Davis and ‘Woodland United’: sports done right

Prep sports doesn’t get much better than this.

Called the Battle for the Spade, traditionally Woodland and Davis high schools have staged an annual dual track meet.

But this year, the Blue Devils embraced not only the Wolves, but Pioneer, Woodland Christian and Woodland Polytechnic in Wednesday’s cross-county competition.

It was Division I DHS against the four lower-level schools in a day of solid events, sportsmanship and kids pulling for one another.

When the final tally came down, the Devils out-pointed “Woodland United,” 224-74.

However, as the athletes and their parents trickled out into the parking lot, the reviews were unanimous …

“Excellent meet. We had a lot of fun,” Victor Ramirez, a parent of one Wolves runner, told The Enterprise. “Nice day for track and the kids all got along great.”

There was no division of girls and boys scores — and Davis took on the combined points of the four Woodland schools. In a couple of relay events, runners from different schools made up the teams in lanes adjacent to the Blue Devils.

“We’re trying to create a little tradition,” DHS coach Spencer Elliott said afterward. “We do that with them because we enjoy hanging out with them … (and) it’s a friendly rivalry. We enjoy competing with each other. We had a good time. Everyone supported each other.

“Overall, it was a great time.”

And there were some great performances, too …

Devil Kyle Clancy doubled in the high jump (5-10) and triple jump (41-06), while Nick Denton took the shot put (50-04) and discus (142-07) as the locals dominated the field events.

Spencer LaHaye’s 12-06 pole vault won that event and Kunwoo Hong went 19-01½ for first place in the long jump.

Davis distance dandy Jack Scranton was again solid.

Scranton went wire-to-wire in the 1,600-meter race, topping second-place teammate Brian Song by more than eight seconds (4:30.78 to 4:39.02). Then, in winning the 800, Scranton passed Pioneer’s Jose Aranda on the second lap and blazed home in 2:04.27 for the second leg of his double.

DHS’ Ian McKallip also doubled by winning the 110 (19.19) and 300 (45.20) hurdles.

Blake Croft nailed the 400 for the Devils, going around the track in 51.24.

Alexander McIntyre (11.71) nudged Woodland’s Devin Jones (12.02) in the 100, then went on to help Davis win both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays.

Sugal Sutter was brilliant in his front-running victory in the eight-lap 3,200. The local senior covered the ground in 10:24.44 — ahead of second-place Song’s 10:35.14.

Woodland boys swept the 200 as Jones blazed 24.04 to take first.

It was the only event DHS’ boys didn’t win.

On the girls side, what was considered by Elliott to be the frosh/soph 4×100 entry — Davis’ Joseena John, Isolde Pierce, Alaina King and Yrenly Yuan — won the event in 53.56.

Ellie Eaton (1:00.12) captured the 400, Han-ah Sumner took the 800 in 2:26.34 and Laney Teaford went 5:25.29 to win the 1,600. All three joined Liz Lee to roll home first in the 4×400 relay with a sparkling 4:06.96.

Blue Devil Sophie Meads’ 3,200 — in a combined race with the guys — was head and shoulders above the competition. Her 11:35.46 led all girls.

The Davis girls also were strong in the field events …

Zoe Hunt-Murray (32-03½) took the triple jump and finished second in the long jump. Cailtin Mazzoleni, a sophomore, again won the high jump (5-00) and Alicia Demaree took first in the shot put (28-3) and second in the discus.

Courtney Meyer (10-0) and Danielle Gantar (9-0) went 1-2 in the pole vault.

Next up for Davis is the Stanford Invitational March 29-30.

Notes: The DHS 4×400 team of Ben Salcedo, Maito Okamoto, McIntyre and Croft went 3:27.55, fast enough to qualify for the Arcadia Invitational in two weeks. Elliott called the meet “an event of national prominence” and teams must hit 3:28 or better to get an invite. Elliott isn’t sure if the Blue Devils will accept. … Ashton Kershner of Pioneer won both the girls 100- and 200-meter races and Woodland’s Melissa Mahoney doubled in the hurdles. … It was a landmark day for Woodland Poly’s Thomas Holcomb. He went 45-07½ in the shot put — good enough for second behind Denton. Poly is a second-year charter school that has classrooms at the Yolo County Fairgrounds. It has only 120 students.

— Reach Bruce Gallaudet at bgallaudet@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8047.