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Manteca Highs last VOL boys championship came in 1989
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Manteca Highs Jessy Talarico clears the 8-foot mark to win the girls pole vault.

Manteca High’s streak without a Valley Oak League boys track and field title was officially snapped Monday.

But it’s not over yet in the eyes of head coach Sean Hogan.

The Buffaloes blew out visiting Weston Ranch 110-21 in a makeup meet Monday, improving to 6-0 while capturing at least a share of their first championship since 1989. Manteca’s girls also won, 70-44. Their regular season ends at Lathrop High Thursday.

“We’re greedy — we want the whole thing to ourselves Thursday night,” Hogan said. “We have been taking it one step at a time to get to the top, and we’ll celebrate once we get there.”

Freshman Lechi Nkwocha scored big points for the Buffaloes Monday. He set a personal record with a 19-foot, 2-inch mark to win the long jump, also won the triple jump and placed in the high jump. Carl Chandler won the high jump and also placed in all three jumps.

Manteca also swept the two distance events to widen the margin. In the sprints, Donovan Lucas won the 100 and 200, and Jordan Lyons claimed the 800. Elijah Surall took first in the discus with a personal-best 142-foot heave.

Jessy Talarico paced the Lady Buffs (2-4) with wins in the pole vault and long jump. Gabby Gaxiola placed first in the 300 hurdles, and Doan Bien spearheaded a 1-2-3 sweep in the 800. While Weston Ranch was able to pick up most of the first-place points, the Buffaloes were able to get the edge with depth.

“This is the deepest team we’ve ever had, so that helps,” Hogan said. “We limited our athletes to just two events each today because we had two meets last week and two more this week.”

Weston Ranch’s boys won the frosh-soph boys competition, 71-52. Manteca’s frosh-soph girls triumphed, 54-27.

Del Oro Invitational

Manteca’s varsity boys showed well in the Del Oro Invitational in Loomis last Friday, taking fifth out of 16 teams.

Rolland Pacheco placed second in the pole vault with a personal best 13-foot mark, which ties him for the Sac-Joaquin Section lead.

Lyons also had a runner-up finish, clocking in at 50.64 seconds in the 400-meter dash. He was also sixth in the 200 with a time of 23.51 and led the mile relay team — which includes Brandon Basuil, Cameron Crippen and Pacheco — to second place.

Lucas placed fourth in the 100 (11.46) and anchored the fourth-place 400 relay (Angel Gomez, Eddie Smith, Basuil). Isaiah Cruz took second in the 3,000 in 9:26, and Surall topped out at 137-8 for third in the discus throw.

At the frosh-soph level, Nkwocha captured the triple jump title (40-3), and Chandler topped the field in the high jump (5-10).