Freedom's boys and girls track and field teams earned big wins recently over Antioch. The boys defeated the Panthers 81-54 to improve to 2-3 in dual meets, while the girls won 73-58 to move their record to 4-1 despite the absence of a few key athletes.

The Falcons also enjoyed a very solid showing at Saturday's Phillips-McCain Invitational held at Campolindo High School in Moraga. Both varsity squads finished sixth out of 24 teams and the boys soph-frosh team finished third, setting five new school records in the process.

"For the boys, it was a must-win meet for us, giving us a chance to get above .500 next week with a double dual against Liberty and Heritage," Falcon head coach Nate Smith said of his teams' big wins over Antioch. "For the girls, the win sets up a pivotal dual meet with Liberty next week. Our only loss is to Deer Valley, while (Liberty's) only two losses are to Deer Valley and Carondelet, whom we go against our last week. Our girls can finish in the top three in the league during the dual meet portion of our season for the first time in school history with a win over Liberty next week."

Diondre Borel and Hunter Simpson had fantastic showings against Antioch, continuing the torrid pace they've set this season by claiming a pair of first-place finishes apiece.

Borel needed just one jump in both the long jump and triple jump to capture first in the events. His mark in the long jump of 21 feet, 2 inches broke Kevin Williams' previous school record of 21 feet set last season. Borel followed up the outstanding performance by setting a new school record in the triple jump Saturday with his mark of 42 feet, 7.5 inches.

Simpson won the pole vault with a height of 10 feet, 6 inches and took first in the high jump with an impressive leap of an even 6 feet. Simpson recorded another 6-foot high jump on Saturday and narrowly missed breaking the school record with his final two jumps of the day.

Other event winners for the boys against Antioch included Kevin Johnston in the 110-meter hurdles, Alfredo Sanchez-Whigham in the 400 meters, and Cody Huggans in the 100 meters. The Falcons enjoyed event sweeps in the long jump, high jump, pole vault, 100 meters, and 110-meter hurdles, as well as victories in both relay events.

Dante Dimercurio set a new school record in the pole vault Saturday, clearing 11 feet, and the boys varsity 4x200 relay team of Harvey Burks, Cliff Murray, Jeff Gonzales, and Cody Huggans turned in a new school-record time of 1 minute, 36.31 seconds.

Aimee Rodgers and Hina Kaleialii were both double winners for the girls on Wednesday, as Rodgers won the 100-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles, and Kaleialii won both the discus and the shot put. Kaleialii's mark of 31 feet, ½ inch in the shot was a personal best.

Other event winners for the girls included Khaliah Jackson in the 400 meters, Katie Rounds in the high jump, Kortnee Wiley in the pole vault and Caitlin Thomason in the triple jump. At Saturday's invitational, Thomason shattered her previous personal-best mark of 31 feet, 4 inches set on Wednesday, jumping 33 feet, 3 inches to set a new school record. Freedom earned impressive event sweeps in the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, and the triple jump, and won the 4x100-meter relay.

The 4x200 relay team of Jordan Glass, Maria Curiel, Sarah Ahlf and Rodgers also broke their own school record from last year on Saturday, posting a time of 1:50.52.

The Falcons hosted Liberty and Heritage in a double dual meet on Wednesday after the Oakley Press went to print. On May 2 the team hosts Carondelet and De La Salle at 3:30 p.m.

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