CCAL Track notes: Downey's Leach wins 3,200-meter title, new meet records set
Downey High distance runner and defending Central California Athletic League 3,200-meter champion Zoe Leach knows each race is equal parts physical and mental.
'Of course the physical aspect goes into it, but also so much of it is telling yourself that you just can't give up when it gets hard,' the senior said. 'You just have to get used to the pain.'
On Friday at the CCAL Championships, the Saint Mary's College signee was at the top of her game, taking home her second straight league title in the 3,200m run. Once the gun went off, she got out early, extending at least a 40-meter lead by lap two of the eight-lap race. She was dominant in the longest race of the day, coming out with a wire-to-wire win in 11 minutes, 8.82 seconds, nearly a whole 10 seconds faster than her winning time in the same event at last season's CCAL Championships (11:18.69).
She said the fast start was part of her plan, touching on the mental aspect of distance running.
'For the past couple of years, every single race, I'll get out really hard,' she said. 'I feel like people know I'm gonna do it now, but it works sometimes. My whole strategy is that if I run fast enough that nobody wants to go with me in the beginning, they're not going to be able to catch me at the end.'
Downey's Zoe Leach won the 3200 meter race with a time of 11:08.82 during the Central California Athletic League track and field championships at Turlock High School in Turlock, Friday, May 2, 2025.
Leach set her 3,200m PR earlier this season, running a 10:53.47 in a 12th-place finish at the Arcadia Invitational. She also has set personal bests in the 800 (2:24.93) and 1,600 (5:05.73) this season. After finishing third in the 3,200 at the CCAL Championships as a sophomore, she has won it in back-to-back years. She has also won two cross country league titles.
'It feels amazing,' Leach said of winning. 'I've never been someone that winning races is all I run for, but it did feel good to win four league championships.
Leach won by a comfortable margin, but going into the race, victory was not guaranteed. Pitman junior Avery Carlson and Turlock freshman Ellison Williams each had better PRs than Leach. Leach and Williams each set new meet records. Leach's 11:08.82 is now the best mark for a CCAL Championships and Williams' 11:13.84 is second.
'I'm so thankful to have these girls in the league that are running so fast, faster than me,' Leach said. 'It really gives me a reason to push myself.'
She improved her 3,200m time from 11:53.02 as a sophomore to 11:06.49 as a junior, something she said even she wasn't expecting. After a breakthrough junior season, Leach was on college radars. She said Saint Mary's was one of the first schools to reach out to her.
'(Junior year) was the first time I realized I could run in college,' she said. 'Saint Mary's reached out and it was kind of surreal because I didn't know that was an option for me. It wasn't my top choice for a while but I visited the campus and the girls were so sweet and the campus was so beautiful. It just really feels like a place where I belong.'
Before she runs for the Gaels, Leach will finish out the high school postseason. She is looking to repeat as a Division II champion at the divisional meet at Vista del Lago High School. She hopes to compete in the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters, where she finished seventh in 2024, and eventually the state meet.
Downey high jumper wins competitive final
Torriano Moore is Downey's only varsity high jumper. He picked up track and field as a sophomore in high school and has improved every year. He saved his best performance for Friday, winning his first high jump event of the year to take home a league title. CCAL has three meets before the championships. Moore finished second in the high jump at CCAL meet 2 and came in fourth at meet 3, but everything clicked for him Friday. He set a personal record, jumping 6-feet-4.
'I pray before and I drink water,' said Moore, who was still shocked at his high jump performance, 'and then I just go.'
Moore battled with a number of Turlock jumpers, but in the end, Cash Burton was his final challenger. Both cleared the 6-foot-4 mark and could not clear 6-foot-6. Moore took home the CCAL title because he had fewer scratches during the competition.
The Downey senior also competed in the 110 and 300 hurdles, finishing third in both, and helped Downey to a title in the 4x400 relay.
He will compete next season at Yuba College in Marysville.
Pitman thrower went from no interest to CCAL champion
Saveena Gadri started high school with no interest in doing sports, especially track and field. At first, she thought it was only running, and that was something she said she wasn't going to do.
'Coach King came up to me and told me I should come and try it,' Gadri recalled. 'I didn't want to do any sports because I thought it was going to be too much with school.'
When she started last season as a sophomore, she was not good, she admitted. Her first ever throw was 17' 8.25' and she did not clear 34', but she did improve. Last season alone, she went from throwing just under 18' to a season record 33' 6.5'. This year, the improvement has continued.
She has won every CCAL meet, including taking the league title with a 34' 1' shot put throw. She also finished second in the discus at the CCAL Championships, throwing a personal record 97' 4'. She hasn't thrown anything less than 32' this season in shot put, and earlier this year set a personal record of 37' 5' at the Hughson Vintage Invitational. She also has top 10 finishes at the prestigious Mt. SAC Relays and the Sacramento Meet of Champions.
