According to Dos Palos High head track coach Eddy Gibb, “it was a fantastic Friday.”
With a team of young athletes gearing for a strong finish, the Bronco boys squad finished in third place at the Central Section Div. IV finals, which were held at Caruthers High School. Immanuel-Reedley won both the boys and girls division. On the boys side, Immanuel scored 128 points followed by San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno with 80. Dos Palos and host Caruthers tied for third with 62 points. The rest of the top 10 were Sierra-Tollhouse (39), Bakersfield Christian (36), Yosemite-Oakhurst (32), Woodlake (27), Farmersville (26), and Orcutt Academy (16).
“Overall, it was terrific,” said Gibbs. “We did better than I expected. I predicted we would get between 52 and 54 points. So, to get 62 is just great. We had kids turn in a personal best and Jesus Bon broke his own school record in the 400-meter race.”
Bon clocked a 50.04 in the 400 to take the race over Lucca Marshall of San Joaquin Memorial, who came in at 51.06. William Bird of Rosamond was third with a time of 52.39.
Bon’s winning time not only eclipsed his school record, but also set a new Div. IV section record.
But Bon was just getting started. He won the 100-meter race with a time of 10.99, beating out Aaron Medina of Woodlake and Ryan Wristers of San Joaquin Memorial.
He also won the 200-meter race with a time of 21.97, which beat Noah Gomez of Woodlake and Medina. Bon finished up his banner day by placing second in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 41.09. Sierra’s Chayce Duerkson won the event with a time of 40.12.
Jaquez Jones, a Bronco junior, turned in a personal best in the 110-meter hurdles with an excellent time of 16.24. Sierra’s Duerksen won with a time of 15.57. Gabe Martinez of San Joaquin Memorial was third. Jones finished up his excellent day with a fourth place finish in the high jump with a leap of 6.00. This was a highly competitive event as the winning jump of 6.04 was turned in by San Joaquin Memorial’s Jaxson Silverstrom.
Other finishes by Dos Palos included Esteban Hernandez in the discus and Andrew Sanroman in the 3200-meter race.
On the girls side, Jenny Herrera of Firebaugh placed sixth in the 100-meter race. She also placed second in the triple jump with a leap of 32-02.
Marissa Merrell of Dos Palos placed second in the high jump with a leap of 5-02.
Bon, Jones, and Merrell, along with Firebaugh’s Herrera, should qualify for the Valley Masters, which will take place starting this Friday at Buchanan-Clovis, and Gibb is looking for another strong finish from the trio.
“We had a lot of kids step up this year and showed the caliber of athletes we have at Dos Palos,” Gibb said. “It clearly has been a great year.”
