By Tom Price Jr.
It was a clean sweep for the Exeter Monarchs track team at the East Sequoia League Championship on May 6 at Corcoran High School.
All season long Corcoran and Exeter had competed closely in ESL meets and it was no different when the championship meet finally arrived.
The Monarchs girls varsity team won by a margin of 10 points and the boys had it a little easier, posting a score of 80.5 to Corcoran's 61.5.
Boys
Nate Cary was a big reason for the boys success, with a first place finishes in the 110-meter hurdles, high jump and pole vault. His first place time in the 110-meter hurdles, which was a full second faster than the second place finisher, was good enough to qualify him for valley competition.
Adam Hightower, who has battled injuries all season long, was back to his usual form finishing first in the long jump (19 feet, 9.75 inches) and in the 300-meter hurdles (42.18).
Cory Griffin, who has also been nursing an injury for most of the season, came to life a first place finish in the 100-meter dash (11.41) edging Cary by less than .20 seconds. Griffin also finished on top in the 200-meter dash, edging out Dinuba's Daniel Avila.
Nick Simmons and Jeff Munch finished first and second respectively in the shot put, to provide some help from the field events and Jeremiah Jimenez finished second in the 400-meter dash.
Girls
The Exeter girls track team dominated the relay events winning both the 4×100 and 4×400 to gain a much-needed edge over Corcoran. Melissa Helms, Amanda Brooks, Shea Cosart and Brittany Walker teamed up to win the 4×100 with a time of 55.5 and Jared Pablo, Abbey Cochran, Shea Cosart and Rachel Mitchell combined to win the 4×400 with a time of 4:36.90.
Cochran, who was battling illness, fought through it to post a first place mark in the 800-meter run (2:33.30) and Brittany Gonzales posted a time of 13.56 in the 100-meter dash for a first place finish.
Exeter's other first place finishes came from Rachel Mitchell who ran a 1:03.97 in the 400-meter dash, and posted a height of 4 feet, four inches in the high jump and Kelly Curtis who triple jumped 27 feet, four inches.