'Coming into this year, I was like if I hit 35', I'd be happy and when I came out this season, the first throw I did was a 33'.'
Enochs sprinter overcomes illness to win 100m
In a 100-meter dash filled with personal bests, Enochs' Eric Myles took home the league title with a PR of 10.81 seconds. Myles said he was sick all week and missed four days of school leading up to the competition but he showed up and said he would give it his all. He didn't have any high expectations for the race, but was happy when he ran the fastest time of the three-heat event.
'I think this was just a sign that if I'm running this while I'm sick and not 100% at my best, I feel like I can run a lot faster when I'm actually 100%,' he said.
From the left, Downey's Carson Lamb (10.96), Joseph Ramirez (10.97), Enochs' Eric Myles (10.81) and Jeremiah Raven (11.58) run the 100 meter race during the Central California Athletic League track and field championships at Turlock High School in Turlock, Friday, May 2, 2025. Myles finished first with a time of 10.81.
Downey's Carson Lamb came in second with a personal best time of 10.96 seconds. David Magana of Modesto, Todd McKinney of Enochs, Pitman's Francisco Villanueva and Turlock's Edgar Silva all finished fifth through eighth and recorded PRs.
Downey's 4x100 boys chasing records
The Downey High 4x100 team has won every CCAL meet along with the Stanislaus County Championships and County Clash. It finished fourth among some of the best high school teams in Northern California at the Stanford Invitational and competed in the ultracompetitive Mt. SAC Relays. On Friday, the quartet of Carson Lamb, Antwain Harper, Marcus Cruz and Joseph Ramirez completed the CCAL sweep, taking the league title in 42.65 seconds.
The runners are happy with the CCAL titles and want to make a deep playoff run, but they are also chasing a school record. The 2022 team set the leading mark, a 42.51 at Sac-Joaquin Section Masters, which was good for a third-place finish.
'We're all pretty hungry for it,' Ramirez said. 'Throughout the week, we're working hard, making sure we all can get faster little by little and increase those times.'
The four have come close, and will have divisionals, SJS Masters and possibly the state meet to become the top relay team in Downey history.
Modesto two-sport athlete wins boys shot put
Lucky Dam didn't even live in California his sophomore year and now he's a CCAL champion.
While now he is a star on the football field and first team all-CCAL running back for Modesto High, Vanntheesouk 'Lucky' Dam started high school in Tennessee, where he played soccer. He picked up track his junior year and started as a sprinter and hurdler. Then his coach suggested he try shot put.
He has improved drastically over just two years. His first personal record was 37 feet, and Friday he took home a league title and set a PR of 45' 5'.
Modesto's Vanntheesouk Dam recored a personal record and first place with a throw of 45'-05' during the Central California Athletic League track and field championships at Turlock High School in Turlock, Friday, May 2, 2025.
'I could feel the potential,' Dam said. 'And coach Pedretti is always telling me I can do so much more than what I think.'
Dam also threw discus at the CCAL Championships, finishing sixth, but the shot put is where he has shined all year. He set personal bests three times this year, finishing off with his best of the season at the league title meet. He has two other teammates, Fernando Fernandez and Edwin Gomez, who each finished inside the top 10 at Friday's meet, too. Gomez set a PR as well, throwing 37' 11'.
'Coach always says iron sharpens iron,' Dam said. 'So I PR, it motivates them, they PR, it motivates me. We're able to push each other and it's amazing.
CCAL Championship meet records set Friday
Personal records and league titles are the goals for many CCAL athletes but some even surpass that mark. Here are the athletes who set CCAL Championships meet records at Friday's competition:
Boys 4x800
8:42.16 — Zayn Hamilton, Logan Petty, Theodore Santos, Larson Wejmar (Turlock)
Girls 300m Hurdles
46.30 — Zoe Lamur (Turlock)
Girls 3,200m
11:08.82 — Zoe Leach (Downey)
11:13.84 — Ellison Williams (Turlock)
Boys Long Jump
21' 3.5' — Cash Burton (Turlock)
Turlock's Cash Burton won the long jump competition in the Central California Athletic League track and field championships at Turlock High School in Turlock, Friday, May 2, 2025. Burton's wing jump was 21'-03.50'.
