Merced Union High School District

Buhach Colony High sophomore Emily Gallegos had quite the performance at the Central California Conference Track & Field Championships on Wednesday. The Thunder star won three individual events, setting new personal best times in the 100-meter dash, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. Gallegos also teamed up with Chisa Wood, Taylor Martin and Alicia Silvas to break a Merced County record in the 4x100 meter relay with a time of 47.93 seconds.

 

“I feel great,” Gallegos said. “My body feels good and I’m just excited. CCC Championships is like the first step to go to state. So I want to keep PR’ing, keep working. I feel good because I keep (setting personal best times) and I still have a lot to work on. So knowing that I have a lot to still work on, I can keep improving and that makes me excited for the rest of the season.”

 

Gallegos qualified for the CIF State Meet last year as a freshman in the 300 hurdles. She won the CCC Championship in the 300 hurdles with a time of 42.26 seconds, which currently ranks No.1 in the Sac-Joaquin Section and No. 5 in the state. She won the 100 meters with a time of 12.16 seconds and the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.05 seconds. 

 

Gallegos has quickly made a name for herself as one of the top hurdlers in the section. She’s been able to run at the biggest meets during the season and her 300 hurdles time is the top sophomore mark in the nation. “It definitely makes me more excited,” Gallegos said. “It puts the pressure on, but I like it. I like the pressure, because it makes me want to work harder, not just for myself, but for my parents, my whole school, just like my town. I want to make my town proud and go as far as I can.”

The Thunder 4x100 relay team has an opportunity to make some noise this postseason. Martin won the 200 and 400 with times of 25.53 and 58.83, respectively. Wood and Silvas finish near the top of their individual events. The quartet broke the Merced County record of 48.08 seconds, which was set in 2018 by Golden Valley’s team of Keionnie Clemons, Angelena Williams, Christie O’Brien and Gillian Gong. 

 

“With this relay team, we all have potential in our individual events,” Gallegos said. “So we all have our individual events that we’re qualifying for and working on that technique. We put ourselves first and then the team, but at the end of practice we’re practicing our hand-offs and we don’t leave practice until we get it right.”

 

It was also a busy day for El Capitan High senior A.J. Jones, who had to hurry after winning the high jump with a mark of 6-foot-5 to go compete in the long jump finals where he finished fourth with a leap of 19-2.5. Jones then left to go play in a volleyball playoff match in Sacramento. His volleyball teammates were on hand at the track meet to cheer him on. 

 

“I’m satisfied right now,” Jones said. “I know my athletic ability so I know I can do better. I’m looking to get 6-7, 6-8 in the high jump. That’s right where some of the top guys in the state are. I think it’s going to take more focus. I’ve been jumping back and forth between volleyball and track so I’ve been focusing on both at the same time. I just need a little bit more determination.”

 

Jones was sidelined for the track postseason last year with a knee injury. His goal is to make it to state this year. “Absolutely, I’ve been thinking about making it to state since last year,” he said. “I tried to make it last year but I fell short because of an injury.”

 The Atwater High boys won the meet with a team score of 169 points. The Thunder girls won with a score of 177. The Falcons were led by Rodrigo Miranda-Esquivel, who took home titles in the 100 (10.96) and 200 (22.19). Atwater’s Easton Hart won the 110 hurdles (16.41) and Isaiah Alameda won the 300 hurdles (42.31). The Falcons’ Eliseus Franklin won the shot put (42-0) and Eddie Luna picked up a title in the discus (139-9). Atwater’s Gary Hagler also won the pole vault (11-2) and Peter Idialu was victorious in the triple jump (44-0.5).

 

Other top performances on the boys side included Golden Valley’s Dominic Urteaga winning the 1600 (4:31.84) and the 3200 (9:48.10) and Buhach Colony’s Carter Chapman winning the long jump with a leap of 21-7.75. Chapman also finished second in the high jump, 100 and 200. 

 

Lena Llamas helped the Buhach Colony girls win with victories in the 800 (2:25.65) and the 1600 (5:06.03). Other top performances on the girls side were El Capitan’s Jordynn Middleton winning the high jump (4-9) and the triple jump (34-4). Atwater’s Juliana Prado was also a double-winner with victories in the shot put (33-6.5) and the discus (124-5).

 

Next up for the CCC athletes will be the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III Trials at Manteca High on Wednesday, May 13th with the Division III Finals on Friday, May 15th.

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.