Livingston’s Perez blazes her way to three WAC titles

Daisy Perez wasn’t going to let the heat discourage her from competing in her normal four events. The Livingston High senior was determined to enjoy her last conference meet.

After winning three individual titles, it’s safe to see the Wolves’ long distance star had fun.

Perez won the 800-, 1600- and 3200-meter runs at the Western Athletic Conference Championships at Veterans Stadium at Golden Valley High on Thursday afternoon.

“I wanted to do the events I love,” said Perez, who also helped the Livingston 4x400 relay team qualify for next week’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV/V Meet at Stanislaus State University. “Yeah, doing all four events is hard. But if you get your rest and stretch in between, you’ll be fine.

“I just wanted to go all out and do the events I trained for. I want to move on to divisionals and go on from there.”

The top three finishers in each event on Thursday qualified for the Division IV/V meet.

Perez started the day by posting a career best mark in the 1600 with a time of 5 minutes, 30.01 seconds. She also had impressive times in the 800 (2:28.50) and 3200 (12:50.73).

“The (1600) time was unexpected,” Perez said. “It’s hot. It hasn’t been this hot all season.”

Livingston boys sprinter Abhishek Singh also worked overtime, competing in four events and taking home three individual titles. Singh won the 100 (11.31 seconds), 200 (23.11) and the 400 (52.38). Singh also teamed up with Grayson Austin, Noah Guerra and Salomon Ramos to win the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:33.65.

Guerra also won an individual title with a win in the 300 hurdles, with a personal best time of 41.61 seconds.

“I finally did it,” Guerra said. “I want to get at least a 41 flat. I feel I can get it at divisionals where there is a lot more competition. I’m trying to work my way to Masters. I know I can do it. I just have to put all my energy and effort into it.”

With both shins and a hamstring wrapped, Pacheco’s Alondra Juarez was still able to pull away for the 100-meter dash victory with a time of 13.29 seconds.

Injuries kept Juarez sidelined most of her sophomore season.

The Panthers junior has been healthy this year, until this week when she felt pain in her shins.

“My hamstring has been bothering me and I’ve had really bad shin splints,” Juarez said. “At first, I just thought I was sore from practice, but when the pain didn’t go away I knew something was bothering me.”

Juarez teamed with Pacheco’s Isabella Hill, Jessica Hill and Aleya Garcia to win the 4x100 relay (52.62) and the 4x400 relay (4:21.46).

Los Banos’ Mikayla Akers took home titles in the 200 (26.93) and the 400 (1:00.08) and Livingston’s Tina Lao won the discus (117 feet) and the shot put (36-7).

Central Valley’s Mahogany Simon swept the hurdles for the girls with wins in the 100 hurdles (16.71) and 300 hurdles (49.30). Patterson’s Thomas Virgen also won two events with victories in the 1600 (4:39.22) and 3200 (10:30.57)

Other local highlights from the meet include:

▪  El Capitan sophomore Dominique Navarette won the boys discus with a throw of 162 feet and 9 inches.

▪  Livingston’s Alexis Medeiros won the girls pole vault by clearing 7 feet, 6 inches.

▪  El Capitan junior Courtney Volk cleared a height of 5 feet to win the girls high jump.

▪  Gauchos junior Jalin Wiggins won the triple jump with a mark of 44 feet, 4 inches.

▪  El Capitan’s Zi Lin Li won the girls long jump with a leap of 15 feet, 8 inches.

The Division IV/V meet trials will begin on Tuesday at 3 p.m. with the finals scheduled to start on Thursday at 3 p.m.

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 11:36 AM with the headline "Livingston’s Perez blazes her way to three WAC titles."