Boys High Jump
6' 4' — Torriano Moore (Downey)
6' 4' — Cash Burton (Turlock)
Boys Triple Jump
44' 4.5' — Cash Burton (Turlock)
Girls Pole Vault
11' 9' — Brooke Schumacher (Turlock)
10' 7' — Emma Trevor (Turlock)
10' 7' — Alexa Sandoval (Turlock)
Girls Shot Put
34' 1' — Saveena Gadri (Pitman)
OTHER TRACK NOTES
▪ Turlock senior Angel Trefry Bet George won the 100m sprint in a season record 12.52 seconds. She also finished second and PR'd in the 200m (26.04) and helped the Bulldogs to the girls 4x100 championship along with Alexa Sandoval, Serene Klair and Kealani Solis-Coelho (49.17)
▪ Pitman junior Avery Carlson won the 1,600m (5:05.08) and finished third in the 3,200m (11:52.39)
▪ Pitman freshman Emily Martinez won the girls 100m hurdles with a personal record 16.61 seconds
▪ Downey senior Carson Lamb won the 200m sprint in a personal best 21.90 seconds
▪ Pitman junior Jonathan Williams (49.52) and Turlock junior Ricardo Lacerda (50.18) finished first and second in the boys 400m run and recorded personal bests
▪ Enochs junior Gabriel Penwell finished second in the boys 1,600m run and set a personal best time (4:43.34)
▪ Pitman junior finished first and set personal records in the 110m and 300m hurdles. He finished in 15.06 and 40.78 seconds, respectively
▪ In the 300m hurdles, Gregori's Jasyiah Roberts (42.03) and Downey's Jackson Whiteaker (43.26) each set personal records
▪ Gregori's Marcus Sims was the only Modesto discus thrower to finish in the top five. He posted a personal record 133' 6'
▪ Turlock senior Cash Burton competed in the long jump, high jump and triple jump. He finished first in the long jump and triple jump and second in the high jump. He set a new triple jump PR of 44' 4.5'
▪ The top three runners in the girls 200m all set PRs: First place Alexa Sandoval (Turlock, 25.95), second place Angel Trefry Bet George (Turlock, 26.04) and third place Serena Rodriguez (Enochs, 26.70)
▪ Gregori freshman Elise Rojas (1:00.33) and Enochs senior Kaytlynn Nice (1:02.80) ran personal bests in the girls 400m. They finished second and fourth, respectively
▪ Pitman junior Nayeli Mattison set a PR in the girls 800m (2:25.21)
▪ Pitman freshman Emily Martinez won the girls 100m hurdles with a personal best time (16.61). Gretchen Nass (Turlock), Juliane Ramirez (Pitman), Isabel Fuentes (Pitman), Holland DeLay (Pitman), Kaya Shelton-Carleo (Downey) and Adaline Walsh (Turlock) all finished in the top 10 and set PR's
▪ Brooke Schumacher of Turlock won the girls pole vault with a PR of 11' 9'
▪ Enochs sophomore Rylie Bethke finished second in the long jump with a personal best 16' 5'. She also won the triple jump title
▪ Turlock senior Zoe Lamur finished first in the girls 400m, girls 300m hurdles and girls long jump
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
31 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Pacers take 1-0 lead into game 2 against the Thunder
Indiana Pacers (50-32, fourth in the Eastern Conference) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (68-14, first in the Western Conference) Oklahoma City; Sunday, 8 p.m. EDT BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Thunder -11; over/under is 227.5 NBA FINALS: Pacers lead series 1-0 BOTTOM LINE: The Indiana Pacers visit the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals with a 1-0 lead in the series. The Pacers won the last matchup 111-110 on Friday, led by 19 points from Pascal Siakam. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 38.
