Twenty years ago, on May 1, 1991, the East Union High boys 4x400 relay team sprinted to fourth place in the Meet of Champions at Cordova High in Rancho Cordova, breaking a 12 year-old school record. The team of LaShawn Daniels, DelShaun Williams, Larry Martinez and John Brooks finished in 3:24.6, destroying the 1979 mark of 3:26.3 set by Andy Carroll, Jim Jennings, Kevin Von Essen and Lynn Mackey.

In other sports stories from the Bulletin files:

90 years ago: May 6, 1921 - Manteca High played Escalon High last Friday, the game was a tie, the score being 3 to 3. Milton Converse was quite seriously hurt in the ball game.

The Lodi Tokays met their first defeat last Sunday at the hands of the Manteca Maulers in a windy game on the Manteca diamond. The score was 4 to 2. Elmer Blodgett pitched good ball Sunday, allowing the Tokays only four hits. Cullums hit a home run for the Maulers, while Benny Fauls hit a double and stole two bases.

70 years ago: May 4, 1941 - Manteca High School’s track squad performed beautifully at the  invitational Oakdale-Manteca-Tracy meet held on Pennebaker Field Wednesday afternoon, but a much larger Oakdale group totaled 125 points to Manteca’s 87 and Tracy’s 18 to win the meet. In the 100 yard dash, Ray Willson led the pack to win with a 10.3 seconds time and took another first in the 220 by a 23.1 clocking. Everett Correa and Lido Piccinini placed top and runner-up, respectively, in the bamboo pole vault. Manteca took first, second and third in the football throw by Jim and John Poulos and Jean Ridley, respectively.

The Merchants, Manteca’s entry in the Central California Baseball League, lost a game to the strong Solari’s Inn team, 5 to 2, on the local high school diamond Sunday. Although the Merchants out-hit their opponents by a safe margin, numerous errors helped the Solari men run up the score. Gaines, Gonzales, Wooten and Guisto each had two hits for Manteca. Lisle Percival, one-time Manteca player now with Solari’s, did his bit with three hits for three times at bat.

60 years ago: May 3, 1951 - Manteca High’s baseballers closed the season last Friday by gaining a 4 to 3 win over the visiting Oakdale High nine on the local diamond. The win left Manteca tied for third place with Sonora High in the Valley Oak League standings with five wins and five losses. Ray Dellavecchia led the Buffs in hitting as he collected two hits in three trips to the plate.

Manteca High’s track squad continued along the undefeated trail in dual meets this year when they easily defeated the Modesto High reserves 72-32 last Thursday on the local track. Gene Gomas was the double winner for the Buffs with firsts in the 100 and 220 dashes.

The local high school tennis team closed out their season last Friday afternoon on the local courts by dropping a verdict to visiting Oakdale High 3-2. Buff winners were Mearl Lucken and Charles Honodel and Larry Conterno and Duane McAdam.

50 years ago: May 4, 1961 - Manteca High jumped right back into the thick of the VOL baseball race with a doubleheader win over Sonora High. The double win gave the Buffaloes a tie for first place with Ceres High. In the full length game, the Buffs won 6-1. Mike Estrada and Bob Teicheira led the locals in the hitting column with two hits apiece. Daymon Cook went all the way on the hill for the locals and scattered five hits to garner the win.

The Manteca Merchants made their debut in the Sacramento Rural League an unsuccessful one last Sunday by dropping a 3-2 decision to the Stockton Merchants. The loss was the second in a row for the locals. Wes Holbrook went all the way on the hill for Manteca.

40 years ago: May 7, 1971 - Manteca High’s track team took a narrow 68-50 win over powerful Lincoln High of Stockton on Thursday. Mike Vasconcellos led the Buffaloes with a thrilling win over the defending VOL 880 champ, Dave Smollinger, with a 2:01.7 clocking. Greg Williams also starred by winning both sprints and anchoring a record-shattering performance in the mile relay. Williams lowered the long-standing school 220 mark with a :22.6 time and turned the 100 in :10.1. He teamed up with Monta Litle, Caroll Hudson, and Vasconcellos to lower the school mark in the mile relay to 3:31.7. Two days later, they lowered it still further to 3:27.5 at the Ceres Invitational. Other Manteca wins came in the 440 relay by Dennis Sarina, Mike Warren, Sam Fachner and Hudson; Denny Letcher with a 6-2 in the high jump; Danny Head in the 120 highs; Hudson in the 440; Terry Palmer in the pole vault and Warren in the long jump.

Manteca High’s unpredictable baseball squad stunned VOL-leading St. Mary’s High Friday afternoon when Vic Liles, junior right-hander, shut out the pacesetters 11-0 on a brilliant two-hitter.

Led by an amazing two-under-par 34 by East Union High freshman Ken Webb, the Lancers had no trouble with Ripon High, beating them for the second time this year in golf, 226-263, last Thursday.

East Union High rebounded from a pair of stinging baseball defeats earlier this week to beat the winless Sonora High squad 4-2 on the Union Road diamond. EU hurler Ken Richichi, despite rocky going in the fifth, went all the way, striking out seven and walking no one for the win.

30 years ago: May 6, 1981 - East Union High’s Gina Barroga won four of six matches Thursday, good enough to qualify for the Sac-Joaquin Section AA badminton tournament next week at Lincoln High in Stockton.

Friday, East Union High played one of its better baseball games of the season as the Lancers crushed Sonora High 15-1 in a Valley Oak League contest. EU put together a 14-hit attack, including four hits by Victor Deanda and two each by Don Crawford and Damon Griffin, plus six innings of strong pitching by Tony Martin.

Led by the school record-setting tosses of Mike Cimoli and Marilyn Elkins in the shot put, Manteca High qualified a large number of athletes at the VOL track trials Thursday in Oakdale. Cimoli finished second in the qualifying with a toss of 56-4, and Elkins qualified first with a toss of 38-7. Elkins is just a freshman, while Cimoli is a senior. Cimoli set another school record in the shot put Saturday as the MHS tracksters took sixth place in the Open School Division in the event at the 53rd West Coast Relays in Fresno. Cimoli threw the shot 57-9.

East Union High’s softball team took a 10-0 verdict over Sonora High Thursday at Northgate Park. Lisa Klingman fashioned her third no-hitter of the season for the Lady Lancers.

Fireballing James Matas quelled a mild Ceres High uprising and pitched one and one-third innings of relief as Manteca High nailed down the VOL baseball championship with a 4-2 decision Friday afternoon. Darren Swift and Brian Sallee had two hits apiece.

Manteca High’s tennis team nipped Ceres High 8-7 on Friday. Unbeaten doubles team of Jody Ruble and Ron Bylow trimmed both their opponents. The Buff netters are 11-0 in league.

The East Union High tennis team came within a point of winning its first match of the season Friday. They lost to Sonora High, but Jeff Percival waltzed through his matches.