Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Del Norte’s Deken Hanks, center, and Caden Harrison, right, pictured on the podium after the 100m race on Saturday, along with Fortuna’s Kavi Bolden.

By Ray Hamill — Deken Hanks placed first in all four of his events at the H-DNL track and field championships on Saturday to lead the Del Norte Warriors to a team championship.

The sensational sophomore, who recently set a new league record in the 100 meters, successfully defended his league championships in both the 100m and 200m, as well as helping the Warriors to victory in the 4x100m and 4x400m relay events.

Competing in wet conditions at McKinleyville High, Hanks won the 100m in a time of 11.07 seconds and was first across the line in the 200m in a time of 22.43 seconds.

“He was four for four, and that was the game plan, that was the goal,” Del Norte head coach Taylor Duncan said.

He wasn’t the only standout on a Del Norte team that racked up 137 points on the way to a comfortable team win.

Senior Caden Harrison was also a multiple winner on the day, edging Ferndale standout Isaak Kasso for the victory in the 300m hurdles with a PR time of 41.83 seconds and also playing a part in the Warriors’ 4x100m and 4x400m relay wins.

Freshman Landon Balent also was on both Del Norte relay winning teams.

“It was awesome to see all these kids step up today,” Duncan added.

Kasso fared better in the 110m hurdles and won in a time of 15.45 seconds, with his younger brother Anthony Kasso second.

Arcata’s Nathan Whitney also had a good day and placed first in three events, winning the 800m (2 minutes, 1.47 seconds) and 1600m (4:27.19) and setting new PRs in both races.

Whitney rounded out a big day by teaming with Eoin McGoldrick, Kai Frimodig and Evan Poston to lead the Tigers to victory in the 4x800m relay.

Fortuna’s Russell Pascascio also had a big day and placed first in both the high jump and triple jump.

The Huskies senior, who is among the top performers in the North Coast Section in the high jump, won that event with a jump of 5’ 10” and took first in the triple jump with a jump of 41’ 9”.

Hanks was named the boys track athlete of the meet, while Pascascio was named the boys field athlete of the meet.

Other winners included Del Norte’s Lyon Rigden in the pole vault (12’ 6”), Arcata’s Skyler Collenberg in the shot put (42’ 2.5”) and McKinleyville’s Nick Maher in the discus (127’ 6”), as well as outstanding Eureka freshman Ryder Bullman, who smashed his old PR on the way to victory in the 3200m by almost 40 seconds and won in a time of 10:03.79.

And rounding out the day’s winners, Eureka senior Elias Ladika won the long jump with a jump of 20’ 5.75” and Fortuna senior Luke Kamrud won the 400m in a time of 53.45 seconds.

We’ll have much more on the league championship early next week.

For more on the girls championships and what was a huge day for the Eureka Loggers, see Loggers dominate the field at 2024 league track and field championships …