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
On a broken toe, Francisco Lindor delivers win for Mets: 'We're watching greatness'
When Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said that Francisco Lindor could be available in Friday's series opener against the Rockies after keeping him out of the starting lineup for the second straight game, you just knew what eventually happened was a possibility. In the ninth inning with the score tied 2-2 and runners in scoring position with two outs, the Mets skipper called upon his shortstop -- hobbled by a fractured pinky toe -- to try and push across the go-ahead run. Advertisement Mendoza needed something; the Mets outside of Pete Alonso -- whose two-run double in the seventh put them ahead temporarily -- have struggled mightily this season with runners in scoring position. Entering Friday, Lindor was hitting only .189 with RISP, but the Mets needed their de facto captain and he came through, broken toe and all. Lindor pulled a sweeper into right field to score two runs to lift the Mets to a 4-2 win. "Special player, I've been saying it. Special talent. We're watching greatness," Mendoza said of Lindor after the game. "Continues to do what All-Stars do. Continues to show up in big situations on a day when he was in the dugout with a bat in his hand since the fifth inning, finally gets his chance and comes through for us." Advertisement Mendoza said that right before the game, when Lindor came away from hitting in the batting cages feeling ok, he knew he could use him. Ideally, Mendoza wanted to stay away from Lindor, especially knowing that it would have been a two-player move to replace him in the field for the bottom of the ninth, but as the game went on the second-year manager told Lindor in the eighth inning that if Tyrone Taylor's turn at-bat came up in the ninth, he was going to him. "For me and for a lot of people, we are spoiled," Alonso said of Lindor. "With him, he's a guy who is ready to strap on regardless... I see him do stuff like this all the time. I know it's hard to do. Battling through physical stuff, there's limitations. I have nothing but the utmost respect. He's a true pro and he embodies that." "It illustrates what type of person Francisco Lindor is," Kodai Senga, who allowed just one run over six innings on Friday, said through an interpreter. "A leader. He's just a superstar." So, how did Lindor prepare for his pinch-hit opportunity? The shortstop said he was ready because he discussed the possibility with Mendoza before the game and the team's trainers got him ready. Advertisement "Mendy had a great game plan from the beginning of the day, he told me what was in his mind. It was just a matter of the trainers," Lindor said. "They did a fantastic job, they prepped me the right way. They did everything in their power to get me on the field. Around the fourth or fifth inning, Mendy asked me if I was available to hit and I said yeah." This isn't the first time Lindor, who usually plays just about every game, has come up with heroics while not at 100 percent as a Met. Last season saw him overcome the flu to deliver a game-winning hit, and when last year's back issues first popped up, he delivered down the stretch, including help the team clutch a playoff berth. Lindor said he can feel he's not 100 percent at the plate, but knows he's not the only big league player playing through injury. So when he's good enough to play and help the team, he'll be ready. "The Lord has blessed me to play this game and stay on the field. When I'm not on the field, the trainers do a fantastic job. You see the results, but they are the one putting in the time to get me right and on the field. This training staff is one of the best, if not the best. Once it comes to those moments, I'm just there to make something happen. Just get a good pitch, and what happens happens. Don't let the moment get too big." Lindor hopes he's in the lineup on Saturday, but knows that he needs to see how he feels tomorrow and speak to Mendoza and the trainers. But even if Mendoza wants to give his shortstop another day off, he knows he can use him again when he needs a big hit.
Associated Press
33 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Kyle Hendricks celebrates 100th career win with former Angels pitcher who tutored him as a youngster
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Kyle Hendricks' 100th career victory created a full-circle moment. The 35-year-old right-hander helped pitch the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night. And he got to celebrate his milestone with a mentor. Former Angels left-hander Clyde Wright, who threw a no-hitter for the franchise in 1970, began tutoring Hendricks at his Anaheim pitching school when Hendricks, who grew up in South Orange County, was 12. Wright, now 84, finished his 10-year big league career with 100 wins in 1975. 'He came down to the clubhouse and gave me a hug, and I told him it only took 23 years after our first lesson to tie him,' said Hendricks, whose career record is 100-87. 'I spent a couple of years with him at the beginning. He taught me how to start throwing a curveball, how to stay healthy with certain stuff. 'I kept pitching and kept loving the game because of him.' Hendricks (3-6) was hardly dominant Friday night, giving up four runs and eight hits, striking out two and walking two in six innings. And his stuff, as usual, was not overpowering — his fastball topped out at 86.6 mph. But he escaped a second-and-third, two-out jam in the fifth inning by getting Randy Arozarena to ground out. And he got some help in the fourth from right fielder Jorge Soler, who reached above the short wall in the corner to rob Rowdy Tellez of a potential grand slam before crashing into the fence. 'I thought it was a homer off the bat, so I was so surprised, man,' Hendricks said. 'Thank God, (Soler) had my back today big-time.' Tellez's long fly — the first out of the inning — drove in a run. Leody Tavaras' RBI groundout gave Seattle a 3-1 lead. But Travis d'Arnaud's two-run homer off Mariners starter Bryce Miller (2-5) tied it at 3 in the bottom of the fourth. Seattle took a 4-3 lead on Julio Rodriguez's RBI triple in the fifth, but the Angels scored twice in the bottom of the inning to go up 5-4 — a rally that began when Jo Adell was hit by a pitch and he stole second. Chris Taylor, after fouling off two sacrifice-bunt attempts, roped an RBI double to left-center for a 4-4 tie, and Nolan Schanuel's RBI single made it 5-4. Ryan Zeferjahn retired the side in order in the seventh, Reid Detmers struck out two of four batters in the eighth and Kenley Jansen threw a perfect ninth for his 13th save. Jansen presented Hendricks with the game ball from the final out of the pitcher's 100th career win. 'It's one of those things that when you're done playing and you look back, it will mean a lot,' said Hendricks, who won 97 games during his 11 years with the Chicago Cubs. 'But in the heat of the moment, it was just a huge team win against an opponent toward the top of our division, so that's the focus.' — AP MLB:
