The top athletes from the Central Coast Section will be at
Gilroy High today as they all try to earn their way to the CIF
State Track and Field Championships.
Gilroy – The top athletes from the Central Coast Section will be at Gilroy High today as they all try to earn their way to the CIF State Track and Field Championships.
Today’s CCS finals begin at 4pm with the start of the field events. The running events begin at 6pm, with the final event due to tip off at 9:10pm. The top-three finishers in each event advance to the state meet June 1 and 2 at Sacramento City College’s Hughes Stadium.
The day’s first event – the girls pole vault – features state and national leader Tori Anthony (14-2 1/2) of Castilleja. She’ll be challenged by St. Francis’ Natasha Barthel.
Mt. Pleasant’s Vashti Thomas comes in as the top seed in the long jump (20-2) and triple jump (40-11 3/4), as well as the 100 hurdles (13.62). Her teammate, Jeneba Tarmoh, is the defending state champion in the 100 and 200 meters and is the top seed in both events.
Mt. Pleasant also brings the top seed in the 4×100 relay (46.68) and the 4×400 relay (3:58.02) and the Cardinals should figure to make noise in the team title race.
On the boys side, the boys discus leads off with a battle between Drew Gordon of Archbishop Mitty (173-09) and two throwers from Los Gatos, Colin Quirke (172-07) and Randall Horn (166-05). Cesar Puga of Alisal is seeded in fifth at 153-09.
Quirke is the top seed in the boys shot put at 60-08.25 with St. Francis’ Andy Vargas (58-10) and Bellarmine’s Stephen Powell (56-07.5) seeded second and third.
The boys long jump has the top four qualifiers over 23 feet, with Reggie Topps of North Monterey County seeded first at 23-09.75.
The boys 800 should be one the night’s best races, led by Oak Grove’s Sebastian Sam (1:55.51), Mt. View’s Robbie Reed (1:55.71), Carlmont’s Nick Palladino (1:55.74), Monta Vista’s Simon Bill (1:56.52), Los Gatos’ Jon Berthet (1:56.41) and Serra’s Chuck Stimson (1:56.87).
The event Myers is most looking forward to in the boys 4×400 relay.
“This is going to be a blazing race,” he said.
Archbishop Mitty (3:22.61), Bellarmine (3:23.57), Palma (3:24.95), Pioneer (3:26.01), Palo Alto (3:26.12) and North Salinas (3:26.15) will all contend in a race that ends the boys competition and is typically one of the more exciting races of any meet.
