By: CAMERON ASHFORD
Staff Writer
Last Friday marked a very important meet for some of the top teams in Tulare County. For a couple of years, Mt Whitney High School has postponed their Valley famous “Pioneer Invitational” due to the negative effects of COVID-19. Luckily for this year’s track stars, the Pioneer Invitational was put back on the roadmap for this special track season. In the past, the Pioneer Invitational was actually called the “Pioneer Relays.” With the relay title being added to the catchy name of the meet, this particular meet grew very popular in the Central Valley. Flash forward to about 20-30 years later and the Pioneer Invitational hosts a tallied meet containing some of the finest track athletes around. This year the invitational consisted of Mt Whitney, El Diamante, Golden West, Tulare Western, and Exeter Union. These teams were specifically chosen by Mt Whitney’s head coach to represent the top teams within the East Yosemite and West Yosemite divisions. The stakes were high and every team was eager to see if they could top the boards. The team scores and placing for the Varsity Men’s division included El Diamante(157), Mt Whitney(123.5), Tulare Western(119), Golden West(110.5), and Exeter Union(57). The team scores and placing for the Varsity Women’s division included El Diamante(169), Golden West(135.5), Tulare Western(120.5), Exeter Union(76), and Mt Whitney(36). With these scores being both published and represented, the El Diamante Track Team walked away with another big win for the season.