Taariq Davis and Jordan McNeal spearheaded impressive Day 1 efforts for East Union sprinters in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II-III track meet on Wednesday.
Both are seeded third in the 100-meter dash and anchored their 4x100 teams’ to qualifying times going into Friday’s finals at Bella Vista High of Fair Oaks. The heat winners and top nine placers overall advance, and the best seven — along with at-large qualifiers — in the finals of each event move on to next week’s SJS Masters Trials. Seven Manteca-area athletes have already punched their tickets to Masters in field events.
McNeal, a three-time Masters qualifier, ran the girls 100 in 12.72 seconds against a strong head wind and turned in the fourth fastest time overall. Davis’ time of 11.29 in the boys competition is also No. 4 overall.
The East Union girls 4x100 relay won its heat and is seeded third. Joining McNeal were Katelyn Allen, Alyssa Drew and Sophie Williams. Allen will also run in the 300 hurdles final after finishing sixth overall in 47.37 seconds. East Union sophomore Patricia Tajii is No. 8 in the 100 hurdles (17.25).
Joe Borba, Darian Joseph Cody Keener and Davis sprinted to a 43.33-second finish in the boys 400 relay and are fifth overall. Joseph made the 100 final with the eighth qualifying time of 11.39.
Manteca also had a strong showing on the track. Jade Griffin won her heat in the 200 (26.27) and clocked the fifth best time, while Ragan Both placed eighth in the 400 in 1 minute, 00.12 seconds. Both and Griffin are joined by Arianna Avina and Summer Kirby in the 4x400 relay, which qualified seventh in 4:12.78.
Juan Gomez is Manteca’s only boy to make it out of the first day in an individual event, taking sixth in the 400 (50.11). He’ll also run the mile relay — which includes Brandon Craighead, Kenny Wooten and Mahir Pepic — Friday after the Buffalo quartet finished fifth overall and won its head in 3:28.77.
Sierra sophomore Bikram Thiara is seeded seventh going into the 110 hurdles final (15.72). The Timberwolves 4x400 team of Jasmin Correa, Mariajose Correa, Diana Cruz and Ruth Esparza took ninth in 4:14.47.
Also qualifying was Lathrop’s 4x100 team of Michael Ramos, Jacari Thompson, Tremayne Willis and Horatio Venable, which finished eighth in 44.02.
Manteca sophomore Loretta Kakala was the area’s top performer in the field events. She advances to Masters in the shot put with a mark of 36 feet, 8 inches. She’ll also compete in the discus throw on Friday.
Other Masters qualifiers from the area were: Isaias Hunter (high jump, third place, 6-0) and Venable (long jump, sixth, 20-05) of Lathrop,;Carl Chandler (long jump, fifth, 21-08), Marcus Montano (high jump, sixth, 5-10) and Wooten (high jump, second, 6-4) of Manteca; and Maliah Watson (shot put, fifth, 34-09) of East Union.
The finals begin at 3 p.m. with field events on Friday, while the girls 4x100 kick starts track events at 6.
East Union sprinters charge into finals

