Bobcats impress in opening meet
The Saddleback track & field season got underway last weekend in Bakersfield and the women's team looked like a force to be reckoned with. The Bobcats had five first place finishes and had nine finishes that rank in the top-10 in the state.
The early part of the track & field season has a lot of meets where team results are not published. This was one of those meets as the Bobcats headed up to Bakersfield for the first workout of the season. Saddleback came home optimistic as a number of individuals posted amazing results in the first meet of the year.
Saddleback won five events, capturing the 1,500 meters, long jump, triple jump, pole vault and high jump.
Perhaps the best performance of any individual was by Jolie Robinson (pictured left), who won both the long jump and triple jump. Robinson's jump of 5.55 meters in the long jump is easily the best leap in the state so far and met the "A" standard of 5.32 meters. For those not quick at the conversion from meters-to-feet, Robinson is a full 14 inches better than anyone in the state thus far. She also won the triple jump with a distance of 11.09 meters, which was good enough for the second best leap in the state and passing the "A" standard of 10.82 meters.
Another off to a quick start was Olivia Knobbe (pictured second left), who won the 1,500 meters and finished fourth in the 800 meters. Knobbe crossed the finish line in 5:05.32 in the 1,500 meters, which was the fastest time in the state so far and approximately 7.5 seconds off of a qualifying "B" standard.
Another meeting "A" standard qualifying out of the gate was Isabelle Teh (pictured third from left), who won the pole vault with an early vault of 3.05 meters. It was good enough for the third best score in the state so far and crossed the "A" standard threshold of 3.0 meters.
Not to be outdone was Rachel Whitten (pictured far right), who won the high jump with a leap of 1.51 meters. Whitten's jump was the third best leap in the state so far and passed the "B" standard of 1.50 meters.
Saddleback was a force in the triple jump. Alongside Robinson were Whitten (10.80 m) and Chelsea Kerr (10.44 m), who finished second and fourth, respectively. Kerr also finished fourth in the long jump (4.68 m). Danielle Lister had two top-5 performances in throws events, finishing third in the shot put (10.78 m) and fourth in the hammer throw (35.5 m).
Saddleback will compete again on Saturday at the Soka University Invitational, with the throws events being held at Saddleback.