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TRACK & FIELD: Ripon’s Daggett hurdles way to Division V title
Bulletin track & field 2018
Ripon's Ryan Daggett placed first overall and a new personal best in the 300-meter hurdles (40.67 seconds) in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV-V Championships at Chavez High in Stockton on Thursday and will advance to the SJS Masters Championships on Wednesday in Elk Grove. - photo by DAVE CAMPBELL/The Bulletin


STOCKTON — After winning the 300-meter hurdles and finishing fifth in the 110 hurdles Thursday in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV-V Championships at Chavez High, Ripon’s Ryan Daggett will join teammate Chris Cook — who qualified fourth Tuesday in the shot put —at the SJS Masters Championships next Wednesday at Elk Grove High School.

In order to advance to Masters, the results for Divisions IV and V are combined— all races but the 1,600 and 3,200 were run separately — and the top five marks advanced.

Daggett left little doubt in his 300 hurdles win, clocking the top overall time in a personal best of 40.67 seconds. He finished third (15.49) in the Division V 110 hurdles and fifth overall.  

“This feels great,” Daggett said. “I have been putting out a lot of work and improving every week. I am excited.”

Freshman teammate Abrahim Alsaidi was eighth in the Division V 1,600 (4:47.25) and ninth overall — fourth in Division V — in the 3,200 (10:13.61). Alsaidi was with the pack in the 3,200 for the first seven laps.  

“It was hard to keep up with them,” Alsaidi said of the 3200. “These guys are like super, super good and I don’t know how I did it.”

The Indians’ Trans-Valley League co-champion boys team took sixth in Division V and the girls were 15th. Ripon coach Jill McPherson was pleased with what she saw, especially with her freshman distance runner.

“He just left it all out there,” McPherson said of Alsaidi. “I am just so proud of him. He is out there running with the big dogs. He did a great job. 

“It’s been a challenging season in a lot of ways because we lost a lot of our senior leadership last year, but I am looking at these new kids coming up and in the next year or two I really think we will be coming on.

“Our boys were co-champs of the TVL this year and our next goal is to get our girls to do that, too.” 

Other Ripon participants and their Division V results were in the boys: Bennie Dimas (800, fifth, 2:03.24); James Gaalswyk (discus, sixth, 123 feet); Aaron Wood (high jump, 10th, 5-5; triple jump, 11th, 39-0½); Cameron Gamino (discus, 10th, 118-8) and the 4x400 relay (eighth, 3:42.37, Dagget, Dimas, Harrison Jackson, Kennedy Calderon).

Ripon girls participants included: Laila Irigoyen (800, fifth, 2:28.42); Savannah Clark (shot put, eighth, 29-9) and the 4x400 relay (sixth, 4:25.14, Irigoyen, Olivia Morris, Aiko DeArth, Kayla Jacklich).