Surovell wins his 400
CLOVIS -- Elliott Surovell knew he was going to need big helpings of guts and determination to accomplish anything at Friday's state meet trials at Buchanan High School. Surovell, a senior from Carlmont, knew he didn't have as much sheer sprinter's speed as some of the state's top 400-meter runners, so he was going to have to run the first 200 faster than anyone else and somehow avoid going into oxygen debt the second half of the race. Surovell, in lane eight, made up the stagger on the one runner outside of him. Running blind the rest of the way, he managed to hold on to first place in his heat in 47.73, a big improvement over his previous best of 48.53. "I ran scared all race in lane eight," Surovell said. "Knowing (state leader) Rashard Clark was in lane five really helped motivate me. That last 200 I held on for dear life." Surovell goes into Saturday's 400 final with the third-fastest qualifying time. Alex Rohani of Beverly Hills ran 47.53. Hanford's Isaiah Cantu ran 47.722. Another individual with a big personal-best was Westmoor junior Kylie Goo, who was clocked in 2:10.53 in the girls 800. Goo came in third behind Chico's Kody Atkins (2:08.54) and Templeton's Savannah Camacho (2:09.90) in a heat that was termed the fastest in state meet history by the meet announcer. Her previous-best was more than two seconds slower at 2:12.62. "If I'm lucky maybe I'll get on the podium," Goo said. "That was my goal for next year. I'll give it my best shot.'' Palo Alto's E.J. Floreal overcame a bad start with a strong finish in his heat of the 100, qualifying seventh for the final in 10.64, and then looked very impressive winning his 200 heat in 21.24. Floreal had the second-fastest qualifying time in the 200 behind Notre Dame's Khalfani Muhammad's 21.16. Floreal also anchored the Palo Alto 400 relay team, which ran 41.70 to qualify for the final. Mt. Pleasant's Cydney Leath qualified for her fourth consecutive state meet final by going 39 feet, 1?1/2 inches in the triple jump to place sixth in Friday's preliminaries. St. Francis' Micha Auzenne qualified in the girls 100 hurdles in 14.12 She just missed in the 100, running 11.95 for 11th place. Saturday's 100 hurdles final should be very fast with four qualifiers running under 14 seconds, led by Holy Names' Sasha Wallace at 13.40. Auzenne has a best of 13.99. Piedmont Hills freshman Timarya Baynard ran 55.10 in the girls 400, taking second in her heat and qualifying fourth. Teammate Ellisa Bryant was third in the same heat in 55.33 and qualified sixth overall. Baynard and Bryant got the Pirates off to a big lead in the 1,600 relay, a lead Alexandra Diaz maintained on the third leg. Bianca Bryant, running anchor, still had a 10-meter lead with about 50 meters to go and was on pace to shattering the CCS record when she slowed with a leg injury. She finished the race limping, second in the heat, qualifying for the final in 3:50.30. Wilcox's Ricky Strehlow qualified in the boys triple jump, eighth of nine qualifiers at 47-2. Mountain View's Brielle Rowe qualified sixth in the girls discus at 133-5. Presentation's Taylore Jaques and Homestead's Rachel Bolton both qualified in the girls pole vault by clearing 12-2?3/4. St. Francis' Cody Bickham was fifth in the boys discus at 177-10.