Marysville girls clinch league track title

While Marysville High's softball team continues to cruise through the Golden Empire League this season, the Indians have another strong girls squad tearing up the league right across the street.

On Wednesday, the Indians' girls track team continued their undefeated run through the GEL by beating Dixon 87-47 in a double-dual meet with Lindhurst.

The Indians already beat the Blazers in their meet earlier this season, and with Wednesday's victory they clinched the league title while improving their record to a perfect 4-0 in GEL duals.

"I think we're going to keep building on that," Marysville girls coach Marcy Tarr said. "The girls are good track athletes and we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores on the team so we're still real young."

With 20 girls on the varsity team compared to just 23 combined varsity and JV performers on the boys' side, the Indians girls team appears to be in good shape.

Leading the way for Marysville on Wednesday was junior Stephanie Anderson, who placed first in the 100 (14.4 seconds) and 300 low hurdles (52.4). She also ran on the winning 400 relay team and took second in the 100 low hurdles (18.3).

"Even though I train for the hurdles, the 100 is my favorite," said Anderson, who admitted that simply clearing the obstacles has been her biggest challenge. "I don't know why I picked hurdles. It's a stationary object, but there's so many techniques for hurdling."

Sophomore Jassmine Fletcher also fared well for the Indians by taking first in the 800 (2 minutes, 47 seconds) and 1600 (6:16). She also ran on the winning 1600 relay team that timed in at 5:08.

But while the Marysville girls remained undefeated in league, the Lindhurst boys experienced its first GEL loss of the season with a 65-61 setback to Dixon. The Blazers shined on the track, however, they were outscored 29-15 in the jump pit and throwers' circle.

"We dominated the running events, but we gave the points back in the field events," said Lindhurst coach Eric Hoefler. "That's what makes track difficult — you can be strong in some events and not so strong in others."

Leading the way for Lindhurst was junior Jarrade Davis, who was a triple-winner by taking first in the 200 (25.4), 400 (54.4) and 300 hurdles (42.9).

Twin brother Jurrell Davis wasn't too far behind, placing first in the 800 (2:14) while taking second in the 3200 (13:24) and third in the 200 (25.8).

Also winning for Lindhurst was basketball standout Miguel French, who tore through the field to win the 110 hurdles and placed first in the high jump by clearing the 5-foot, 6-inch mark with ease.

Sophomore Cole Hannum led the way for the Marysville boys team by winning the 100 (11.9), 200 (25.0) and triple jump (37-0). The football standout also placed second in the long jump with a leap of 18-2.

Junior Trevor Knudson placed first in the 110 hurdles (17.9) and 300 hurdles (47.4) while taking third in the pole vault (8-6), and freshman Taylor Zaytsow won the open 400 (55.0) and was second in the 1600 (5:15) and 3200 (12:13) for the Indians.

Melissa Collazo led the Blazer girls by winning the 800 (3:21) and 3200 (17:55).

In JV boys competition, Marysville was led by triple-winner Neil Lingenfelter, who placed first in the 200 (26.0), 400 (60.7) and triple jump (31-6). Anthony Vega also won two events for the Indians by placing first in the 800 (2:38) and the 800 (2:38).

Marysville's final dual meet will come against West Campus on May 4 at Yuba College. The GEL championships will be held on May 12, also at Yuba.