Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Del Norte’s Deken Hanks set a new H-DNL record on his way to victory in the 100 meters on Saturday.

By Ray Hamill — To say that the H-DNL athletes saved their best for last might be a bit of an understatement.

Close to 100 PRs were set at Saturday’s league championship meet at Fortuna high School, including 52 in boys competition and 43 in girls action.

And that paved the way for an exciting and fun day in the final league meet of the season.

In particular, it was a lot of fun for the Del Norte boys, who scored 173 points on the way to a comfortable team victory.

Eureka finished second with 132 points, followed by Arcata (95), Fortuna (53) and Ferndale (21).

The race for the girls championship was a lot closer, with Eureka scoring 135 points and edging rival Arcata by just one point.

Del Norte (116), Fortuna (61) and St. Bernard’s (56) rounded out the top five.

The highlight of the day in the boys competition was the performance of junior speedster Deken Hanks, who set a new league record with a time of 10.7 seconds flat on the way to one of his four victories of the day.

Fortuna’s Kavi Bolden placed second, followed by Eureka’s Michael Leen, with the latter also posting a PR.

Hanks also won the 200m with a time of 22.08 seconds, as well as teaming with Santiago Velasco, Landon Balent and Mario Ledezma to win the 4x100m relay and with Balent, Jayden Garcia-Levy and Dylan Rodriguez to win the 4x400m relay.

Leen placed second in the 200m with a PR — followed by Fortuna’s Mako Limon in third — as well as taking first in the long jump with a jump of 20’ 4.5”, followed by Arcata’s Christopher Bogar in second and Ledezma in third.

Eureka’s Everett Docherty won three different events.

In his final ever league meet, the standout senior set a PR on his way to winning the 800m (1 minute, 59.22 seconds), followed by Rodriguez in second and teammate Chase Jimenez in third.

Docherty also was first home in the 1600m (4:37.08) and teamed with Jimenez, Colton Taylor and Sean Morris to win the 4x800m relay.

Rodriguez, meanwhile won the 3200m (10:09.82), followed by Arcata’s Reece Thompson in second and Fortuna freshman Juan Ornelas in third, while Arcata’s Levi Browne and Thompson placed second and third, respectively, in the 1600m, with the latter setting a PR.

The most exciting race of the day was the boys 400m, with Arcata’s Eoin McGoldrick placing first in a time of 50.89 seconds, only one-tenth of a second ahead of Balent, with Fortuna’s Anthony Klobucar in third and St. Bernard’s Alex Carter in fourth.

The top four in the race all set PRs.

Ferndale junior Anthony Kasso was a double winner on the day, placing first in the 110m hurdles with a PR of 15.34 seconds.

Del Norte’s Roy Short was second, followed by Eureka’s Thomas Hoffman in third, and the top five in the race all set PRs.

Kasso also won the triple jump with a jump of 39’ 10”, with Eureka’s Bo Landry in second and his teammate Archer Francis in third, while Eureka’s Luis Garcia-Anderson won the 300m hurdles with a PR time of 43-17 seconds.

The top four in the 300m hurdles all set PRs, with Kasso second and Short in third.

In the shot put, Arcata’s Skyler Collenberg comtinued his dominance over league opposition and comfortably took first with a throw of 51’ 0.5”, followed by Del Norte’s Sebastian Espinoza in second and Arcata’s Neiko Bryson in third.

Espinoza and Bryson also placed second and third in the discuss which was won by McKinleyvulle’s Nick Maher, who set a PR with a throw of 141’ 4”.

Rounding out the boys winners on the day, Del Norte senior Brandt Pennington won the high jump with a jump of 5’ 8”., followed by Eureka’s Rohan Hang and Del Norte’s Jason Murphy in second and third, respectively, while Eureka senior John Stephen Powers won the pole vault with a PR of 12’ 9”, followed by Del Norte’s Cody Bursheim in second and Murphy in third.

Eureka sophomore Elizabeth Rominger led the way for the Loggers in the race for the girls championship, medaling in all four of her events including three victories.

The standout won the 200m (26.49 seconds) and the 400m (1:00.83), while also teaming with Aurora Copeland, Evelyn Ladika and Grecia Ortiz to take first in the 4x100m relay.

Ortiz also placed second in both the 200m and the 400m, followed by Del Norte’s Jeana Erler in the 200 and Arcata’s Ada Kinziger in the 400.

Rominger rounded out an outstanding day with a second place in the 100m, which was won by St. Bernard’s Laila Florvilus with a PR of 12.75 seconds.

Arcata’s Anna McLaughlin placed third in the 100 and also had a PR.

Florvilus also took first in both the 100m hurdles (14.96 seconds) and the high jump (5’) and capped a big day with a third-place finish in the 4x100m relay.

Del Norte’s Avery Ritter was second best in the 100m hurdles, followed by teammate Teexeeshe Scott in third, while Erler placed second in the high jump, followed by Arcata’s Quincy Kelly in third.

Eureka’s Claire Gast continued to play a key role for the Loggers and won two events, while pacing second in another.

The outstanding sophomore won the 1600m in a time of 5:53.38, followed by Arcata’s Sonya Chisholm in second and Fortuna’s Brida Lester in third, and she was first home in the 3200m in a time of 13:11.63, followed by Chisholm in second and Eureka’s Summer Morales in third.

McKinleyville’s Lydia Davis edged Gast by almost two seconds for first in the 800m in a time of 2:33.87, with Lester in third.

Arcata won a pair of relay events.

Savannah Leary, Lilah Durham, Kinziger and Bella DeCarli teamed up to win the 4x400m, while Chisholm, Rose Mondragon, Zoe Cappuccio and Nehla Espiritu-Blackstone placed first in the 4x800m.

As expected, Eureka senior Isabella Claussen took first in the shot put with a throw of 35’ 6.25”, which was more than four feet better than Del Norte’s Hollyn Wakefield in second.

Arcata’s Syriah George placed third in the shot put, but took first in the discus with a PR throw of 113’ 6”, followed by De Norte’s Melody Brennan in second and Claussen in third.

Arcata’s Mayleah Jackson set a big PR on her way to victory in the pole vault (9’ 9”), which was almost three feet better than the field, with Copeland second and Del Norte’s Arriana Pennington in third.

Ritter also had a PR on her way to victory in the 300m hurdles (51.07 seconds), followed by teammate Jaylee Keeling in second and Fortuna’s Amy Aubuchon in third.

And rounding out the day’s winners, McLaughlin placed first in the long jump (16’ 2”), followed by Fortuna’s Addison Burgess in second and Del Norte’s Annabelle White in third, while Burgess won the triple jump with a PR of 32’ 11”, followed by McLaughlin in second and St. Bernard’s Scarlett Zerlang in third.