Redwood Empire runners collect 3 medals at state track and field championships

The Redwood Empire was represented three times on the podium of the CIF state track and field meet in Clovis Saturday night as two junior standouts and a relay squad earned medals.

Sonoma Academy junior Rylee Bowen was the first medal winner of the night Saturday, finishing fourth in the 1,600 meters for the second year in a row. Fellow junior Kirsten Carter of Santa Rosa High sprinted to sixth place in the 100-meter dash an hour later. In the final race of the night, the Maria Carrillo boys’ 4-by-400-meter relay team crossed the line in sixth place to earn a spot on the podium.

For both Bowen and Carter, two of the best performers in Empire history in their respective disciplines, it was the third trip to Buchanan High School in Clovis for the state meet.

Riding the momentum of a strong spring, Bowen had her sights set on a win. But a relatively slow start kept the runners in a tight pack, only to be split apart when eventual winner Maddy Denner put in a lightning-fast third lap in 1:08. Bowen, who ran at the front for the first half of the race, tried to reel in Denner - but it cost her in the final 200 meters as she was passed twice.

Denner, a junior from Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills, won the race in 4:44. Bowen, whose best time on the season was 4:47 (converted from the mile) in April, finished fourth in 4:53.

“I think she sacrificed sitting and staying in second for going after the win,” Sonoma Academy coach Danny Aldridge said. “She doesn’t have the mentality to go for second place.”

Bowen, gracious in defeat, said a repeat of last year’s fourth-place finish was not what she came for.

“My goal was to win,” she said. “I’m proud of myself for trying to get it.”

She also immediately spoke of 2018.

“This is definitely a dream of mine and I’m prepared to do whatever it takes,” she said.

Bowen’s personal best is 4:43 - one second behind the Redwood Empire’s all-time best time of 4:42, set by Santa Rosa’s Julia Stamps in 1997.

Carter, another three-timer at the state meet, ripped off her personal best in the 100 meters at the prelims on Friday with a 11.78 sprint. No girl in the Redwood Empire has ever run faster. As the ninth seed coming into the finals, she ran an 11.87, good enough for sixth place. It’s the best-ever finish in the 100 meters for an Empire girl.

Junior Ariyonna Augustine from Poly High School in Long Beach won the race in 11.58.

“She really ran a great race, she held her spot,” Santa Rosa coach Carrie Joseph said.

And to do it from lane 1 makes it all the more impressive, she said.

“To podium from lane 1? That’s insane,” she said. “When you are on the outside, you feel like an outsider looking in. You have to overcome the negative stigma, psychologically, of being in the outside lane.”

The junior didn’t fare as well later in the night, finishing eighth among eight competitors in the 200 meters, despite qualifying with the fifth-fastest time Friday. She crossed the line in 24.95, well behind double sprint winner Augustine from Poly High, who finished in 23.41.

“She said she felt tight,” Joseph said of Carter. “That overdrive didn’t seem to be there.”

Carter’s fastest 200-meter race of the year came at the North Coast Section Meet of Champions, where she produced a 24.35.

In the final race of the night and just before the fireworks went off over the stadium, the Carrillo 4-by-400-meter relay team of sophomores Will McCloud and Tyler Van Arden, senior Isaiah Smith and sophomore Severin Ramirez sprinted to a sixth-place finish in 3:17.65, moving them to third-fastest ever in the Redwood Empire.

They also avenged a loss to Los Lomas High at the NCS Meet of Champions.

“They all ran smart, they all ran super aggressive,” Pumas coach Greg Fogg said. “We’ve all been talking about running as aggressive as they possibly can and they did that.”

And they, along with Bowen and Carter, came away with state medals for their effort.

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield. Podcasting on iTunes and SoundCloud “Overtime with Kerry Benefield.”