissa had a great day,” said her coach, Rob Calvert. “She has been working hard and will only get better.”
The Broncos went up against their constant nemesis, the Coalinga Horned Toads. Calvert said Coalinga was leading the team scoring by 10 points when the meet was called with four events left.
“I think we would have won if we could have finished those events,” Calvert explained. “It would have been all the way to the final event. Coalinga has so many distance runners, so they pile up the points with their numbers. It’s tough, because we just don’t have the numbers to match them.”
So, how bad was the weather?
“It was the coldest I have been in a long time,” he remarked. “It was miserable. We thought we were going to finish but then the rain opened up and we had to call it.”
Another Bronco senior, Karina Tapia, won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.6 seconds. She also placed third in the long jump.
Alexa Acala was second in the 400-meter race and also placed in the 300-meter hurdles.
Calvert is not only excited with the turnout for this year’s squad, but also their work ethic.
“We have good numbers this year with 26 girls,” he said. “They are working really hard. They are getting in good shape and improving every week,”
Today (Wednesday), Dos Palos will travel down Highway 33 to Firebaugh High for the second WSL meet. It will start at 2:30 pm and the weather should be much better.
