Sophomores Rios & D’Atri battle to make a mark at NCS Meet of Champions

By JOEL TIMBRELL
Special to the Tribune

The North Coast Section Meet of Champions was again held at the University of California at Berkeley’s famous yellow track this past Friday, May 27 and Saturday, May 28.

Schools from the Bayshore, Coastal Mountain, Humboldt Del Norte and Valley conferences all attended the meet, making for the toughest competition yet this season.

Most of the races had trials on Friday and finals on Saturday. The top 12 runners in each trials event qualified for Saturday’s race. The top three fastest runners in each Final event qualified for the CIF State Track Championships, which will be held in Fresno on June 3 and 4.

Only two Bulldog athletes made the grade to qualify for the Meet of Champions, sophomores: Marissa D’Atri and Kiara Rios.

D’Atri was the only Bulldog to attend Friday’s Trials. She raced in the first out of three heats, where her most formidable opponent was Campolindo’s Sarah Cella.

D’Atri started the race behind Cella, Avi Wilson Perteete of St. Mary’s, and Emily Wylie of Liberty and followed them closely to complete the first lap in a fast 65.8 seconds.

She maintained her fourth-place position over the second lap and finished fourth in a personal record of 2:17.61 to shut out her other four opponents in the race.

After the other two heats were run, D’Atri had the 11th fastest time to narrowly qualify for the Finals.

On Saturday, all 12 of the qualifiers returned to run at 3 p.m. This time, D’Atri also battled California’s Alyssa Brewer and Monte Vista’s Heidi Fuhriman, two of the fastest 800-meter runners in the state.

At the start, it looked like Fuhriman and Brewer would be deciding the pace. When they reached 200 meters, D’Atri made a surprise move and quickly took the lead. She passed the 400 meter mark with an incredible 20 meter lead, and still held it through 500 meters.

D’Atri’s lead began to diminish almost immediately after, as Fuhriman and Brewer would not be denied. At 550 meters in they surged past her, and the rest of the field caught up.

In the final 100-meter stretch, D’Atri’s energy seemed to run out, but she still managed to take 11th overall in a decent time of 2:20.5. Brewer, Fuhriman, and Wilson-Perteete took the top three spots and qualifications for State, crossing the line in 2:08, 2:10 and 2:11 respectively.

Meanwhile in the girls shot put, Rios put up solid throws. Her first effort was 29 feet, 10 inches and her second throw was measured at 28 feet, 5 inches.

Rios summoned up some energy for her last toss and threw her second-farthest throw ever of 31 feet, 6.5 inches to take 21st out of 24 athletes. Here Rios ended her spectacular season as well.

Rios and D’Atri each have bright futures in track and field as juniors in 2017 and seniors in 2018. As the cross country season also approaches in the fall, look for D’Atri to become a serious threat in the DFAL and the North Coast Section.

For more information, pictures and results, please visit www.alhambratrack.org.

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