“I had so much energy.” Gregori senior has huge PR in race she doesn’t specialize in.
After the first lap of her 1,600-meter race at Tuesday’s Central California Athletic League Track and Field Finals, Gregori senior Briseida Garcia-Meza heard her coach tell her she was running too fast and it wasn’t her pace.
Garcia-Meza, who was trailing behind sophomore teammate Madison Kackley, took the lead in the final lap and won the race.
Not only did she win the league championship but she finished in 4 minutes, 56 seconds, her first time under 5 minutes and a personal record by seven seconds.
“I had so much energy,” Garcia-Meza said. “We (her and Kackley) were planning on breaking five (minutes) and I just had a kick that was a little faster.”
Kackley ran 4:58 and finished in second.
What makes the race more remarkable for Garcia-Meza is that the 1,600 isn’t her best event. She has the second fastest 800-meter time (2:14:10) in the Sac-Joaquin Section and won that race as well about an hour after the 1,600
.
“My fastest mile was 5:13 since my freshman year,” she said. “This year just shows anything is possible.”
Garcia-Meza said the plan is to run the 800, 1600, and 4X400 relay at the section prelims, which are Tuesday at American River College. Section finals are on May 9.
Turlock freshman Kylee Redman and senior Sammy Wilson both shined in the sprint events.
Redman, who broke the school record in the 100-meter dash on April 17, won the CCAL title in 12.43, just 0.07 off of her PR.
“This year has been crazy,” Redman said. “I didn’t expect to come into high school and run in the 12’s. I thought I would run in the 13’s. My confidence is pretty high.”
Redman ran the anchor leg in the 4X100 relay, which the Bulldogs’ won with a time of 49.88.
Wilson helped Turlock pull off the upset in the boys’ 4X100 race.
Pitman entered the race with the fourth fastest time in the section while Turlock was seventh.
Wilson received the baton in second place and beat the Pitman runner and crossed the line at 42.42.
He also won the 100-meter race (10.94) despite a slow start.
“I got out OK and about 50 meters in, I started to pick up my speed,” he said.
Some other winners included Gregori senior Kassandra Rojas (400, 58.59); Pitman freshman Zachary Blood (800, 2:07:40); Enochs freshman Abayomi Babalola (shot put, 43 feet, 7 inches); and Modesto senior Jessica Pedretti (discus, 129-00).
This story was originally published April 30, 2019 at 7:18 PM.
