Martinez Tribune The website of the Martinez Tribune.
By JOEL TIMBRELL
Martinez Tribune
The Concord Minutemen faced off against Alhambra High School on the Bulldogs home track this past Wednesday, April 19.
From the start the Minutemen knew they were in trouble. Running completely alone, Marissa D’Atri blazed to the win in the girls 1600-meter race in a season best effort of 5:13, lapping Concord’s runners. Sophomore teammate Nicole Tria finished a comfortable second in 5:52.
The distance duo later proceeded to humiliate Concord again in both the 800 meters and the 3200 meters, with D’Atri and Tria picking up first and second places twice more, and in the same order.
Sienna Strickland posted another season record in the 100-meter hurdles, winning easily in 18.64. She was followed by Alexis Yu in second and Emily West in third, giving Alhambra a clean sweep. Strickland also made a return to form in the 300-meter hurdles, going 53.71 for second place overall.
In both throwing events, Alhambra athletes dominated. The top five finishers in the girls shot put all wore blue and gold jerseys, with Kiara Rios in first (33-02), Phoebe Tang in second (27-11) and Sydney Cave in third (25-09).
Tang reversed the order slightly in the discus with her winning launch of 90 feet, 1 inch, while Rios brought home second for the Dogs with an 85-04 toss.
With all the history being made this season, two Bulldog long jumpers decided to make some history of their own. Makhai Broussard and Julia Perez delivered a knockout one-two punch, each leaping a lifetime best and making the Alhambra record list. As of this writing, Broussard’s 16-00 is eighth all time, while Perez’s 15-03.5 ranks 10th best ever.
Triple jumper Jenna Coffman just edged Concord’s Adelle Meyer for the win in 32 feet, 6 inches, scoring more points for the Dogs. Meanwhile, Alexis Yu tried out pole vault for the first time to claim yet another success, going 5 feet, 6 inches.
On the boys side, Myles Johnson clocked a 12.38 100-meter dash for fifth overall, and 24.87 for second place in the 200. Ian Palmer covered the 400-meter sprint in 54.8, capturing first.
Robert Viano made some solid progression in the 800 (2:07) and the 1600 (4:50), winning both events. Carson Edwards picked up even more points with two second-place finishes in the boys 1600 (4:55) and 3200 (10:54).
Further improving his throwing technique and going closer to the 40-foot line, Junior Aidan LaHonta set an additional PR by heaving the shot 38 feet, 8 inches. He returned for the discus throw with another first-place worthy 113 feet, 7 inches.
The day was rounded out by Jackson Norried (5-06 high jump) and Mark Radke (8-00 pole vault), who each won their events.
When the scores were tallied, the Alhambra Varsity Girls Team had demolished their fourth league opponent in a row.
The track team will make the short trip to Northgate High in Walnut Creek this Wednesday, April 26, for the last dual of the season.
