Submitted photos – The Eel River Rapids U10s

By Ray Hamill — A pair of young Del Norte record breakers and a team of young soccer players take center stage this week in our weekly awards.

Redwood Elementary School eighth-graders DeAnna Rock-Salas and Jaylee Keeling both enjoyed breakout seasons in track and field on their way to eclipsing long-held county records.

And that make this talented duo our athletes of the week.

Rock-Salas broke a 37-year-old record in the girls 800 meters at a recent middle school meet and would go on to claim the Del Norte county championship in the race last week.

She set the record with a time of 2 minutes, 37.88 seconds, beating the previous record of 2:38.63, which was set by Knela Newton (Wilson) all the way back in 1987.

Not to be out-done, Keeling also set a new county record in the girls 200m hurdles.

Keeling’s record came at last week’s county championships as she crossed the finish line in a time of 32.88 seconds, which eclipsed the previous middle school county record of 33.34 seconds, which was set by Kaleya Sanchez nine years ago.

If both young standouts can carry that form into high school, it’ll be good news for the Del Norte Warriors.

Our team of the week, meanwhile, goes to a group of outstanding young soccer players, who are enjoying a very successful 2024 as they continue to grow together.

Last weekend, the Eel River Rapids U10 boys team, which features young players from throughout the Eel River Valley, traveled to Medford to compete at the Rogue Valley Invitational and took home the championship in their bracket.

The tournament championship is the second of the year for these talented young players and their fourth in seven total tournaments since the team was formed a little over 12 months ago.

“It was really a phenomenal team effort,” head coach Sean Molyneaux said of the most recent tournament performance. “We had very good team defense and the kids passed the ball well to each other, and they’re learning to trust each other.”

Submitted photo – Jaylee Keeling, right, alongside Kaleya Sanchez.

Submitted photo – DeAnna Rock-Salas, right, alongside Knela Newton (Wilson).

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK 

DeAnna Rock-Salas

Jaylee Keeling

Redwood Elementary School, Eighth-Grade

The two record breakers closed out their middle school careers with a bang by taking home Deal Norte County titles.

But that doesn’t surprise their coach Scott Lindsay.

“DeAnna worked hard on her split times and her hard work paid off,” he said of Rock-Salas. “This record is the perfect way to end her great sports career as a Redwood Raider.”

Keeling was equally impressive.

“After our third meet, I knew Jaylee had what it takes to get that record and I really appreciate her hard work at practice working on hurdle form and step cadence,” Lindsay said.

The two standouts helped lead the Raiders to the eighth-grade team championship.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Eel River Rapids U10s

In 2023, the young Rapids players enjoyed a successful debut season playing together, and this year they’ve taken that to new heights.

The roster now includes 15 players, all of whom have shown tremendous dedication at such a young age and appear to have a bright future playing alongside each other.

“I just love their commitment,” Molyneaux said. “We train three to five days a week and two of those days are optional, but these kids are always there. They want to be there and they work hard and have a really good attitude. They’re very coachable.”

The Rapids roster includes Braylon Manjarrez, Maddux Molyneaux, Quinn Hoopes-Jones, Liam Gregg, Anthony Avila, Omar Cortes, Athan Solano, Jonny Edge, Camden Molyneaux, Eli Wood, Alessandro Magana-Reynoza, Carson Rogers, Caleb Diaz, Maverick Chamberlain and Julian Avila, as well as assistant coaches Jason Roy, Hec Wood and Kim Edge.

For more on their big week, see Eel River Rapids continue to roll at Rogue Valley Invitational …