Nine schools, 20 different events, one goal, to go home with the gold. This is the day the underclassmen of the track teams that belong to the Sierra Foothill League have been preparing for since January. Hours, days, weeks of practice in constantly changing conditions, from leaving school in the middle of the day to go run in a 1.6 wind speed, waking up at 7 in the morning on a Saturday to drive 30 minutes to go run for one minute at Rancho Cordova High School. 

Three freshmen, Chloe Smith, Rachel Yuen, and Payton Osenbaugh, and one sophomore, Sophia Fastidio make up the 4×100 girls’ relay. The girls soared to first place with a time of 52.80 seconds, bringing home GB’s first win of the day. 

“We do a lot of handoffs to make sure we get, like, a really good handle. And we [were] …. friends before, so I guess it worked out, “Rachel Yuen, a freshman here at Granite Bay, and the third leg of the relay said.

Then it was time for the boys. All season, it’s been a competition for first, between Jesuit, Del Oro and Granite Bay to claim the coveted number one in the 4×100 relay. Del Oro got the better of us this time around, running a very impressive race of 45.78 to come in first, Jesuit began the relay in last place, and during the final handoff, the anchor Larry Dorton made an phenomenal comeback to come in second only ten milliseconds later at 45.88 and the Grizzlies, thanks to a hard-fought effort by Lincoln Cousineau, the anchor of the relay came in a third place finish with a very good time of 45.96. 

Next up was the 1600, Granite Bay also placed first in this event as well. Abigail Osman ran a season’s PR of 5.31.88, dropping 10 seconds, to come in first place overall and on her birthday as well. 

The girls 100M also saw GB coming in first place overall. The anchor of the JV girls 4×100, Payton Osenbaugh got her second gold medal of the night beating her competition in 100M with a wind-splitting time of 13:18 seconds. She dropped 20 milliseconds as well. 

The boys 100M was a race to watch, Jesuit’s Larry Dorton demolished his competition running a splendid time of 11.53, and dropping 40 seconds of his season best’s PR. Second Place went to Arun Cronin from Davis High School who ran a proficient time of 11.60, to bring home a silver medal for Davis High School. GB’s very own Lincoln Cousineau got a bronze medal with a very impressive time of 11:78, beating out the rest of the competition. 

In the 800M, Granite Bay also soared to a gold medal, with Lucille McDaniel dropping a season’s best PR of 2.32.57, McDaniel was seeded 6th going into the competition with a time of 2.37.88 and she came back to win the gold medal for the girls. All day, St. Francis’ Gabrielle Gonzalez, and Payton Osenbaugh were battling it out for those top two spots. In the 200, Gonzalez did get the better of Payton, running a very impressive time of 27.29, Gonzalez PR by over 60 seconds to take home first place for the St. Francis Girls. 

Then it was time for the 4×400, infamous for its intensity because it’s the last event of the day and the last relay. The Davis 4×400 absolutely destroyed their competition, beating Granite Bay by a whole 6 seconds, Granite Bay came in a solid second place with a great time of 4.29.87, and Del Oro clinched third with a solid time of 4.32.05. 

Just like that, the night was over. Davis’s JV Girls had been dominating the entire night, and they took home first place. The Del Oro boys took home first place and rightfully so, almost winning every single one of their races.