Gridley Track and Field’s AnaGloria Luevano stands at 1st place on the podium, taking the NSCIF championship for the 300m hurdles. Photo provided by Jaime Luevano

GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - Gridley High School Track and Field is wrapping its season up with multiple athletes competing at the NS-CIF Finals and one moving on to the CIF State Track and Field Championships Memorial Day weekend.

The Butte View League (BVL) Track and Field season began in mid-February, but due to a wet spring, was delayed until mid-March. Gridley High would take on area high schools from Corning, Las Plumas, Orland, and Oroville at five different invitationals over the past few months.

Gridley’s Matthew Miskin proudly displays his fourth-place medal at the NSCIF T&F championships. Photo provided by Jamie Luevano

GHS T&F Coach Jaime Luevano reports that 11 of his athletes earned 17 individual “league champion” titles during the season. BVL Champions include varsity boys Brian Brown in the high jump, Shmaas Khan in the 110m hurdles and 300m hurdles, and Valentin Sanchez Jr. in the 800m, 1600m and 3200m. Varsity girls Sidney Allard would excel in the long jump and triple jump and AnaGloria Estrella Luevano in the 100m hurdle and 300m hurdle.

Gridley’s Shmaas Khan competed at both the BVL Championships and Div 2 Championships, placing in both. Photo provided by Jamie Luevano

JV boys would do well, with Angelo Garcia taking the championship in discus and Miguel Para Gomez securing the title in the 300m hurdles.

For JV girls, Monet Emmick would place in the 4x400, Sophia Moran in the 800m and 4x400, Aubrey Quist in the 200m and 4x400 and Yalany Romo in the 300m hurdle and 4x400 championships.

Coach Luevano told the Herald that he had 44 Bulldogs compete at the BVL Championships May 2 at Harrison Stadium in Oroville, with 31 of the 44 moving on to compete at Division II Championships in Yreka May 9.

Division II Championships would go well for Allard, Luevano, Quist, Romo and Khan. Allard, Luevano and Khan would automatically qualify for the NS-CIF Finals at West Valley High School, Cottonwood, on May 17. They were joined by Bulldogs Brian Brown (high jump) and Matther Miskin (110m).

At Division II Allard would be named D2 Champion in the long jump and triple jump. Luevano would be recognized as dual champion for her events, the 100m hurdle and 300m hurdle. Quist would join her teammates as dual champion in the 100m and 200m races, with Khan securing the championship for the 110m hurdle and 300m hurdles.

After a season of hard work, Luevano would take five athletes to the NS-CIF Finals at West Valley High School in Cottonwood, Friday May 17. Allard placed fifth in both long jump and triple jump (her fourth section appearance in four years), Brown third in the high jump (his second section appearance in four years), Khan placing third in both the HJ, 110m hurdles and 300m hurdles (sixth section appearance in four years). Luevano placed eighth in the 100m hurdles and first-place in the 300m hurdles (sixth section appearance in three years).

Luevano has the distinction of being the defending, back-to-back NSCIF Section Champion.

Coach Luevano says that the “Athletes who earned an opportunity to compete at the Section Finals join an exclusive group of former Bulldogs to make it this far into the postseason” and an even more exclusive group is being “last female track and field athlete from GHS to win consecutive Section Championships and a State Qualifier status was 1979-1980’s Leslie Deniz.”

Luevano wrapped up her season at the 104th CIF State Track & Field Championships held this Memorial weekend at Buchanan High School- Veterans’ Memorial Stadium in Clovis, Ca. Improving on her time from last year's state appearance, Luevano was “proud to have made it back one more time and be one of the top 27 in CA.” Luevano plans on attending Yuba College and continue competing in basketball, track & field.

Coach Luevano said this year was a special year saying, “It’s been such an amazing adventure coaching my youngest daughter and seeing her excel in sports she loves.” Luevano went on to say “The future of Track & Field is bright at GHS. The “Work Hard…Play Hard” energy is what drives the team to reach their goals. What a great day to be a Bulldog!”