Senior holds No. 3 mark in section; juniors Meldrum and Daw on
state bubble
MORGAN HILL — When hurdles specialist Dean Raymond began coaching Sobrato senior Ralph Jackson this spring, the goal was for Jackson to qualify for the Central Coast Section Finals.
Since then, Jackson has become the third-fastest 300-meter hurdler in the section — and the goals have changed.
“I think he’s got a couple more races in him now,” Raymond said, alluding to the June 1-4 state meet in the Clovis. “Ralph’s an amazing athlete. His speed has always been his strength, but his technique has really improved.
“He had the right attitude to get better this season, and that’s certainly been the case.”
Today at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex, Jackson will race in a CCS championship heat that features eight upperclassmen who finished within a second of each other in Saturday’s semifinals. The top-three placers will earn invites to state as will anyone who meets the at-large mark.
Jackson has a formidable chance of doing both. He finished third (40.37) overall at semifinals, and his personal-record time of 39.31 — a Sobrato High School best — is less than a second off the automatic qualifier (38.34).
Raymond is confident Jackson will advance with a perfect race, a daunting task for an event as demanding as hurdles. Even the slightest stumble or misstep can run the day.
“He hasn’t had a flawless race yet this year, if that says anything about how good he is,” Raymond said. “I think he’s got that in him for (today). His steps were perfect this week.”
The future starts today for Austin Meldrum.
The Sobrato junior is entering the CCS pole vault final with as good of an opportunity as anyone to make the top-three cutoff for state after matching his PR (13 feet, 6 inches) Saturday at semifinals.
Meldrum tied six other contestants, including four seniors, for first place.
“He’s going to be better prepared for next year no matter what happens,” SHS pole vault coach Dennis Martin said. “Either he qualifies and gets the experience of competing in front of a huge crowd at state, or he doesn’t make it and gets hungrier for next year. He’s got a great chance of doing it (today). He’s a great competitor.”
One of Meldrum’s biggest strengths is consistency. His teammates were skilled enough to challenge him at practice during the regular season, and Meldrum responded with 13-6 clearances for a month straight.
He is reaping the benefits of a new pole he reluctantly switched to recently. Martin said he could go as high as 14 feet today.
“He hasn’t missed a practice in three years, so he’s put in the time,” Martin said. “He should be very happy where he is.”
Jacob Daw’s teammates and coaches were thrilled when he high jumped 6 feet Saturday at semifinals.
Until then, the Live Oak junior was trapped in his old PR of 5-10. Now, he’s heading to CCS Finals with an outside chance of going to state.
“He was waiting for that PR for a long time,” Live Oak distance coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s excited to see what he can do (today), maybe one more PR.”
Daw has had some good looks at 6-2 but will likely need to go even higher to advance. The at-large mark is 6-6, and the top three marks in CCS begin at 6-4.
NOTE: Today’s CCS Finals meet begins with field events at 4 p.m. Track events follow at 6.
