Blankers making a name for herself

Blankers politely tells them that it stands for "Crystal Springs Upland" and she has yet resisted the temptation to tell them they'll know about the Gryphons' track team soon enough.

So far, Blankers is content to let her running do the talking. The sophomore won the 100 meters in the Serra Top 7 meet in April and was second in the 100 and 200 at the prestigious Logan Top 8 in Union City. She followed those performances with a huge day in the Bay Counties League championships on Saturday at Diablo Valley College in Concord. Blankers took home the championship in the 100 (13.04) and 200 (27.28), was a member of the Gryphons' 4x100 relay championship team (51.37) and anchored the 4x400 relay team to a third place finish.

All those performances qualified her for the North Coast Section meet Saturday at Mendocino College in Ukiah and earned her San Mateo Daily Journal Athlete of the Week honors.

"I've run faster times, but not by very much," Blankers said.

Crystal Springs track coach Albert Caruana said the runners were running into a slight headwind, which kept the times up. But there was no doubt she was the class of the field.

"No one was even close to her," Caruana said.

Although Blankers won the 100 handily, she found herself in third place half way through the 200 after a slow start, a position she is not at all used to. Blankers kept her composure and ended up with the victory. She believes that experience will help her at the NCS meet and hopefully beyond.

"[That adversity] is going to make Saturday (the NCS meet) and next Saturday (the Meet of Champions, a step away from the state meet) a little easier," Blankers said.

What makes Blankers' league championships even more impressive is the fact that she ran six races - all in one day. She ran qualifying and finals for both the 100 and 200, in addition to the finals in the relays.

"It was a pretty tiring day," Blankers said, adding that she didn't get a whole lot of rest between races.

On the positive side, however, was the fact that everyone was in the same boat.

"Everyone has to do it (race on little rest)," Blankers said.

Caruana knew last year that Blankers would be something special. After missing a month of the season with a quadricep injury, Blankers still managed to qualify for the NCS meet in the 100 and 200. This year, she's remained relatively healthy and her times have dropped.

Blankers is so dominant in the BCL meets that she didn't participate in the individual sprints in BCL meets, instead opting for open fields at invitational meets around the Bay Area. Blankers has quickly shown she can compete with the best the Bay has to offer.

"I didn't think she would get anything (beneficial) running in league events," Caruana said, adding he was hoping for stiffer competition in the invitational meets.

"We went to a meet at Acalanes (High School in Lafayette). I thought she would get some competition there," Caruana said. "It seems every race she's been in, she hasn't been challenged."

Blankers knows those days are rapidly coming to an the end. The NCS Class A meet will feature the best talent that smaller high schools have to offer. If she's lucky enough to qualify out of that event, she'll still have one more meet - the Meet of Champions - before she makes it to the state meet.

But Blankers is taking it all in stride.

"I hope (to go faster). But once you get to this time of year it's all fun," Blankers said.