Vanden's sprinters, Vacaville's distance runners excel at dual meet

After sprinting to a win in the boys 100-meter dash on Wednesday, Vanden High School junior Ismail Peters quietly peered over the timekeeper's shoulder before bursting into excitement.

"I did it!" Peters exclaimed. "I'm a 10-runner now!"

Peters clocked 10.91 seconds - a personal best and his first time running under 11 seconds.

"The day before this, I was playing the race through my head over and over, trying to get it down," Peters said. "I knew I was fast enough, I knew I was strong enough, I just had to execute in the race."

He didn't stop there. Peters edged out Vacaville's Jayce Gardner to win the 200 (22.69) and ran a blistering anchor leg to win the 4-by-100 relay (43.93) alongside Pononui Patricio, Darrell Cox and Jamarkus Banks.

The junior is in his second full year running track. As a freshman, Peters had his season cut short due to a hip fracture.

"After I fractured my hip, I couldn't walk for two months. I had to use crutches the whole time," Peters said. "It was a big dropping point for me since I couldn't really do much at all. After that happened, it changed a side of me that I needed to do better and work harder to get to where I wanted to be."

Despite the success of Peters and the Vikings' sprinters, Vacaville earned an 88-42 victory in the boys competition and an 89-23 win in the girls meet.

"I'm just so proud of our kids and their willingness to do whatever is asked of them," Vacaville co-head coach David Monk said. "It was just about securing points for the team and putting in whatever effort was necessary."

The Lady Bulldogs were led by sophomore Riley Gagnon and junior Gisselle Swartz. Gagnon hawked down Vanden's Abigail Miller to win the 400 (1:04.15), while Swartz won the 800 (2:32.81) after pulling away from Vanden's Jocelyn Gardea in the second lap.

Sophomore distance runner Coralee Pettey also shined, breezing to wins in the 1,600 (5:45.57) and 3,200 (12:38.33).

"She is just improving week by week and smashing through barriers every time she seems to touch the track," Monk said. "There's a sense of joy that she brings and she's been so fun to watch flourish."

Other winners for the Vacaville girls were Hailee Kirk in the 100 (13.47), Evelyn Van Scoy in the 110 hurdles (17.43) and 300 hurdles (52.28) and Gwen Rice in the long jump (13 feet, 1.5 inches) and triple jump (30-8.5).

Seniors Jasmine Rochell and Brooklyn Hill stood out for the Lady Vikings in their last home meet. Rochell dusted the competition in the 200 (25.86), while Hill dominated in the shot put (37-3) and discus (98-6).

"Brooklyn is that kind of athlete. She's a competitor, and she puts everything out there," Vanden head coach Larry Hogue said. "Her dream was to do this. She did well last year and now she's trying to eyeball state."

Alongside Hill and Rochell, Vanden's senior class includes Banks and Naiaja Sizemore, an Ohio State University commit and the defending state champion in the 100 and 200.

"A lot of kids look up to this whole senior class at Vanden High School, boys, girls, it doesn't matter," Hogue said. "A lot of people lead this way or that way. They just lead by example."

Banks ran a vital third leg around the curve in the 4-by-100, setting up Peters to close out the victory. The Vikings also received wins from Jason Achamfuor in the 110 hurdles (15.36) and Jayden Carroll in the long jump (19-6).

"Jamarkus was able to close in that gap and I just took it home from there," Peters said. "They did all the work getting it down to that last leg, so I had to close it off for them."

Vacaville's distance runners set the tone for the boys. William Wurzbach (4:57.05), Caleb Connolly (4:57.33) and Tyler Sirois (4:57.52) claimed the top three spots in the 1,600, while Alex Valencia (10:54.15), Wesley Steed (10:54.30) and Caleb Connolly (10:54.30) swept the podium in the 3,200.

"They looked almost machine-like," Monk said. "They were the guys that got nominated to handle their business today, and they went out and did it near flawlessly."

The Bulldogs also received wins from Steed in the 800 (2:18.48), Cameron Glavin in the 400 (55.31) and Aiden Pope in the high jump (5-10). Mason Wilson won the 300 hurdles (45.99) and triple jump (35-7), while Liam Malihan won the shot put (39-1.5) and discus (124-2).

Both sides will now turn their attention to the Sacramento Meet of Champions, hosted at American River College on Saturday.

"We have several of our top athletes slated to run on Saturday and we're excited," Monk said. "We think we're ready for a lot of them to have some big breakthroughs."

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