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A stellar outing
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Ceres High School varsity girls track and field athlete Kaela Causey competed in the high jump and long jump during the regular season.

The senior entered three events at the Valley Oak League Championships on Saturday, May 8 in Manteca.

Kaela ended up taking first in the shot put with a toss of 33 feet, 43/4 inches.

"That was her first time doing it," Bulldogs head coach Bill Curlis said. "It ended up being a good move for her. She was the only league champion we had. With her being new, she didn't know enough to be nervous."

Causey and five other Bulldogs advanced to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III meet, to be held at Modesto Junior College this week.

Kaela, Bryce Ford, Amy Raymond, Alejandro Garcia and Le Hong qualified by finishing among the top three in their respective events at the VOL competition. Brandon Jolley secured an at-large berth.

Causey's performance wasn't a total surprise.

"Coach Brandon Moring has her in his weight-training class," Curlis said. "He knew she was strong. She's pretty quick. She's built like a shot putter. At practice she was throwing it in the 34s. It will be interesting to see what she does at Divisionals. She can gain a couple of feet."

Kaela placed sixth in the high jump (4-05) and eighth in the long jump (14-09).

Ford took second in the high jump (4-09), third in the 300 hurdles (51.43), fourth in the 400 (1:03.70) and sixth in the triple jump (29-10). She's just a freshman.

"That's phenomenal," Curlis said.

Raymond took second in the discus (94-04) and seventh in the shot put (27-111/4).

Garcia, a two-time state-meet participant in cross country, placed second in the 3,200 (10:09.01) and fourth in the 1,600 (4:36.37).

Alejandro did not compete at full-strength. He had a fever leading up to the meet. Garcia also ran with a sore throat.

"That totally defeated my body," he said. "I still qualified. I'm going to redeem myself at Divisionals."

Garcia will try to finish ahead of VOL champion John Bowers of Sierra.

Bowers pulled away during the midway point of the two-mile race.

Alejandro completed the first mile in 5:02, more than 15 seconds slower than his previous-best times.

"Once I got into the fifth lap, I was way to weak," Garcia said. "I knew if I went to hard, I probably would have placed third or worse. I decided not to risk it. My goal is to make it to Masters. I have a pretty good chance."

Hong placed second in the 110 hurdles (15.72) and fifth in the 300 hurdles (42.81).

Jolley placed fourth in the shot put with a personal-best toss of 141-3.

Ceres High teammates Nick Sandoval, Jose Perez, Jeremy Ford, Alex Ochoa, Max Espinosa, Joe Simas, Michael Brace, Matt Mey, Manuel Garcia, Crystal Duran, Alyssa Eudy, Angie Prak, Brenda Teng, Violeta Verduzco, Ashley Thiner and Yvette Huizar all saw their seasons end prematurely.

Sandoval placed fifth in the 400 (53.74).

Perez placed seventh in the 400 (54.81), ninth in the 200 (24.67) and 11th in the 100 (12.19).

Ford placed eighth in the 100 (12.09).

Ochoa placed eighth in the triple jump (35-05.75) and 11th in the long jump (17-02).

Espinosa placed eighth in the shot put (37-051/4) and 13th in the discus (93-08).

Simas placed 10th in the 400 (55.13).

Brace placed 11th in the 110 hurdles (19.27) and 15th in the 300 hurdles (50.17).

Mey placed 12th in the 800 (2:21.61) and 1,600 (5:01.49).

Garcia placed 12th in the discus (93-11) and 18th in the shot put (31-01).

Duran placed fourth in the long jump (15-05), sixth in the 200 (29.15), eighth in the 400 (1:05.44) and 11th in the 100 (14.13),

Eudy placed fifth in the discus (87-08) and sixth in the shot put (28-021/2).

Prak placed seventh in the 100 hurdles (19.47).

Teng placed eighth in the discus (80-01).

Verduzco placed eighth in the 200 (33.16) and 12th in the 100 (15.41).

Thiner placed 10th in the long jump (13-11), 11th in the triple jump (27-11), 12th in the 100 hurdles (22.83) and 14th in the 1,600 (6:59.54).

Huizar placed 12th in the triple jump (20-081/2).

Central Valley's varsity girls track and field program qualified two individuals for Divisionals, including Jasveen Brar and Vanessa Menor.

Brar took second in both the 100 hurdles (18.08) and 300 hurdles (50.58), and fourth in the triple jump (32-001/2).

Menor took third in the high jump (4-9).

Adrianna Mendez took fourth in the 1,600 (5:48.85) and fifth in the 3,200 (13:09.72).

Alyssa Long took eighth in the high jump (4-01) and 11th in the 400 (1:08.87).

On the boys' side, Hawk Antonio Cordova finished seventh in the pole vault (10-1).

Edward Martinez finished eighth in the 300 hurdles (44.61).

Terrance Sadler finished eighth in the 200 (24.66) and ninth in the 100 (12.11).

Oscar Tovar finished ninth in the 1,600 (4:54.88) and 10th in the 3,200 (11:19.01).

Jesus Maldonaldo finished 10th in the shot put (37-02) and 18th in the discus (77-05).

Ernesto Gonzalez finished 16th in the 1,600 (5:24.87) and 3,200 (13:01,70).

Keturah Ley finished 16th in the shot put (32-02) and 23rd in the discus (68-10).

Gerardo Contreras finished 20th in the discus (74-6) and 22nd in the shot put (27-07).