Submitted by Erika Arana

This past weekend on April 13th and 14th, the Heritage Valley Blazers competed in the two-day 10th Annual Southern California Invitational at Oxnard High School. A total of 16 clubs from both Ventura County and Southern California Youth Track and Field Conference, were in attendance. Our Blazer athletes brought home a total of 44 medals, 18 for the girls and 26 for the boys.

Saturday events began with the 3000's. Blazer athletes Niza Laureano (11-12/girls) finished 2nd in 11.23.52; Lindsey Ramirez also finishing 2nd with a time of 10:57.10 and teammate Carolina Garcia in 3rd with 11:27.89, both (13-14/girls).

Middle distance medalist in the 800m were Paola Estrada, with a 1st place victory of 2:39.92 PR; Timothy Pillado II in his best performance and victory yet, 2:37.76 PR; Ayden Marquez, 4th in 2:42.28 PR, all in (9-10/division). Kaliz Perez finished 5th in 2:33.43 PR (13-14/girls); and Luis Castañeda, 8th in 2:26.24 PR (13-14/boys).

Last Saturday event was the 200m, where we saw Timothy Pillado II take 3rd in a 30.70 PR (9-10/boys); Leah Barragan, also 3rd in 29.22 PR (11-12/girls); and Josiah Guzman in 8th, 26.50 PR (13-14/boys).

Sunday morning began on a high note with Blazer Paola Estrada's braking record 1500m run (9-10/girls) in 5:18.24. Previous record was set in 2014 with a 5:19.40. Next 1500m victory was, Ayden Marquez who ran a 5:28.36; and Abel Arana placed 7th in 5:41.52 (9-10/boys). Niza Laureano, 2nd in 5:23.52 (11-12/girls); and Lindsey Ramirez 4:55.19 for 2nd place (13-14/girls).

Blazer's only hurdler was Noah Halcon (11-12/boys) who made finals and medaled in 6th place with a time of 17.05 in the 80m Hurdles.

In the 4x100m relay finals, we saw Sarah Cedillos, Jasmine Gonzalez, Aliana Manzano and C'Enna Uribe take 2nd in 1:03.13 (9-10/girls). The (9-10/boys) had to fight their way back into the finals after a zone exchange DQ on Saturday. The fierce team of Isaiah Morales, Jacob Martinez, Rodrigo Castillo and Timothy Pillado II, came back faster, placing 2nd with a time of 1:00.38; Nathan Kendricks, Joseph Moore, Josiah Guzman and Nathan Garcia, placed 3rd in 52.23 for the (13-14/boys).

400m races saw Jasmine Gonzalez in 2nd with 1:14.04 PR and Sarah Cedillos in 5th, 1:16.18 PR (9-10/girls); Rodrigo Castillo, 2nd in 1:13.35 PR and Jacob Martinez right behind in 3rd with a time of 1:14.01 PR (9-10/boys); both girls and Rodrigo have now bumped into the top 9 spots in Venturia County; Diego Amezcua finished in 1:02.42 for 3rd (13-14/boys).

Sprinter Leah Barragan was the only Blazer athlete who made the 100m finals on Sunday. Leah's fast competition was a taste of what is in store for her at Co-Conference Championships in May. She medaled in 4th place with a time of 14.13 (11-12/girls).

Our (13-14/boys) 4x400m relay team, was ran by Luis Castañeda, Joseph Moore, Eric Morales and Nathan Kendricks, who represented in 3rd with 4:13.

In field events, shot putters Carlos Esquivel, threw a PR distance of 18-04 for 5th place and Emanuel Velasquez pushed his 3' PR into the top 9 Ventura County spots with his 7th place throw of 17-01.50 in (9-10/boys); first time Blazer athlete Kaylee Riedmiller threw 24-04 PR for 5th (11-12/girls); Nathan Alcantar, 2nd with a 29-06.50 PR (11-12/boys); and Celeste Velazquez, throwing 30-08 for 4th (13-14/girls).

Blazers compete away on April 20th, in what will be their fifth meet of the regular season against the Oxnard Stars at Oxnard High School. GO BLAZERS!

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