By Cameron Cowling, Clarion Staff

The Kennedy track & field team competed successfully against six other high schools Sacramento Metro League finals on May 12 at Burbank High School. In what turned out to be a marathon meet (more than five hours), varsity boys and girls placed a close second to McClatchy.   The varsity girls’ second place finish ends Kennedy’s 4-year streak of winning the girl’s championship.

Kennedy Varsity boys finished second by a very slim margin, a two point difference which was disputed by Kennedy.  Frosh-Soph boys won a decisive first place for the second straight year.

As it often happens in school teams, many of the athletes age out of high school and make room for underclass mates to step up.  Fortunately, there are lots of sophomores, an advantage that makes head coach John Gallen believe, “We should be really good next year.”  The boy’s 4×400 relay team is ranked 5th in the state, and is only half a second away from the school record set in 1986.  Overall, the team is, in Gallen’s words, “improving really fast and looking forward for a strong 2018.”

Kennedy’s track season ended on May 27 in Elk Grove at the Master’s Finals where Cougars needed to finish third to advance to the CIF State Meet.  Kennedy ended the evening with two 4th place finishes.   Corey Lyons ran impressively in the 400, finishing 4th and setting a personal record at 48.69.   The 4×400 relay team of Corey Lyons, Andre Davis, Damaris Burt and Kyle Matthews also finished 4th by .03 of second.

Coach Gallen believes the current team with relatively few seniors indicates a strong season ahead as the Kennedy track athletes are like to grow and improve competitvely in 2018 season.

Congratulations to the following Kennedy Metro league track & field champions in their perspective events:

Damaris Burt, Boy’s Varsity 100m, 200m, and Long Jump

Jonny Apodaca, Boy’s Frosh-Soph 200m

Corey Lyons, Boy’s Varsity 400m and 4×400 Relay

Jonathan Hunter, Boy’s Varsity 110m Hurdles – 39”, 300m Hurdles – 36″, and High Jump

Ulysses Figueroa, Boy’s Frosh-Soph 110m Hurdles – 39”

Kyle Matthews, Boy’s Varsity 4×400 Relay

Andre Davis, Boy’s Varsity 4×400 Relay

Nelson Poon, Boy’s Varsity 4×400 Relay

Adreon Walker, Boy’s Frosh-Soph 4×400 Relay

Chy Ly, Boy’s Frosh-Soph 4×400 Relay

Dorien Roberts, Boy’s Frosh-Soph 4×400 Relay

Noah Cantero, Boy’s Frosh-Soph 4×400 Relay

Jaden Cummings, Boy’s Varsity High Jump

Lucas Matsuura, Boy’s Frosh-Soph High Jump and Triple Jump

Andrew Hunsaker, Boy’s Frosh-Soph Pole Vault

Serentena Rositani, Girl’s Long Jump