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JOHNNY FIELDS
Position: Outfielder
School: Fresno
Grade: Senior
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2009 Girls Track & Field All-Star Team
Carlo Prandini, as a 9.7-second college sprinter in the 100-yard dash in the early 1970s, could run.
Theresa Ray (now Prandini), as a 17-foot long jumper at Memorial during the same era, had some springs.
And that’s where it began for Jenna Prandini The Bee’s girls track and field Athlete of the Year who has blended parental genes with passion and comfort on the athletic stage to become one of the greatest prep track and field performers in central San Joaquin Valley history.
“I haven’t really thought about it that much,” the Clovis High sophomore said of a four-gold performance in the Central Section finals matched by only Madera’s Kim Young (1968) in the 93-year history of the meet. “I mean, it’s cool.”
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Billy Bejeckian
Vitals: Fresno, senior, infielder
He’s qualified because: At the Valley’s winningest baseball program of all time, the North Yosemite League Player of the Year leaves a signature with a four-year starting career that met the finish line in style.
Had a .423 senior-season batting average with 23 RBIs and 10 steals, only four errors at shortstop and a 7-4 pitching record with 72 strikeouts against 17 walks in 72 innings and a 1.85 ERA for a 20-9 team.
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Leesa Gresham
Vitals: Clovis West, junior, infielder
She's qualified because: Earned All-Tri-River Athletic Conference honors while hitting .417 on the season with nine doubles, a triple, four home runs and 30 RBIs.
Her on-base percentage was .457 and she had a .656 slugging percentage. A tough out, Gresham only struck out seven times in 96 at-bats.
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Chad Kiesz
School: Buchanan
Year: Senior
Stroke average: 76.8
Bill Buettner, Greg Friesen and Greg Greenman
School: Clovis
They’re qualified because: They left egos at home, joined arms and — in an unusual, yet efficient, high school operation sans a solo head coach — helped blend the super-star skills of Jenna Prandini with just enough complementary help to land the school’s second Central Section girls track and field team title and the first in 13 years.
In a score amended because of an original error, the Cougars’ girls edged Buchanan 57-56 for the championship.
He said it: “From the outside, [the co-coaches] might seem kind of unstable. But we’ve worked together so long, none of us has an ego that has to go our way or throw a fit. I know all of us have the same goal in mind — do what’s best for the kids. And I feel like it’s working really well.” — Cougars co-coach Greg Friesen.
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