Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Eureka’s Elizabeth Rominger, left, and teammate Grecia Ortiz check out their times after finishing one-two in the girls 200 meters at Fortuna on Saturday.

By Ray Hamill — The competitive nature of this year’s H-DNL was on full display on Saturday, as just one point separated the top two teams in the race for the girls league championship in track and field.

With sophomore Elizabeth Rominger leading the way and medalling in all four of her events, the Eureka Loggers edged the Arcata Tigers, 135-134, for the league crown on a fun and exciting day at Fortuna High School.

The boys championship was not as close, with Del Norte scoring 173 points and out-distancing the field by 41 points, with Eureka second.

Among the highlights of the day, Del Norte junior Deken Hanks solidified his status as the fastest boy in H-DNL history by setting a new league record on his way to victory in the 100 meters.

Hanks crossed the finish line in 10.7 seconds, beating the previous league record of 10.76 that he set a year ago.

Hanks also placed first in the 200m and in both the 4×100 and 4x400m relay races, giving him four wins in four events on the way to earning Boys Track Athlete of the Meet honors.

“Deken did what he was supposed to do, which was awesome to see,” Del Norte head coach Taylor Duncan said. 

The race of the day was the boys 400m, with Arcata’s Eoin McGoldrick edging Del Norte’s Landon Balent for the victory by just one-tenth of a second.

Both boys broke their previous PRs by two seconds, with McGoldrick finishing in a time of 50.89 seconds.

“It was a pretty awesome race,” Duncan said.

Del Norte junior Jason Murphy was named Boys Field Athlete of the Meet after placing third in both the high jump and pole vault and fourth in the triple jump.

Check out video highlights of the girls and boys 100m finals below …

Other boys winners on the day included Eureka’s Everett Docherty in the 800m, 1600m and as part of the Loggers 8x800m relay team, as well as Del Norte’s Dylan Rodriguez in the 3200m.

Ferndale’s Anthony Kasso won the 110m hurdles and the triple jump, while Eureka’s Luis Garcia-Anderson took first in the 300m hurdles.

Skyler Collenberg of Arcata placed first in the shot put, McKinleyville’s Nick Maher was first in the discus, Del Norte’s Brandt Pennington in the high jump, Eureka’s John Stephen Powers in the pole vault and Eureka’s Michael Leen in the long jump.

Rominger, meanwhile, had a day she won’t easily forget.

The sensational sophomore won the 200m and the 400m and was part of the Loggers’ 4x100m relay winning team.

She also placed second to St. Bernard’s Laila Florvilus in the 100m on her way to being named the Girls Track Athlete of the Meet.

“I’m so incredibly proud of her,” Eureka head coach Melania Valdez said. “So well deserved. She put out a phenomenal performance, not only today, but all season.”

Valdez also praised the performance of her victorious 4x100m relay team, a unit that includes Rominger, Aurora Copeland, Grecia Ortiz and Evelyn Ladika.

“They are absolutely crushing it this season,” the Eureka coach said.

Another sophomore, Arcata’s Anna McLaughlin, was named the Girls Field Athlete of the Meet after placing first in the long jump, second in both the triple jump and the 4x100m relay and third in the 100m.

Florvilus also won the 100m hurdles and the high jump, as well as placing third in the 4x100m relay event, while Eureka’s Claire Gast was first home in the 1600m and 3200m.

“She’s just stellar,” Valdez said of Gast.

Check out Mayleah Jackson’s new PR in the pole vault below …

One of the performances of the day came in the girls pole vault, where dominating senior Mayleah Jackson smashed her previous PR by nine inches on her way to victory.

The multi-sport senior cleared 9’ 9” and beat the field by an incredible 2’ 9”.

Other winners on Saturday included Del Norte’s Avery Ritter in the 300m hurdles, Fortuna’s Addison Burgess in the triple jump, Eureka’s Isabella Claussen in the shot put, Arcata’s Syriah George in the discus and McKinleyville’s Lydia Davis in the 800m, 

Arcata took first in both the 4x400m and 4x800m.

We’ll have much more on the big meet early next week, including all the big PRs, a complete photo gallery and some video highlights.

The top league athletes will now advance to next week’s North Coast Section meets, with the Big 5 schools returning to Fortuna to compete in the Redwood Empire Championships.

It will be the first time the NCS championships are held in the area since 2008.