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Last year, Lynbrook's hopes for a section title in the 400-meter relay were dashed in the semifinals when Garrick Wong was penalized for a false start. The Vikings put that disappointment behind them Friday, setting a school record and logging the Central Coast Section's top time of the season in the event, 41.79 seconds, to win the championship.
``We had a lot more maturity on the team after what happened last year,'' said Wong, who ran the anchor leg Friday at San Jose City College. ``We just seemed to be a lot more focused.''
Justin Teng opened a lead and passed the baton to Durrell Roberts, who kept up the pace. Taimur Khan followed with an impressive split, giving Wong a substantial cushion as Lynbrook defeated Oak Grove (42.24) and North Salinas (42.49).
Khan followed that race by dusting the field in the 400 with a section-best 48.38 seconds. He also finished fourth in the 200 (21.94) and anchored the 1,600 relay team to a second-place finish.
It was the last high school meet for Khan, who will miss the state meet in Sacramento so that he can take the SAT II test.
``CCS has been the goal for our team all year; it's more important than state is for us,'' said Khan, who will be replaced by Chris Deal on the 400 relay team next weekend. ``It's been an amazing day. We knew we could do well, but to be on the podium after each race has been the ultimate thrill.''
The top three finishers in each event, as well as those who meet qualifying standards, make the field for the state meet.
North Salinas sprinter Ronnie Drummer triumphed in the 100 and the 200 for the second consecutive year, winning easily in both. In the 100, he ran a 10.55, the second-best time in the state. He pulled away from the pack on the turn in the 200, finishing in 21.47.
Jeremy Mineau of Menlo-Atherton repeated in the 3,200 and set a CCS-meet record with a time of 9 minutes, 1.54 seconds (Note: It is not a record. The 9:01.6 run by MacMitchell of Gunn in '73 was for 2 miles - the converted 3200 time is 8:58.60 for record purposes. Ed.). That is the second-best time in California this year, and it led a pack of six runners who eclipsed the state qualifying standard of 9:12.04.
Aptos' Jacob Evans (4:15) successfully defended his title in the 1,600, holding off Menlo-Atherton's Evan Anderson (4:15.73), but in the 800, the defending champion finished fourth. Francis Gadayan of Archbishop Riordan edged Pioneer's Sean Lopes for the title.
Chris Little of Los Gatos won the pole vault, clearing 15 feet, for his first CCS title. Greenfield's Joel Tuosto won the triple jump (48 feet, 9 1/2 inches) and took third in the long jump (22-10 1/2).
Santa Clara won the team title, the first in school history. The Bruins were led by Scott Robinson, who won the 100 hurdles and finished third in the 300 intermediate hurdles, and Mike Evans, who placed third in high jump. Both athletes ran legs in the 1,600 relay (third place) and the 400 relay (fifth place).
With a field that boasted runners with five of the top seven times in California, the girls 800-meter final at the Central Coast Section track and field championships might have been a preview of next weekend's state meet.
In a close race Friday at San Jose City College that turned in the state's top two times, Christine Whalen of Archbishop Mitty won in 2 minutes, 10.85 seconds, making her move on the final turn before passing Libby Jenke of Menlo School on the homestretch. Saratoga's Alicia Follmar also passed Jenke to finish second in 2:10.99. Jenke wound up third in 2:12.39.
The top three finishers in each event automatically qualified for the state meet in Sacramento.
``I knew the winner would have to go under 2:11 because of all the competition,'' said Whalen, who maintained her position as the state leader in the 800. ``I was hoping it would be me. I'm really excited it was.''
Jenke went out early and led the pack by about 15 meters after one lap. But Whalen and Follmar drew closer and passed Jenke, and Whalen eventually held off Follmar at the finish line.
``I could see her shadow in the last stretch,'' Whalen said. ``If I didn't have her there, there's no way I would have gone under 2:11.''
Follmar got back to winning in the 1,600, capturing her second consecutive section title with a time of 4:53.88.
