Photo By Liam Nevin

Volleyball

The boys’ volleyball team defeated Del Oro in straight sets May 11 to win the Sacramento-San Joaquin Section championship.  

Undefeated Capital Athletic League champions, the team has had an incredible streak of winning 45 straight sets in their past 15 games, not losing a single set in their playoff run.

 They hosted Campolindo High School on May 14 to begin the Northern California tournament. 

“I’m so happy that our hard work paid off,” junior libero David McCarl said. “After losing in the semifinals last year we knew we had to come back stronger. We are all good friends so we have good bonding.”

The team benefited from the return of senior Shane Newberry after a long illness. Seniors Joey Thalken and Grayson Albers dominated as outside hitters.

The team opened the NorCal tournament as a No. 2 seed hosting Campolindo High School of Moraga.

Other members of the championship team include: Harper Gardner, Crew Burke, Deniz Kahn Sancak, Sean Sullivan, Brady Silliman, Deniz Kahn Sancak, Sean Sullivan, Brady Silliman, Chase McQuoid, Dylan Newberry, Tony Bierwirth and Jaxson Vidana.

Swim and Dive

Girls and boys teams repeated as Capital Athletic League champions. 

Seniors Charlie Franz and Lucas Lehrer excelled in CIF State Swim and Dive Championships in Clovis in early May, and both came away with great individual efforts. 

 Lehrer finished 16th in California in the 1-meter dive. He will be diving for Cal Poly SLO next year. He was also named Rio’s Athlete of the Month for April.

 Franz finished second in the state in the 500 free with a time of 4:23:98. He will be swimming next year at UC San Diego.

Track and Field 

The Rio track and field team had a great showing at the Sac-Joaquin Section D-III championships in Vacaville earlier this month with the girls’ team placing second overall.

The 4×800 relay team took the gold setting new school and section records with a time of 9:36.

Relay team members are Avery Popejoy, Dalilah Oaks, Josie Parod and Summer Doyle.

 Doyle also took third in the 800 meters with a season-best time of 2:17.57.

 Alia Hard qualified for masters in the 100 meters and 200 meters. Her 100-meter time of 12.15 set a school record. Her time of 25.98 in the 200 meters is No. 2 in the Rio record books.

Luna Young set a school record in the 200 meters with a time of 25.90.

 The 4×100 team finished second and just missed their own school record by a 100th of a second with a time of 48.74. Team members are Zoe Prince, Hannah Hopkins Young and Hard.

Popejoy took fourth in the 400 meters with 1:00.19, second in the school record books.

In field events, Areyana Francies took fourth in discus with a huge PR with a throw of 110 feet 2 inches.

 The 4×400 relay team placed third and set a Rio Americano school record with a time of 4:02.50. This beat the previous record of  4:10.47, which the team set two days earlier. Team members are Popejoy, Oaks, Parod and Doyle.

All these athletes qualified for Masters May 18 at Davis High School.

Top boy performers included Preston Lawson with a PR time of 2:02:48 in the 800 meters. Cyrus Justiniani led the team in the 1600 and 3200 meters. Cameron Smith was finalist in the 100 meters with a time of 10.99 and Ethan Sorroza-Stetson had a PR with a time of 11.19.

 In field events, Chase Dinaburg took silver in discus with a throw of 156 feet.

 The 4×400 relay team placed fourth. Team members are Santiago Martinez, Alex Hamilton, Cameron Smith and Sorroza-Stetson.

Tennis

The boys’ tennis team finished third in the Capital Athletic League and made it to the second round of the section tournament. Competing individually, Bryce Kagan advanced until losing his match on May 13.

Golf

 Landon Abalateo shot a 67 (-5) to win Masters and qualify for NorCal finals as an individual. 

The boys team was runner up in League and Sections. 

Albalateo was pleased with his performance desipte tough conditions.

“The wind was blowing pretty hard, but I managed to play through and secure the win,” he said.