Submitted photo – Jamin Guilbert, Derek Ray and Joseph Gonzalez at Stanford over the weekend.
It’s shaping up to be a good year in the throwing events for the McKinleyville Panthers, and the H-DN.
Over the weekend, four local high school throwers traveled south to compete at the prestigious Stanford Invitational, with three of them placing in the top 10 in the boys shot put.
McKinleyville’s Derek Ray led the way as he continues his impressive early-season form and placed second among all high schoolers.
Ray, who was coming off three straight victories in the event, including a win at last week’s first H-DN meet of the season, threw 15.79 meters.
A pair of Eureka athletes also placed in the top 10.
Senior Joseph Gonzalez threw a PR of 14.72m and placed fourth, while senior Jamin Guilbert was 10th with a throw of 13.77m.
For good measure, Gonzalez, who will play football at College of the Redwoods this coming fall, also placed 14th in the discus with a season-best throw of 38.6m.
McKinleyville’s Kalyssa Claros also made the trip to Stanford to compete in the girls shot put.
The Panthers senior, who was a double winner in the shot put and discus at the league-opening meet last week, placed 16th in Palo Alto with a throw of 9.68 meters.
All four H-DN standouts are scheduled to be back in action at the second league meet, which will be hosted by Eureka at McKinleyville High School on Wednesday afternoon.
File photo – McKinleyville’s Kalyssa Claros traveled with teammate Derek Ray to compete at the prestigious Stanford Invitational over the weekend.
Categories: Eureka, McKinleyville, Track and field
Derek is my nephew and we as a family are very proud of him.
It will defiantly go down as a memorable year for field weight throwing events in the H-DN with the record breaking discus performance of Eureka’s Jamin Guilbert, McKinleyville’s Derek Ray’s 58’+ shot put, and the versatile performance displayed throughout the spring by Eureka’s Joseph Gonzalez, who in most years would have swept the county meet in both the discus and shot – if not for the exemplary performances this year by Jamin and Derek!
And then there was Kalyssa Claros, who clearly was the very best of girl’s varsity shot and discus throwers throughout the North Coast Section. Yep, it was a special year for these four student athletes. What also wasn’t typical of high school athletics was how well they trained and competed together – and they genuinely enjoyed each other. Sure, they competed against each other – and each one truly tried to win each event they faced off in. But somewhere along the line they found the time to collectively truly enjoy their competitions and they would quickly support whoever was having the best day, and they especially supported each other if one was struggling. The smiles are real, and the friendships are cemented for life.
All in a H-DN season that won’t soon be forgotten. To Jamin, Derek, Kalyssa and Joseph – thanks for the memories!