There were several other outstanding individual performances, including from Allie Miller of Los Altos, the only athlete to win three individual events: the high jump, the 100 hurdles and the 300 hurdles. Galina Becker of Mt. Pleasant won the long jump, improving upon her section-leading mark, and the triple jump.
``I'm extremely pleased,'' Miller said. ``I feel like I've come full circle.''
Miller and Becker, the only girls to win multiple events, entered the 100 hurdles with the top times in the CCS, but they did not square off. Becker, the defending section champion, was disqualified after a false start, and Miller won in a section-best 14.77 seconds.
``I knew she'd be on my tail the whole time,'' Miller said. ``When she got disqualified I was actually disappointed, because she's a great competitor.''
Miller also heads a group of seven CCS athletes who cleared the qualifying mark for the state meet in the high jump, 5 feet, 4 inches. Miller defended her section title, clearing 5-8. Chelsea Huff of Aptos and Amber Kaufman of Branham both cleared 5-6.
Those seven could find themselves in the most-crowded event next weekend. Entering the CCS meet, 66 athletes statewide had jumped 5-4 or better. In order to advance, athletes must meet that mark at the section finals.
SAN JOSE � Julie Dufresne felt it.
Judging from the looks on their faces, her opponents did too.
The other shot putters shook their heads and smirked in awe, and Dufresne let loose a little smile herself after watching her throw travel 42 feet, ½ inch at the Central Coast Section track and field finals Friday night at San Jose City College.
"When I was throwing the 42 (foot throw), I was like, ‘That’s it, this is the one,’" Dufresne said.
The throw � more than 2 feet farther than her nearest competitor’s � not only won the event, but helped her set personal and Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League records with the 4-kilogram ball. Combined with her second-place finish in the girls discus, it also gave Dufresne her second state-qualifying place of the day. She went 126-6 in the discus, trailing Fremont’s Kelly Bushnell, who threw 130-7.
Dufresne wasn’t the only one feeling it Friday, and she wasn’t the only girl to set a school or county record. In all, five school records fell and three girls qualified for state in five events.
Chelsea Huff of Aptos was literally flying high. She cleared every one of her high jump attempts between 5 feet and 5-4 on the first attempt. Then she did one better by getting over the 5-6 bar to finish second. She set a school record and tied the SCCAL’s best mark, last set by San Lorenzo Valley’s Joni Martin in 1976.
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Huff could relax after hitting 5-4 because that was the state at-large height. Every girl who cleared it could move on to state, and Friday a CCS-record seven girls got the job done.
Huff didn’t stop there, though. She carried her adrenaline over to the triple jump where she set another school record with a leap of 37-4¾ and placed third, also enough for a state berth.
On the track, Corey Sheredy didn’t quite catch her coach and the time that has driven her since she started running the 300 hurdles, but she did grab a state berth.
Sheredy, a senior at SLV, crossed second in the event in 44.55 seconds � one place ahead of where she finished last year � but still .11 seconds slower than her coach Carey Carver ran before she graduated from Harbor.
The discrepancy didn’t seem to bother Sheredy much, though. After all, she has at least one more race to make her goal.
"I’m pretty happy with that," she said. "Last year’s run was an awful race. This is the opposite." For all the SCCAL girls who qualified, just as many came within a few inches. Harbor’s Ricki Sullivan, Aptos’ Jessica Vanausdall and the Scotts Valley 4x400 relay team just missed qualifying places.
In Sullivan’s case, qualifying in the long jump was a mere quarter-inch away.
"The most disappointing thing is that I’m a quarter of an inch away from going," Sullivan, a junior, said. "But I did get a new school record, and I had a lot of fun tonight."
Vanausdall came nearly as close in the 1,600. She hung with some of the fastest runners in the state until the final 200, when the three other girls in the lead pack broke, leaving the Aptos runner to finish fifth in 5:04.79. SLV junior Stephanie Hamilton finished 10th in 5:14.54.
