The Manteca Track Club enjoyed its best showing in the USA Track & Field Region 14 Championships this past weekend at Diablo Valley College.
Six of its youth members qualified out of the Pacific Association Junior Olympic Trials, and five competed. Now, only one remains.
Oscar Guitron nearly advanced to the USATF Junior Olympic Nationals in three events but had an outstanding outing nonetheless. He earned a top-three medal in the 11-12-year-old boys 800-meter race, placing third with a new personal record time of 2 minutes, 25.02 seconds. It bettered his previous PR by more than 6 seconds.
Guitron also took fourth in the 400 in 1:02.57. He settled for sixth in the 1,500 but clocked another big PR of 4:59.71. It was his first time breaking through the 5-minute barrier.
The national meet takes place July 22-28 in Greensboro, N.C.
Manteca Track Club had two throwers come close to joining Guitron. Jorge Garcia placed sixth in the 17-18 shot put, and Rumnic Cheema was seventh in the 15-16 division. Katrina Martinez (17-18 girls) no-heighted in the high jump and ended up 13th in the discus throw. Cedric Harris-Dixon (15-16 boys) turned in a 12th-place finish in the long jump.
Guitron gallops way into nationals
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