A sore arch sidelined Pinewood's Angela Gradiska for two months this track season and seemed as if it might prevent her from defending her Central Coast Section 100- and 200-meter titles.
But the Stanford-bound senior was back in form Friday night at Gilroy High School winning both sprints in impressive fashion.
In the 100, Gradiska pulled away midway through the race to win in a time of 11.92 seconds. Leland's Katie Nelms was second in 12.09.
"My start was average, but I was able to pull ahead once I got to my top end speed," said Gradiska, who was second in the 200 and fourth in the 100 at the state meet last year. "I felt like I kicked it into overdrive at the 50-meter mark."
She also looked at ease winning the 200 in 24.60 to edge Wilcox sophomore Iesha Hardiman (24.78).
Hardiman had an excellent meet, defending her title in the 400 with a time of 55.31 to edge her close friend — Hill sophomore Asheley Bamberg (56.28).
The Stanford-bound Nelms grinded through another grueling meet, finishing second in the 100 meters and defending her 300 hurdles title going away in 43.03.
Nelms and Valley Christian's Hannah Goranson had the closest race of the night in the 100-meter hurdles racing side by side. Goranson leads with her left leg, and Nelms leads with her right. The pair made plenty of contact as they went over the hurdles. Goranson picked up ground over the last three hurdles to win in 13.83, edging Nelms by a hundredth of a second.
"I thought she had me after the seventh hurdle," said Goranson, who won her second straight 100 hurdles title. "That's when you have to be competitive. All the technique you have worked on seems to go out the window over those last two hurdles, you just focus on finishing."
Santa Teresa shot putter Meagan McKee defended her title with a winning throw of 46 feet, 9 inches, a personal best by nearly two feet and the third best throw in the state this year. The Fresno State-bound McKee was third in the discus (137-08).
Homestead's Jillian Weir had her best ever toss to win the discus (151-11), and she was second in the shot put (43-8).
Leigh's Melissa Hopper had her best time winning the 800 in 2:12.10. Mountain View sophomore Allison Sturges, who lost the 1,600 meters by an eyelash last year, managed to hang on to win this time in 4:59.38, withstanding a late charge from Aptos freshman Nikki Hiltz (5:00.29)
Mt. Pleasant won the team title, blowing away the field with 66 points. Leigh (31) was second. The Cardinals won the 400-meter relay and swept all three state qualifying spots in the triple jump led by Cydney Leath (39-8), who repeated.
Gunn's Erin Robinson won the 3,200 in 10:48.79 and Live Oak's Stephanie Armstrong took the long jump (5-7). Valley Christian (3:58.81) won the 1,600 relay.
Pioneer senior Weston Strum had the race mapped out in his head.
Keenly aware of the kicking ability of both his twin brother Nathan and Palo Alto's Philip MacQuitty, Weston knew he would have to make an early move for a chance to win the 1,600 meters Friday in the Central Coast Section finals at Gilroy High School.
Weston ran his strategy to perfection, winning his first CCS track title with a personal-best time of 4:12.16. Making his move just before the back stretch, Weston moved into the lead by about 15 yards. The UCLA-bound MacQuitty (4:12.97) made his move with about 200 meters left but hit a wall with 50 meters to go. Weston hung on for the win. Nathan Strum (4:15.24) was third.
"I knew he was coming in that last 100," said Weston, who will run at Loyola Marymount next year. "It was so scary. I had come so far and didn't want to give up the lead at the end. That would have been devastating."
Weston Strum completed a grueling double a couple of hours later, winning the 3,200 in 9:17.61. Gunn's Paul Summers was second in 9:20.08.
Nathan Strum defended his title in the 800, picking up speed in the last 100 meters to win in 1:53.00.
"This is a fantastic day for our family," said Weston, who will just run the 3,200 at the state meet in Clovis next week. The top three finishers advanced to state.
It was an eventful day for Overfelt 400-meter runner Benjamin Knight, who forgot to bring his size 81/2 spikes to the meet. He made a quick trip to the Gilroy Outlets and had to settle for a pair of size nine Nikes.
Knight, who was third at the meet last year, won in 49.45. He became the first champion from Overfelt since Jeff Rogers won the high jump in the mid-1980s, coach Floyd Hurndon said.
The boys' 100-meter dash was an amazingly close race as Valley Christian sophomore Byron Marshall broke through for his first CCS title. Marshall was clocked in 10.662 to edge Gilroy junior Julius Travis, who finished in 10.664. Both had official times of 10.67.
"I got off to a good start but didn't come up like I wanted. I kept pushing and just managed to lean in," said Marshall, who was third in the long jump (22-11/2) and fourth in the 200.
Travis earned a gold medal in the 200 with a time of 21.83 and also ran a leg on Gilroy's winning 400 relay team.
"I had kind of a bad start in the 100, so it was nice to get some redemption in the 200," Travis said.
Mt. Pleasant junior Scott Brazil had the sixth-leading shot put entering the meet, but he walked away with a gold medal after a personal-best of 53-5. Cupertino's Ryo Kubozono (38.84) won the 300 hurdles, and Mountain View's Stephen Johnson took the high jump. He and three others cleared 6-4, but Johnson had fewer misses.. Los Gatos' Benjamin Berthet took the pole vault with a height of 14-8.
Bellarmine won the boys team title for the seventh time in school history, securing the crown with a second-place finish in the 1,600 relay, the final race of the night.