Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Fortuna’s Brylee Barsanti placed second in both girls hurdles races at McKinleyville High on Wednesday.

By Ray Hamill — The Eureka Loggers continued to roll early in the 2023 track and field season, winning both the boy and girls team competitions in the league-opening meet at McKinleyville on Wednesday.

The Loggers placed first in six of the 34 combined boys and girls events, which was fewer than both Arcata (nine wins) and McKinleyville (eight wins), but they added plenty of team points with their depth.

Eureka senior Ginny Brooks was a three-time winner on the day, placing first in both hurdles races, as well as teaming with Emily Pesch, Samara Gaither and Aniah Gaither to win the 4×100 meter relay.

Arcata’s Sydney Hasselquist was the only other three-event winner on the day as she continued her very impressive start to the new season.

Hasselquist took first in the 100m with a PR of 12.9 seconds, as well as winning the 200m and the long jump.

The two standout seniors each also had a third-place finish, with Brooks finishing third in the long jump and Hasselquist in the 4x100m relay.

Eight other athletes took home a pair of firsts, including McKinleyville’s Derek Ray, Damian Dinan, Dorian Rine and Kalyssa Claros, Arcata’s Ai-Lan McGoldrick and Soquel Macdonald, Fortuna’s Russell Pascascio and Eureka’s Pesch. 

Ray won the shot put with a PR of 53’ 8” and the discuss with a PR of 132’ 4”, while Dinan was first across the line in the 800m and teamed with Wilson Jones, Rylee Collart and Rine to win the 4x400m relay.

Rine also placed first in the 300m hurdles with a PR time of 42.79 seconds, while Claros showcased the Panthers depth in the throwing events with victories in the shot put and discus.

McGoldrick, meanwhile, placed first in the 800m and ran the anchor leg of the 4x800m relay, winning with Madison Trieu, Alauna Thompson and Macdonald.

Macdonald also placed first in the 1600m.

In addition to her victory in the 4x100m relay, Pesch also won the girls high jump with a PR of 5’ 2”, while Pascascio won the boys high jump and triple jump.

Other winners on the day included Del Norte freshman Deken Hanks in the boys 100m, followed by teammate Aden Mintonye in second and Eureka’s Hans Chalmers in third.

Chalmers fared better in the 200m, winning with a PR of 23.91 seconds, followed by teammate Joe Morris in second and Ferndale’s Jack Westfall in third.

Arcata’s Luke Moxon won the boys 400m with a PR of 54.43 seconds, with Brookings-Harbor’s Branko Briggs in second and Collart in third, while Arcata’s Nathan Whitney followed Dinan across the line for second in the boys 800m, with Eureka’s Everett Docherty in third.

In the boys 1600m, Eureka’s Daniel Shaver placed first with a PR of 4 minutes, 40.19 seconds, with Del Norte’s Dylan Rodriquez in second and Dinan third.

Rodriguez would not be denied in the 3200m, placing first with a PR time of 10:34.72, followed by Arcata’s Reece Thompson in second and McKinleyville’s Aidan Davis in third, while Ferndale’s Isaak Kasso was first to cross the line in the boys 110m hurdles, with Rine second and Del Norte’s Mintonye in third.

Mintonye also placed second to Rine in the 300m hurdles, with Eureka’ Preston Richards in third.

The Del Norte foursome of Mintonye, Hanks, Bryson Price and Mario Ledezma took first in the boys 4x100m relay, while Arcata’s Whitney, Levi Browne, Andrew Trieu and Ocean Walker won the 4x800m relay.

Eureka’s Joseph Gonalez and Jamin Guilbert each also continued to impress in the throwing events.

Gonzalez was second to Ray in the discus and third in the shot, while Gilbert was second to Ray in the shot and third in the discus.

Arcata’s Eric Jackson, meanwhile, placed second to Pascascio in the high jump, followed by Southern Trinity’s Dennis Wheeler in third, while Kasso was second to Pascascio in the triple jump, followed by Eureka’s Richards in third.

St. Bernard’s Car Nunes also continued to impress in the long jump and took first, followed by Chalmers and Del Norte’s Lyon Rigden, with the latter winning the pole vault, followed by teammate Gabe Howard and Fortuna’s Christopher Duey, who tied for second.

As a team, the Eureka boys scored 146 points for the win, with Arcata (129.5), Fortuna (67), McKinleyville (52) and Del Norte (47) rounding out the top five at the 11-team meet.

In the girls 100m, Fortuna’s Allie Cox placed second to Hasselquist, with Del Norte’s Gianna Taylor in third, while McKinleyville’s Gabby Watson was second to Hasselquist in the 200m, followed by Cox in third.

Brookings-Harbor’s Lexie Newman, meanwhile, won the 400m with a PR of 1:03.98, followed by Eureka’s Gracie Ortiz in second and Watson in third, while Eureka’s Sequoia Ashby placed second to McGoldrick in the 800m, followed by Macdonald in third.

Eureka’s Charlotte Leonard was second to Macdonald in the 1600m, followed by Thompson in third, while Arcata freshman Sydney Ventuleth won the girls 3200m with a PR of 14:14.49, followed by Eureka’s Anna Grimmett in second.

Fortuna’s Brylee Barsanti also had a good day at the league-opening meet and placed second to Brooks in both hurdles races, with Samara Gaither third in the 100m hurdles and Arcata’s Nicole Nozawa third in the 300m hurdles.

The Panthers four of Kim Lewis, Lacie Rink, MaryAnn Som and Watson was first across the line in the 4x400m relay, while Brookings-Harbor’s Spensyr Gotfried won the pole vault followed by Fortuna’s Chloe Cox in second and Del Norte’s Sheena Xiong in third.

St. Bernard’s Madelyn Shanahan also was a winner, placing first in the triple jump with a PR of 34’ 3.25”, followed by Del Norte’s Lily Sherman in second and Eureka’s Aniah Young in third.

Shanahan also placed second to Hasselquist in the long jump, with Arcata’s Quincy Collins second to Pesch in the high jump, followed by Aniah Gaither in third.

And rounding out a busy day of action, Shanahan was second to Claros in the discus, with Fortuna’s Lonna Torrez third, and Arcata’s Linea Vizenor was second in the shot put, followed by Eureka’s Isabella Claussen in third.

Eureka won the girls team competition with 139.33 points, well ahead of the field.

Del Norte (97.67), McKinleyville (84), Arcata (64) and Fortuna (47) rounded out the top five.