After a season of dual meets and invitationals, the Mission Valley Athletics League (MVAL) track and field championship was the culmination of months of preparation. On May 9 and 10, Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward hosted the MVAL Championships.
Friday was dedicated to field events such as shot put, pole vault and jumps. First place spots in the field events included Taopa Fehoko of Moreau Catholic for boys frosh/soph shot put, Kaitlyn Hancock of Washington High School in the girls varsity pole vault and Tanvi Shrowty American High School in the girls varsity triple jump, just to name a few.
An Irvington High School stand out was Varsha Aravindhan who showed her talent in bridging that gap between field and track events winning the varsity long jump and 300m varsity hurdles.
Another standout moment on the track was Moreau Catholic sweeping the top three spots in the boys 300m varsity hurdles. Winners were Krish Sandhu, 40.23; Seth Evans, 41.99; Alijah Jackson, 44.19, respectively.
Junior Essence Anderson-Brown of James Logan High School was a force to be reckoned with as she dominated nearly all sprinting events. Brown won first place in the 100m, 200m and 400m sprints. However, she did not stop there as she also anchored the winning 4x100m team along with sophomores Brianna Almaguer and Anaya Randhawa and fellow junior Olivia Castro.
A highlight of the long distance girls event was Alice McCarty of Newark Memorial. McCarty claimed first place in the 800m, 1600m and 3200m long distance events. However, Mission San Jose sophomore Ownea Chen and Newark Memorial senior Grace Veloza were consistent with their paces as they placed second and third in the 1600 and 3200m, respectively.
Overall high school team winners who collected the most points were MVAL hosts Moreau Catholic in first, and Newark Memorial in second in both boys and girls varsity category.
The MVAL championship is only the beginning of the journey for athletes setting their sights on the State Championships. Winners now have to refocus the energy for the Bay Shore Area Championship quickly coming up on Saturday, May 17 at Vallejo High School where they will be competing with winners of the North Coast Section Bay Shore League.
For full results of the MVAL championship visit diablotiming.com.
