Buhach Colony’s Eastman third in high jump at Sac-Joaquin Section D-I finals

Stephon Eastman had a tough time overcoming his nerves.

The Buhach Colony senior tried everything he could to relax during the high jump at Friday’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championships at Elk Grove High School on Friday.

“I was nervous before the competition started,” Eastman said. “I was nervous at every height. My heart would start racing every time it was my turn to jump. Normally, I’m able to breathe in and breathe out to help me relax before a jump, but I was so nervous it wasn’t helping.”

Eastman battled through the nerves to finish third with a leap of 6-feet, 6 inches, which tied his personal best. The top 12 from each event qualified for next week’s Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Meet.

“I felt pretty good with what I did,” Eastman said. “I had to deal with a little achy heel and I still got 6-6 pretty easily. Nothing clicked when I tried 6-7. My technique was kind of dead at that point.”

Thunder teammate Barbara Coward also placed third in the discus with a throw of 122-2.

Coward advanced despite battling a groin injury.

“I just wanted to make it through and qualify for next week,” Coward said. “I wanted to take it easy today.”

Merced junior Denise Bates finished fourth in the discus, one inch behind Coward at 122-1.

Bears junior Daniel Ambriz finished second in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4 minutes, 17.66 seconds. Ambriz set the pace, running out to the lead for the first two laps. Davis’ Ben Roberts took the lead in the third turn of lap three and finished first with a time of 4:12.59.

“My first lap was 1:02 and I knew these guys wouldn’t want to run that fast,” Ambriz said. “I wanted to be out in front, but (Roberts) got me at the end. I thought he would die, but he didn’t die.”

Ambriz’s time was a personal best. During the season, Ambriz also ran the 800 and 3,200. For the rest of this season he can focus on the 1,600.

“That helps,” he said. “I felt good the whole race. When (Roberts) passed me, I didn’t realize he was going that fast. I tried to catch up but it was already too late.”

Other top performances include:

▪ The Merced boys 4x100 relay team of Jair Pena, Jamar Turner, Brandon McKinney and Ashanti McFarland placed fourth with a time of 42.83 seconds. The Golden Valley team of Brandon Reyes, Alexander Salas, Nick Lemas and Shawn Bettencourt (43.42) qualified 12th.

▪ Turner finished sixth in the 300 hurdles (40.10) and teammate Ashanti McFarland placed eighth in the 100 (11.15).

▪ Atwater’s Alex Vargas finished eighth in the 800 (1:59.25).

This story was originally published May 22, 2015 at 9:51 PM with the headline "Buhach Colony’s Eastman third in high jump at Sac-Joaquin Section D-I finals."