Recent personal bests and a pair of wins from a recent meet with Hughson High hopefully prepared Riverbank's varsity track and field programs for today's (May 12) Trans-Valley League championships at Modesto Junior College.
It's the first step in a busy postseason lineup that Riverbank Coach Monte Wood hopes will allow deep Bruin advancement in several individual events.
In the past week, Casey DeYoung was on the brink of setting a difficult personal best of 13 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault, but his pole struck the bar after his body had already soared past the barrier. He set a personal best in the 110 hurdles with a 16.9 second time in the meet as well.
Jorge Gomez set new personal bests with 400 and 200-meter wins against Hughson as well. Bruin female thrower Tempest Robertson tossed a new personal best of 88 feet, 10 inches in the shot put, despite a nagging illness that limited her mobility.
"We continue to have some really good results as most of our athletes continue to set personal records," coach Wood said. "We have started the process of peak phase in which our athletes are doing fewer reps, but the reps they do are fast."
The TVL championships will go down at 1 p.m. for field events today, while running events start at 4 p.m.
Wood said he expects his girls to battle Escalon and Ripon for title honors while the boys look to see another stiff run of events from Escalon.
The Cougar girls beat Riverbank in league action this year to represent the varsity program's only blemish on the regular season.
"It should be a really good meet for both girls and boys," Wood said.
A top-three placement from the TVL meet will earn athletes a bid to compete in the Division III Championships - also at MJC, on May 18 and 20. There, qualifiers will test their mettle against the best of 12 other leagues, including the larger Valley Oak League.
It's the first step in a busy postseason lineup that Riverbank Coach Monte Wood hopes will allow deep Bruin advancement in several individual events.
In the past week, Casey DeYoung was on the brink of setting a difficult personal best of 13 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault, but his pole struck the bar after his body had already soared past the barrier. He set a personal best in the 110 hurdles with a 16.9 second time in the meet as well.
Jorge Gomez set new personal bests with 400 and 200-meter wins against Hughson as well. Bruin female thrower Tempest Robertson tossed a new personal best of 88 feet, 10 inches in the shot put, despite a nagging illness that limited her mobility.
"We continue to have some really good results as most of our athletes continue to set personal records," coach Wood said. "We have started the process of peak phase in which our athletes are doing fewer reps, but the reps they do are fast."
The TVL championships will go down at 1 p.m. for field events today, while running events start at 4 p.m.
Wood said he expects his girls to battle Escalon and Ripon for title honors while the boys look to see another stiff run of events from Escalon.
The Cougar girls beat Riverbank in league action this year to represent the varsity program's only blemish on the regular season.
"It should be a really good meet for both girls and boys," Wood said.
A top-three placement from the TVL meet will earn athletes a bid to compete in the Division III Championships - also at MJC, on May 18 and 20. There, qualifiers will test their mettle against the best of 12 other leagues, including the larger Valley Oak League.
