Pitman sweeps CCC track and field championships

Kiana Clay wasn’t sure the 400 meters was the race for her in the beginning. It’s a tough event, a lap around the track at full speed.

The Pitman High School junior didn’t see much improvement in her time last season, but now, as she’s getting stronger, the 400 is becoming easier. Klay won the 400 at Saturday’s Central California Conference Championships with a time of 56.98 seconds to go with a win in the 200 (25.14) at Golden Valley High School.

“I have a new love for the 400,” said Klay, who also ran two relays for the Pride. “At the beginning of this season, I was running a 59 (seconds). Then one meet I dropped down to 58, and then at the Sacramento Meet of Champions I dropped two seconds to 56.19.”

Klay helped the Pride sweep the CCC team championships. The Pitman girls ran away with the title with 221.5 points. Turlock finished second with 108. The Pride boys won with 135.5 with Turlock finishing second with 117.

The depth of the Pitman girls showed as Jamie Stroup (high jump), Cerah Moren (100 hurdles), Lauren Cariaso (long jump), Bianca Garcia (800) and Lindsey Phillips (pole vault) won individual titles.

On the boys’ side, Pitman’s Isaiah Marable (400), Cristian Cooley (discus), Chaise Schroer (110 hurdles) and Josh Fletcher (100) won titles.

“It’s been amazing,” Klay said. “We’re all so close. We have to practice on a dirt track. We work out maybe twice a week on an all-weather track, but the whole team works hard. Usually, most people hate going to practice, but I love my teammates. I love going to practice.”

While the Pride celebrated its team titles, there were some impressive individual performances:

▪ Buhach Colony’s Stephon Eastman won two events, tying a personal best by clearing 6 feet, 6 inches in the high jump and winning the 200 with a time of 22.77.

“I set that (personal record) early in the season, and I haven’t been able to get back up to it,” Eastman said. “I was starting to think I got lucky. All the new things I’m incorporating in practice are paying off. I think I’m going to get 6-8.”

▪ Merced’s Ciara Colon was another double winner with victories in the 1,600 (5:28.26) and the 3,200 (12:08.09).

▪ Buhach Colony’s Barbara Coward also won two titles in the shot put (36-4) and discus (133-10) despite a slight groin injury that forced her to alter her approach.

Barbara’s twin sister, Brandy, who won the section Masters championship in the 200 last year with a time of 24.85, limped to the finish line in the 200 on Saturday with a strained right hamstring that was heavily wrapped. Brandy finished fourth with a time of 27.4 to barely qualify for the divisional meet.

The top four in each event qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I Championship on May 20 and 22 at Elk Grove High School.

“It’s a little tough right now, but I believe we’ll get through it,” Barbara Coward said. “Hopefully, we can make fast recoveries and get where we want to be.”

This story was originally published May 9, 2015 at 8:42 PM with the headline "Pitman sweeps CCC track and field championships."