The Falcons’ team of Sheredy, Brieanna Wright, Julia Scott and Julia Thomas finished fifth in the relay in 4:01.88, 1.61 seconds out of third. SLV’s team of Sophia Case-Gabbard, Kelly Long, Kelli Deane and Erica Zumbahlen took eighth in 4:07.55.
In other SCCAL results: Soquel’s Natasha Barthel tied for sixth in the pole vault (10-6), Aptos’ sophomore Meghan Hunt took eighth in the 3,200 (11:13.26), and Wright placed seventh in the 400 (58.15) and Marie Pink placed sixth in the discus (109-5) for Scotts Valley.
Though Harbor had just two competitors � Dufresne and Sullivan � competing Friday, the school finished as the league’s top placer in the team standings. The Pirates placed eighth overall with 22 points. Aptos came in ninth with 18 points and Scotts Valley placed 15th with 11 points.
For the three qualifiers, the state meet will be next Friday and Saturday at Sacramento City College. And they’re looking forward it. Sort of.
"It could be pretty intimidating scary," Dufresne said. "It’s the big state meet."
Contact Julie Jag at [email protected].
SAN JOSE — A three-day weekend couldn’t have come at a better time for Aptos High’s Jacob Evans.
With a tired smile on his face after finishing the 1,600- and 800-meter races, the senior distance runner was almost as excited about getting some extra rest this weekend as he was about winning his second consecutive Central Coast Section 1,600 title.
With a pesky cold still lingering in his system, Evans won the mile race in 4 minutes 15 seconds Friday at San Jose City College to lock up a spot in the CIF State Track and Field Championships.
The top three finishers in each event and anyone who meets a pre-set state-qualifying mark, advance to the state meet, which will be held Friday and Saturday June 4-5 at Sacramento City College.
Santa Cruz’s Pete Van Sant and San Lorenzo Valley’s Alex Dunn also qualified for the state meet, with Van Sant winning the long jump in 23-feet-4¼ and Dunn taking second in the 3,200 in 9:04.66.
"I’ve been sick all week," said Evans, who also finished fourth in the 800, an event which he won last year. "I thought I would feel better. But I’m not disappointed (about not winning the 800). ... The mile drained me. I didn’t feel good at all. I’ve had a pretty bad cold. I guess I needed a few more days off."
Evans wasn’t the only one who had a long day.
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Van Sant started the afternoon off by running a leg of the Cardinals’ 4x100 relay, followed by the long jump and then the Cardinals’ 4x400.
"It was a lot easier than it’s been in the past," Van Sant said of juggling multiple events. "The 4x100 is usually in the middle of the long jump, but today I was able to rest and recuperate."
Both of Santa Cruz’s relays finished sixth, the 4x100 in 43.03 and the 4x400 in 3:26.66.
Though Van Sant accomplished his goal of moving on to the state meet in the long jump, he was disappointed that he wouldn’t get to keep racing with his Cardinal teammates.
"I was happy earlier (after winning the long jump), but the relays are a lot more fun because you rely on the others’ energy," the Santa Cruz senior said. "When you get depressed, everyone gets depressed. It’s a cumulative thing, I guess. I’m sad because it’s the last time I’ll get to run with Michael Frye. We’ve been running together for the past two years."
Young, on the other hand, didn’t get a break between his events. While he was in the thick of the pole vault competition, Young had to get going in the high jump. As if that wasn’t stressful enough, the Mariner was dealing with a back injury he’d incurred at the CCS semifinals last week.
Young ended up in a four-way tie for third in the high jump (6-2) and a two-way tie for seventh in the pole vault (13-0). Santa Clara’s Mike Evans earned the third state-meet berth in the high jump.
"I practiced once all week," Young said after he’d finished both events. "My back is killing me. It was a good season overall. It’s not how I wanted to go out, but I’m thankful to be here."
