Warwick’s triple anchors Modesto Christian’s Division IV/V section track title

Modesto Christian sophomore Nicole Warwick, running the turn in the 200, sensed trouble to her inside.

There, cutting into Warwick’s lead with each stride, was Cordova senior Marissa Smith. As they turned for home, Smith lurked only a few feet off Warwick’s left shoulder.

“She was coming up as I was slowing down,” Warwick said. “I felt her. I heard her breathing and her steps.”

Warwick then played her trump card: “I wanted to win.”

The Crusaders star refused to lose as she and Smith dueled side by side the final 100 meters. Warwick held off Smith to win in 25.67 seconds, edging Smith by about a yard for the jewel of her three victories as the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV/V Track Championship closed Thursday at Warrior Stadium’s Al Brenda Track.

“I saw my brother (James) win the hurdles races (two years ago),” Warwick said. “I thought of him today.”

Warwick, a member of MC’s championship basketball teams, also captured the 100 (12.44) and, on Tuesday, took the long jump (17 feet, 2 inches). Her sprints both resulted in personal records – she even overcame a slow start in the 100 – and gave her a momentum boost going into Section Masters next week at Elk Grove High School.

“Last year, I was doing the 800 and starting late after basketball,” Warwick said. “I like sprinting.”

Warwick’s performance, which also included a split on the Crusaders’ runner-up 4x100 relay, anchored MC’s run to a Division V title.

The top five finishers in each event extended their seasons as clouds hung above the Cal State Stanislaus venue. Celebrating double victories were Waterford senior Dante Berggren in the 100 and 200, Central Valley senior Heaven Simon in the 300 hurdles and 400, Calaveras senior Hannah Hull in the 800 and 1,600 and Livingston senior Diego Solis in the discus and shot put.

The D-IV/V meet was conducted this year without the Valley Oak League athletes, who were promoted to the D-II/III meet at Bella Vista High. This created many new opportunities for the field, beginning with the girls discus now that Oakdale’s Hannah Chappell – the two-time Masters champion and state runner-up – moved on.

The result was a spirited Western Athletic Conference fight between juniors Esther Ekwueme of Patterson and Tina Lao Livingston. They exchanged the lead twice before Ekwueme tossed 130 feet, a personal best by 7 feet, on her first throw of the finals. Lao, who won the shot put (38-3) on Tuesday, settled for second (120-1).

Ekwueme, beaten by Lao at the WAC meet, bounced her third attempt off the cage. One throw later, she delivered.

“Going into the finals, I wasn’t confident in myself,” said Ekwueme, who transferred from Tracy’s West High as a sophomore. “The 130 was surprising to me. I don’t know how I did it. I just prayed.”

Berggren, a football and baseball star at Waterford, mixed track with baseball this spring. The results were all-Southern League honors as a center fielder and success in his first try at track. He got to the line a fraction ahead of Capital Christian’s Justice Shelton-Mosley in the 100 with a time of 10.92 and separated a little more in the 200 (21.88). Both were personal bests.

“I’m the kid everyone sleeps on,” Berggren said. “I feed off competition. I eat it. It’s fuel for me.”

Hull, third in the 1,600 at Masters in 2014, could make some major noise in Elk Grove before she enrolls at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She pulled away from Sonora freshman Cassi Land – an impressive winner later in the 3,200 – and won the 1,600 going away with a meet-record 4:56.56. She posted a 4:54 three weeks ago at the Meet of Champions.

Hull also dominated in the 800 (2:18.67) with a snappy 67-second finishing lap, but she’ll probably focus on the 1,600 next week.

“I like the 800 but I’m better in the mile,” said Hull, who repeated her section double from 2014.

Simon, who won the 300 hurdles last year, remembers how she didn’t reach the Masters finals. That pushed her toward personal records in both the 400 (58.11) and the hurdles (45.77).

“A lot of adrenaline today,” she said. “That was fun.”

This story was originally published May 21, 2015 at 10:31 PM with the headline "Warwick’s triple anchors Modesto Christian’s Division IV/V section track title."