By DAVE CAMPBELL
The Bulletin
DAVIS – Anything worth doing once is worth doing twice, especially going to the California State Track and Field Championships.
Sierra High’s Miranda Miller won the pole vault Saturday and Holden Fishburn took third in the shot put in the second day of the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Track and Field Championships at Dewey Halden Field. Miller finished second in the triple jump and Fishburn third in the discus on Friday, meaning both Timberwolves athletes will be competing the CIF State Championships this Friday at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
With the pole vault finals moved up to mid-morning on Saturday to beat the weather, Miller made the best of it and cleared 11 feet, 9 inches for the gold medal.
“This is really exciting,” Miller said. “I had surgery on my shoulder in October so I didn’t know if I was even going to be able to pole vault, much less make it to state in two events.”
Timberwolves coach Ezequiel Ruiz was pleasantly surprised with Miller’s victory, and thinks that doing just the pole vault that day made a difference.
“We were expecting good results, but we were not expecting those results,” Ruiz said. “Watching her compete and only focusing on pole vault was a benefit as she is also usually doing long and triple at the same time. So I think that gave her an advantage.
“When I talked to her in November about her shoulder she told me she would be ready to vault in March. It was rough timing for surgery, but it worked out for the best.”
Friday’s discus throw capped a season-long improvement of 40 feet for Holden, and the third-place effort of 48 feet, 9 ½ inches in the shot is 7 feet better than he was throwing at the beginning of the season.
“I didn’t think I was going to be going to state,” Fishburn said. “And this feels great to be going.”
East Union freshman Maury Ortiz was seeded 22nd for the 1600 meters and he eclipsed the 4-minute, 30-second mark for the first time with a stunning seventh-place finish in 4:29.81.
“That time was a huge improvement,” Ortiz said. “Especially with me being a freshman. Next year I am going to break 4:20. I am going to improve a lot, just wait and see.
“I have to really thank my coach (Rick Cuevas). He believes in me and has been helping me out a lot doing all those runs and workouts. He gets out there and runs with us.”
Cuevas believes the future is bright for Oritz.
“He (Ortiz) is a special kid,” Cuevas said. “I could tell when he was in eighth grade he was going to be awesome. He got injured in cross country but I knew he would be ready for track.
“I have coached kids who got second in the state and I believe he is the most talented out of all that I have coached.”
East Union’s Jadyn Snaer finished sixth in the 100 at 12.44.
“This was better than I expected to do in the rain,” Snaer said. “I broke my toe earlier this year, so being able to recover and nearly run my PR was really, really great for me.
“I am happy.”
Ripon’s Laila Irigoyen battled through a hip injury to finish seventh in 2 20.27 seconds.
“I was having some hip issues,” Irigoyen said. “I have been really feeling it but today I was focused doing the best that I could with what I had and that is what I did.”
East Union’s Alexus Surnip capped her stellar career with a 12th place finish in the long jump at 16 6 ½.
“I ended up doing well this season,” Surnip said. “I did 18-3 ¾ sty VOL which was a PR for me.
“I was feeling good today but the weather conditions were really weird. But that’s OK because I had a great season and I am proud of making it this far.”
Also competing Saturday was Ripon’s Abrahim Alsaidi in the 3200 (18th, 10:04) and Lathrop’s Maria Soto in the 3200 (23rd, 11:56.83).
