Ben Sitler of St. Francis was trying to accomplish a double that hadn't been achieved in 21 years -- winning the 1,600 meters and the 3,200 meters at the Central Coast Section finals Friday.
The Princeton-bound senior had two hours and 10 minutes to catch his breath after the 1,600, but he wasn't even winded after winning with a time of 4:15.06. Sitler came back to dominate in the 3,200, beating Alisal sophomore Diego Estrada by more than five seconds with a time of 9:13.99 at San Jose City College.
Sitler's double was the first since Leigh's John Domingue won both races in 1985, but he was more excited about the fact that he helped the Lancers win the first CCS meet in school history.
``It was a little windy, but I felt pretty good in both my races tonight,'' said Sitler, who will drop the 1,600 to concentrate on the 3,200 at next week's state meet at Cerritos College. ``I'm just glad I could help our team to its first title. This was huge for us, it was a struggle and we're happy to finally win it.''
The Lancers scored 78 points and got strong performances by all their key athletes. Monterey was second with 44 points.
A week after a disappointing no-height in his specialty event, the pole vault, Cal-bound senior Kyle Mills-Bunje won his first CCS title in the long jump with a personal best of 23 feet, 6 1/4 inches. Last year he finished second after pulling his groin.
Junior Casey Roche made sure the Lancers were a presence in the pole vault. The son of E. Casey Roche, a former Stanford pole vault coach, won his first CCS crown by clearing 16-2.
``We had a nice tail wind and that helped on our approach,'' said Roche, who used the biggest pole he had ever tried in competition.
One of the best races of the night came in the 800 meters, where Lancers senior Sam Pompei (1:56.28) showed a nice kick down the home stretch to edge Watsonville's Alejandro Alvarez-Bautis (1:56.50) to give the Lancers a sweep of the distance events.
``When these guys were freshman they took fourth, then third and second at CCS,'' said Lancers Coach Mike Saso, who has coached the team for six years. ``I told them this was the countdown. It was a total team effort from 10 guys and everyone showed up today. I couldn't be prouder of this group.''
Archbishop Mitty's 6-foot-9 sophomore Drew Gordon, a standout basketball player, showed his athleticism by qualifying for the state meet in two events. He won the shot put on his last throw of the day, edging St. Francis senior David Wernick by three quarters of an inch with a throw of 57-1 1/2. Gordon was second in the discus to Homestead's William Tsai, who had the sixth-best throw of the year with a toss of 183-07.
Silver Creek's Justin Ta also qualified in two events -- winning the 110-meter hurdles and taking third in the 300 hurdles won by Matt Wheeler of Menlo Atherton (38.45).
The clock malfunctioned at the start of the 110 hurdles, and Ta was over five hurdles before the race was stopped. He kept his composure and ran a clean race (14.38) to beat Wheeler (14.55).
Valley Christian's Dominique Hunsucker, who will play football at San Jose State next season, beat Independence's Darren Barrera to win the 100 meters with a wind-aided time of 10.71.
Monterey senior Michael Phillips pulled an impressive double by winning the 200 meters (21.66) and the 400 meters (48.40).
Del Mar's Emilio Hernandez won the high jump by clearing 6-6. Los Gatos sophomore Kevin Rutledge, who was a key member of the Wildcats boys volleyball championship last week, was second at 6-4.
Two meet records and a state best time took a back seat to a showdown between two of the top sprinters in Central Coast Section girls track and field history Friday.
Mt. Pleasant's Jeneba Tarmoh got the best of Valley Christian's Khrystal Carter in both the 100 and 200 meters at the CCS finals at San Jose City College in the two most highly anticipated matchups of the night.
Both will be among the contenders at the state meet next weekend at Cerritos College in Norwalk, where Carter will defend her state title in the 200.
But even though the Texas A&M-bound Carter won her fifth CCS title with a blazing 55.6-second anchor leg in the 1,600 relay, the meet belonged to Mt. Pleasant, which captured its fifth title in seven years. The Cardinals scored 84 points, to 62 for runner-up Valley Christian.
``This means a lot to us,'' said sophomore Vashti Thomas, a triple winner. ``It's another banner to put on our gym wall.''
Besides winning the long jump (wind-aided 18 feet, 9 inches) and the 100 hurdles (wind-aided 13.92), Thomas led off the Cardinals' sprint relay that set a CCS all-time and meet record. The team of Thomas, Tarmoh, Diedre Pettigrue and Marshay Brown ran 46.55, to break the meet and section mark of 46.84 set in 1999 by Archbishop Mitty.
Carter was ranked fourth in the state in the 100, with Tarmoh fifth. In the 200, Tarmoh was third and Carter seventh. In both races, Tarmoh bolted to quick starts and Carter tried to come from behind. Carter said she tightened up in the homestretch of the 200, by simply trying too hard.
No wonder. Tarmoh's wind-aided 23.47 was the fourth-best in the country under all conditions, with Carter second in 23.75. In the wind-aided 100, Tarmoh ran 11.39, a CCS record for all conditions, to Carter's 11.43.
``She's a great competitor,'' Carter said. ``There's nothing wrong with losing to Jeneba.''
Another meet record was set in the pole vault, where Castilleja junior Tori Anthony cleared 13-0 to break Natasha Barthel's year-old mark of 12-6 and barely missed at a CCS record 13-5.
Barthel, a St. Francis junior, cleared 12-8 to finish second and would have won if Anthony had not reached 13-0. In third and advancing to state for the third consecutive year was St. Francis senior Taylor Franklin, at 11-8.
``For women's pole vault to take 13-0 to win says something about our section and the advancement of the event,'' said Anthony's coach, Scott Slover.
Palo Alto sophomore Mia Lattanzi provided another meet highlight, by not only beating Archbishop Mitty standout Renisha Robinson in the 800, but also by winning the race in 2:09.65, the fastest in the state this year. A week ago, her best time was 2:16.
Robinson, who won the 800 in the prestigious Arcadia Invitational in April by leading from start to finish, let Lattanzi push the pace. On the backstretch, they were side by side, but Lattanzi pushed hard with 200 meters left to win going away.
For Lattanzi, the CCS 400-meter champion last year, the race was further indication of her potential. She essentially is competing in the event for the first time and conceded she's still trying to figure it out.
``This meet is not so much about the time as the place,'' Lattanzi said. ``I bet I could go a little bit faster.''
Shortly after the race, the moment clearly hadn't gone to her head. Asked if this makes her the favorite next week, she said, ``It means I'm already nervous.''