The CCS is known for producing some of the state’s top distance runners, and that was clearly evident in the 3,200 race. Dunn locked up an automatic bid to the state meet by taking second, but the top six runners finished under the state-meet qualifying time of 9:12. It is the first time that the CCS has sent six runners to the state meet in a running event.
Also competing in the finals was SLV’s Tony Garay. He ran a strong race in the 400 and was beat out by Sacred Heart’s David Jackson for third place. Garay finished in 50.32, while Jackson finished in 49.64. Aptos’ Justin Peck, who placed sixth in the 300 hurdles in 40.33. In the 1,600, Harbor’s Darren Mattinson took eighth (4:28.32) and Soquel’s Wes Davison finished 10th (4:37.50).
Evans’ time in the 800 was 1:56.
Santa Clara won the boys title with 40 points followed by Lynbrook (32) and St. Francis (30.50). Aptos was in a three-way tie for 10th with 17 points. Santa Cruz and SLV finished in a three-way tied for 15th with 12 points.
Contact Christina Teller at
[email protected].
The impressive thing about Archbishop Mitty High's Christine
Whalen's victory in the girls 800 meters on Friday at the Central Coast
Section championships probably wasn't her winning time of 2 minutes, 10.85
seconds. It might have been the fact the state's best time came after Whalen
ran across the field at San Jose City College to get the spikes of teammate
Lauren Curtis, who had just finished fifth in the girls 100.
Whalen's spikes were stolen earlier this season. So she started borrowing
those of Curtis, who is a teammate in soccer as well. Whalen continued to win
so the pair turned the sharing of the shoes into a ritual. With the 800 right
after the 100 in the standard track schedule, Curtis runs her race, and then
Whalen retrieves the spikes. After Whalen runs, Curtis comes over and removes
the spikes from Whalen's feet.
On Friday, Curtis was doing her work while Whalen was telling a group of
reporters what it's like to run the fastest time in California.
"I'm pretty excited," Whalen said. "My goal was to get into the 2:10s."
Whalen took control of the race on the backstretch, surging ahead of the
field. Only Saratoga's Alicia Follmar had enough to challenge Whalen. Follmar
closed in the stretch but came up short, finishing in 2:10.99, also a personal
best.
"I was pretty confident I'd be able to hold them off until the last 50,"
Whalen said. "I was getting tired at the end. I could see (Follmar's) shadow
in the last stretch. I couldn't have run under 2:11 without her."
At next week's California Interscholastic Federation championships at
Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, Whalen will likely have to run without either
Curtis or Follmar. Curtis failed to advance to the state meet and will have to
cheer from the stands. Follmar, the defending state champion in the 1,600,
will likely drop the 800. She won her specialty in 4:53.88 on Friday.
Friday's surprise triple-winner was Los Altos' Allie Miller. She won the
high jump at 5-8, tying her season-best. She then won the 100 hurdles in a
personal best of 14.77 and came back to win the 300 hurdles in 44.17. She came
up short in the triple jump, finishing fourth at 36-9 3/4 .
"I'm really extremely pleased," Miller said. "I've come full circle. I'm
really glad I won all three of my strong events."
Miller caught a huge break in the 100 hurdles when defending champion
Galina Becker of Mt. Pleasant was called for a false start and disqualified.
The pair ranked 1-2 (Miller's 15.08 to Becker's 15.09) in the CCS entering the
meet. However, Becker ran 14.42 at last year's state meet.
"I came in thinking we would push each other," Miller said.
The top three finishers in each event plus those who made the CIF's
qualifying standard all qualified for the state meet. Seven girls in the high
jump made the mark of 5-4.
The boys produced a couple of top marks also. North Salinas' Ronnie
Brummer won the 100 in 10.55. He came back to win the 200 in 21.47.
Menlo-Atherton's Jeremy Mineau won the boys 3,200 in 9:01.54, second-best
in the state this year and a meet record. Six runners broke 9:12.4, the time
needed to qualify for the state meet.