A Nighthawk Sweep!
Hello nighthawk families and fans,
On Thursday we had another dual meet at home against Westview High School. This marks the first of our league meets, more of that explained later… We were able to sweep with a win in both boys and girls JV and Varsity teams! Scores are as follows: Boys Varsity, 100 - 32 Girls Varsity, 103 - 33, Boys JV, 94.5 - 37.5 Girls JV, 69 - 45. It is exciting to see so many athletes hiding their stride and discovering their strength in new events, we can’t wait to continue to see this growth! We would like to send a huge thank you to all of the parents who came to help out at our last dual meet, this allows us to coach your kids and helps the meet run so much smoother. Find meet results for DNHS vs Westview here and a photo album from Arturo Vargas. The following Saturday we went down the road to Mt Carmel High School for The Sundevil Invitational which is a very competitive meet we are lucky to have so local to us! Find the full meet results for Sundevil Invite here and photo albums from Jimmu Su, Phil Grooms and Dennis McClanahan. Keep reading for more highlights.
Pictured, Senior Alex Guerra, Photo by Arturo Vargas
Athletes of the Meet - Westview Dual Meet
We want to take the time to highlight a couple of athletes who had spectacular performances at our last meet.
Hurdles -
Alex Rubio (10) set a new PR of almost 2 seconds in the 300 hurdles. Fighting all the way to the line in an effort to score points for the team. Very proud of this effort!
Paige Echsner (12) adding hurdler to her storied resume and in only her 2nd race ever finishing in a time of 44.29, good for 3rd All-Time at Del Norte, 4th in San Diego and 14th in California!
Sprints -
Averie Gross (9) finished 1st overall in the JV Girls 100m with a PR of 13.38, and finished 3rd overall in the JV girls 200m in her first ever time running the event! A great start for the young freshman’s track career.
Grant Goldmann (11) after exploding onto the scene by filling in for the varsity relays last week, Grant doubles down and ran leadoff leg for the Varsity Boy’s 4x1 helping them to 1st place, finished with a blazing time in the 100m, clocking in at 11.37 for a PR and 3rd place finish, ran a monster PR in the 200m of 22.65 with a 2nd overall finish, and runs a very impressive 51.5 split in his first 4x4 relay ever, cementing a 1st place finish for the team.
Jumps -
Tristan Kyle (12) with a triple crown, finishing first in long jump, triple jump and high jump scoring 15 points towards the overall team score.
Throws -
Charlie Bowers (12) multiple PRs in the
Miller Utech (11) broke the 100 foot barrier in discus.
Distance -
Nick Echsner (10) ran a very smart race this last meet where he was able to break the 10 minute barrier with a time of 9:54. Coming off an impressive freshman year Nick continues to showcase his talents and is set for another breakout race.
Lily Engel (11) had a great outing against Westview where she was able to PR in both her 800 and 3200. She was able to knock off over 40 seconds in her 3200. Her hard work in the winter is showing and despite some illness and injury shes continued to thrive.
Athletes of the Meet - Sundevil Invitational
Pole Vault -
Paige Echsner (12) with a season best mark to win the invite flight.
Jumps -
Naja Fonseca (12) set a big PR in triple jump of 35’ 1.5” to take home a gold medal! This moves her up to 4th All-Time in Del Norte History.
Sprints -
Chase Jurgens (11) becomes the 2nd person ever in Del Norte history to run sub 11 seconds in the 100. Joining elite company with a time of 10.94.
Congratulations to all of those athletes on a great meet. We would like to take the time to recognize those athletes whose performance landed them onto our top 10 all-time lists. Because they did not have a wind-gauge at this meet, our sprinters and jumpers performances cannot be counted towards school records and all-time performances. We know they have it in them and will be able to even surpass these marks in future competitions!
Naja Fonseca (12) - Girls Triple Jump: 4th All-Time with a jump of 35’ 1.5”
Courtland Bradshaw (10) - Boys Pole Vault: 4th All-Time with a vault of 14’2”
Each of these athletes have made a significant impact on our program, making themselves known as some of the best in their event since our school opened in 2009. We look forward to witnessing their continued success as the season goes on.
How Do League Meets Work?
We are in the Palomar league and all of the following dual meets during the week (Thursdays and some Wednesdays) will count towards our efforts to win league. The team with the best score (wins vs losses) will take the title of league champions. This is decided by varsity team scores and separated by the girls and boys teams. The scores are from the first 3 finishers in the most competitive varsity heat/flight. For relays first place gets 5 points, 2nd place 0. For individual events, first place gets 5 points, 2nd place gets 3 points and 3rd place gets 1 point. This is why it is incredibly important that athletes are giving 100% effort in every event they are in at dual meets, competing all the way to the line, in each attempt, and checking in on time for everything. With our win over Westview, we are 1-0 on the girls and boys side and we hope to keep that going throughout the season.
Our Next Meet
This week we have our first away dual meet against Mt Carmel. This will be our 2nd official League meet. In order to earn the team title of League Champions, we must win overall by points at each league meet (or have the best score of all of the teams). It is crucial that athletes are giving their best effort in all events they are competing in and communicating with their coach if anything comes up. More info on this week’s dual meet here.
On Saturday a handful of pole vaulters will compete at The UC Classic more info available from Coach Ngo.
This Friday April 4th all seniors who have completed their senior bio will be eligible to have their senior photos taken at practice. Coach Ruby will notify those seniors this week. Come dressed in uniform and photo ready! If you haven’t already, Follow this link to fill out your senior bio!
Pictured: Junior, Izabella Czyszczon photo by Jimmy Su
House Keeping
I am asking for a $250 parent donation to help offset our team costs. As always Athlete's are not required to "pay to play", however, this $250 donation would help cover essential program costs. If you are able to donate you can do so in a variety of ways.
Via Venmo using @DNHSATHLETICFOUNDATION - Please put "Track & Field" and your athletes name in the comments
Via Sports Engine HERE
Via Check - Please make the check payable to the Del Norte Athletic Foundation and put track and field and your athletes name in the memo. Checks must be given to my parent liaison Jim Echsner.
Be sure you are following us on Instagram! We share meet photos, meet recap reels, live updates and more there. @DelNorte_xctf
SENIORS! Time to fill out your senior bios to be featured on our website. Follow this link
Calling all DNHS T+F Alumni, fill out this form to be included on our alumni page!
Donate your used spikes to a Nighthawk in need!
If your athlete has spikes from last season that aren’t super torn up, they can use them again. If they are getting new spikes and don’t need their old ones, feel free to bring them to practice and we can share them with another nighthawk in need! Once your athlete gets their spikes, have them show their coach before wearing them at practice. We can help navigate each athletes needs.