Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — Fortuna’s Kavi Bolden and Eureka’s Elizabeth Rominger got the H-DNL track and field season off to a flying start in the first league meet at McKinleyville High School on Wednesday afternoon.

The two speedsters swept their respective sprint races, placing first in both the 100 and 200 meters.

And both sprinters set new PRs on their way to victory.

Bolden won the boys 100m in a time of 11.06 seconds and ran his fastest ever 200m, crossing the finish line in a time of 22.35 seconds.

Del Norte’s Landon Balent placed second in both sprints, with St. Bernard’s Alex Carter third in both.

Kavi Bolden would add a meet-high third first-place in the 4x100m relay, teaming with Tiki Bolden, Mako Limon and Jack Stacy to edge Arcata by just six-hundredths of a second to take the victory.

With Kavi Bolden leading the way, the Fortuna boys won five of the 16 events, as did Arcata and Eureka.

The Loggers took the team win with 164.5 points, followed by Arcata (143), Fortuna (99.5), Del Norte (89) and St. Bernard’s (44).

Rominger, meanwhile, set a PR in the 100m, finishing in a time of 12.75 seconds, and she was followed across the line by St. Bernard’s teammates Lulu Vainuku in second and Alyssa Boham in third.

The Eureka junior edged Fortuna’s Madison Ruiz for the victory in the 200m, with Boham third in that race as well

Boham and Vainuku would team with Sahara Tupua and Paula Bullock to take first in the 4x100m relay.

The Eureka and Arcata girls both won five of the 16 events, with the Tigers scoring 143.5 points for the team win.

Del Norte (130), Eureka (109.5), Fortuna (94.5) and Brookings-Harbor (50-5) rounded out the top five teams.

Rominger was one of four girls to win multiple events in the league-opening meet.

Arcata’s Bella DeCarli placed first in the 400m and teamed with Rose Mondragon, Zelia Stoll and Kjersti MacDonald to also finish in top spot in the 4x400m relay.

MacDonald also placed first in the 3200m, finishing with a PR time of 12 minutes 30.33 seconds.

The Tigers had the four fastest times in the 3200m, with Vivian Adams in second, Johana Olson in third and Nehla Espiritu-Blackstone in fourth, all of them setting PRs.

Eureka sophomore Natalie Wyllie also was a two-time winner, placing first in both hurdles events.

Brooking-Harbor’s Oceana Powers-Schmitz placed second in the 100m hurdles, followed by Fortuna’s Amy Aubuchon on third, while Aubuchon was second in the 300m hurdles, followed by Brookings-Harbor’s Sequoia Merten in third.

Sophomore Lydia Davis posted McKinleyville’s only victory of the day in the girls 800m, and she was followed across the finish line by teammate Amara Som, with Del Norte’s Kansas Coulson in third, while Eureka’s Claire Gast took first place in the 1600m, followed by Fortuna’s Alexa McCall in second and Som in third.

Fortuna’s Ruiz placed second to DeCarli in the 400m, followed by Brookings-Harbor’s Johanna Larson in third.

In the throwing events, Arcata’s Melanie Jackson placed first in the shot put with a PR of 32’ 5.5”, followed by Eureka’s Sosie Behler in second and Del Norte’s Aurora Mitchell in third, while the latter’s teammate Melody Brennan was first in the discus with a PR of 109’ 10”, followed by Arcata’s Syriah George in second and Del Norte’s Hollyn Wakefield in third.

The Del Norte girls also won the high jump, with senior Jeana Erler getting her final H-DNL campaign off to a winning start on the event, followed by teammate Annabelle White in second and Eureka’s Aurora Copeland in third.

Rounding out the girls individual winners on the day, Brookings-Harbor’s Powers-Schmitz took first in the pole vault with a mark of 8’ 0”, followed by Del Norte’s Coulson in second and Arcata’s Nova Garwood in third; Arcata’s Anna McLaughlin was first in the long jump, followed by Fortuna’s Addison Burgess in second and Del Norte’s Lucy Garcia in third; and Burgess took first in the triple jump, followed by St. Bernard’s Scarlet Zerlang in second and McLaughlin in third.

In boys action, meanwhile, Arcata’s Eoin McGoldrick and Skyler Collenberg and Fortuna’s Juan Ornelas each took two victories on there day.

McGoldrick was first home in the 400m and also teamed with Lorenzo Shaner, Jaxon Lewis and A’sa Mason to win the 4x400m relay.

Collenberg continued his dominating season in the throwing events, placing first in the shot put with a PR of 57’, which broke his own school record in the event, as well as pacing the field in the discus, while Ornelas won both the 1600m (4:43.59) and the 3200m (10:10.40), both PRs.

Arcata’s Owen Ingram took second in the 1600m, followed by McKinleyville’s Asher Riley in third, while Arcata teammates Ocean Walker and Ingram were second and third, respectively, in the 3200m.

Fortuna’s Humberto Florez-Lopez finished second to McGoldrick in the 400m, followed by Brookings-Harbor’s Evan York in third.

Eureka’s Sean Morris set a PR of 2:06.51 on his way to victory in the boys 800m, followed by teammate Ryder Bullman in second and Fortuna’s Caden Bailey in third, while Eureka’s Thomas Hoffman won the 110m hurdles with a PR of 17.01 seconds, followed by Ferndale teammates Anthony Kasso in second and Brandon Bailey in third.

In the 300m hurdles, Arcata’s Finn Boyce was first home in a PR time of 42.15 seconds, followed by Eureka’s Luis Garcia-Anderson in second and Miles Hayhurst-John in third.

Del Norte’s Sebastian Espinoza finished second to Collenberg in the shot put, followed by Eureka’s Malachi Brown in third, while Eureka’s Jackson Herbert placed second to Collenberg in the discus, followed by St. Bernard’s Asher Floyd in third.

Eureka won three of the boys jumping events, including a dominating day in the high jump.

Senior Rohan Hang was first in the high jump with a PR of 6’, followed by teammates Xavier De La Ross in second, and Bo Landry and Hayhurst-John in third.

Landry fared better in the long jump, winning with a PR of 21’ 3”, with De La Rosa second and Del Norte’s Nicholas Rodriguez in third, while De La Rosa was first in the triple jump with a jump of 42’ 6”, followed by Landry in second and Arcata’s Jonah Hessler in third.

And rounding out the individual winners on the day, Del Norte’s Jason Murphy took first in the pole vault, followed by teammates Thomas Cochran in second and David Burshem in third.

The second league meet of the spring takes place at Fortuna next Wednesday.