SANTA ROSA — The Lyford track and field teams ended the final day of the District 32-3A meet Friday afternoon in Santa Rosa just like they started it — on top.
The Lyford boys finished in first with 252 points and the girls racked up 198.5 points, ensuring a Bulldogs district championship sweep for a second-consecutive year.
Before last season, the Lyford boys had not won a district title under head coach Doug Ames, but now they have two in as many years. Now, Ames hopes his boys can take the next step at regionals.
“All the credit to those guys who have worked hard all year, and they came out and ran some of their best times today; they earned it,” Ames said. “Last year we did OK at regionals, but we want to do better after winning district two years in a row. Now we should be a little stronger and more comfortable with the competition that’s going to be there.”
Rounding out the rest of the boys’ field was host school Santa Rosa (182), Monte Alto (82), IDEA Frontier (54) and IDEA Quest (17).
Lyford distance runner Robert Herrera won gold in the 1600 and 800-meter run, while teammates Aiden Silva and Rodrigo Cedillo won gold in the 100-meter hurdles and the 400-meter runs, respectively.
For the Lady Bulldogs, this week’s meet was one of their best outings of the year, but head coach Marissa Chapa hopes her girls haven’t peaked just yet.
“We need to work harder until regional time and hopefully we can set some more PRs,” Chapa said. “We just have to work hard like we have all season until regionals. We share a lot of girls with other sports, so the time in between will give them a little break. The girls have worked hard all year and it has paid off.”
The IDEA Quest girls placed second (132.5) followed by Santa Rosa (108), Monte Alto (87) and IDEA Frontier (69).
Leading the way for Lyford was Victoria Burns, who qualified for regionals by winning the pole vault, triple jump, 100-meter hurdles and placing second in the long jump.
“I set PRs in most of my events, so I’m just really excited about that,” Burns said. “I was really happy about that, so now I just want to get out there and hopefully qualify for state.”
LARA, TOBIAS HOARD HARDWARE: Lyford may have taken home the district titles, but Santa Rosa’s Leo Lara and IDEA Quest’s Valery Tobias both had big meets, qualifying for the Region IV-3A meet in all four of their events.
Lara, normally a jumper, took gold in the 200-meter run and anchored the winning 4×100-meter relay team in addition to golds in the long and high jumps.
Despite having a lot on his plate playing short stop for a playoff-bound Warriors baseball team, Lara isn’t taking his foot off the gas as he tries to avenge a seventh-place finish at last year’s state meet and excel in a different event.
“It feels good, but I want to go to state and redeem myself from last year,” Lara said. “I’m hyped after running the 200-meter run. I ran it earlier in the year and I ran a 23.7, but Wednesday I ran a 22 and now I really want to do it. I will work at it these two weeks and hit it hard.”
Tobias, meanwhile, took first in the long jump, high jump, 800-meter run and placed second in the 1600-meter run.
Tobias was a state silver medalist a year ago in the 800-meter run and is looking at this as a positive first step on her way back.
“I just want to focus on my training and get better when it comes to my times,” Tobias said. “I enjoy that my competitors have been good, because they have pushed me to do my best race and my best work. I just want to focus on running a lot more.”