Andrew Dent rolls with it to get Carlmont 4x400 relay team on the Central Coast Section podium

“I think he came in from my outside, he cut in front of me in the exchange, I took two steps and ran over him,” Dent said. “I just tripped over him, and I just decided to roll with it and keep going.”

Scots head coach Josh Schaefer filed an appeal with the CCS after no penalty was levied for the contact, but Dent still saved the day Saturday at Gilroy High School by reeling off a 52-second split to preserve a podium finish in sixth place for Carlmont.

“It all happened so fast,” Dent said. “This was my last track race, so I had to leave it all out there.”

Only the top six finishers earn CCS medals. With the top three placers qualifying for the CIF State Track & Field Championships, a move from sixth to fifth would still end the season for Carlmont’s 4x400 team. The Scots finished the race in 3 minutes, 23.85 seconds, just shy of a PR for this year’s squad, and over two seconds off the program record of 3:21.71 set in 2018.

“We were on school record pace,” Schaefer said. “So, you tell me we didn’t lose a second with a somersault?”

Schaefer was livid after the event when CCS officials did not disqualify Bellarmine.

“They should be disqualified and we get fifth place,” Schaefer said. “I don’t care. We made the podium. It doesn’t change the outcome of the state.”

CCS heard the appeal, and investigated immediately after the event, which was the finale of the daylong meet. CCS track meet director Steve Filios also serves as the National Federation of High School CIF rules interpreter for track and field, and interviewed four officials who were overseeing the event.

CCS ultimately denied Carlmont’s appeal, agreeing there was contact, but ruling it incidental contact.

“Nothing was called, obviously, so [the head official] went back; he did not take it lightly at all,” Filios said. “He did find everybody. He interviewed four different people individually because he wanted to get the story. ... He determined it was incidental contact in regards to the individual from Carlmont that went down.”

CCS officials, by rule, are not allowed to use relay technology to determine such rulings. All officials recounted what they saw in real time during the race, Filios said.

“I think the importance is there was due diligence,” Filios said.

Schaefer said this was the second week Carlmont was interfered with in the 4x400 race. He said in the previous week at the CCS trials, a Serra runner collided with a Carlmont runner after an exchange. Times do count toward individual records such as the Carlmont’s chase for the program’s 4x400 relay mark, so any interference could have been costly as the Scots notched a time of 3:22.87 in the May 16 prelims, just 1.16 seconds shy of the record.

“This is the second time in two weeks,” Schaefer said.

Serra assistant coach George Jensen refuted Schaefer’s claim. Jensen said he watched the replay of the prelims and saw no contact between the Carlmont and Serra runners.

“I looked,” Jensen said. “There was nothing in the exchange zone.”

In Saturday’s finals, there was obvious contact. Dent’s ability to recover quickly saved a podium finish for the Scots.

“He popped up so quick,” Gehrke said. “I was impressed.”

Serra 4x400 team keep state meet streak alive

The Serra boys’ 4x400 relay team of Troy Marquez, Bodhi Hsu, Shaunt Jabagchourian and Kisi Unga was the Padres’ last chance to send anyone to the CIF State Track & Field Championships starting Friday at Buchanan High School in Clovis.

The last time the Padres failed to send anyone to the state meet was 2011, and things weren’t looking good when Troy Marquez took the baton in fourth place. Only the top three placers earn automatic bids to the state meet.

“I saw someone in front of me and I just had to chase him,” Marquez said. “I was probably about, I would say, 10 to 15 meters (out of third place).”

Marquez accelerated to overtake third halfway down the backstretch and held off Gunn-Palo Alto down the stretch to punch Serra’s ticket to the state meet in boys’ 4x400 relay with a time of 3:19.11.

It has been a tumultuous year for Serra’s 4x400 team. The Padres relied on two alternates Saturday after two of their multi-sport standouts — Jeovanni Henley and Aidan Labrador — missed the second half of the season due to injury.

The new cast of relay runners extended Serra’s streak of state qualifiers to 15 straight years.

“These guys stepped up and had a great meet,” Serra head coach Jim Marheineke said.

All San Mateo County podium finishers

Top three finishers qualify for the state meet with the exception of the 4x800 relay teams. The 4x800 relays qualify just the top two placers to state. No county runners earned at-large qualifier times at the CCS meet.

Girls’ 100: Abigail Ma, Sequoia, fifth, 12.62; Mina Hwang, Aragon, sixth, 12.67.

Boys’ 200: Marquez, Serra, fifth, 21.97; Jacob Roeder, Menlo-Atherton, sixth, 22.18.

Girls’ 200: Ma, Sequoia, sixth, 25.66.

Boys’ 800: Evan Chopra, Menlo-Atherton, first, 1:51.42.

Girls’ 800: Anna Salter, Crystal, third, 2:10.78; Elizabeth Carroll, Burlingame, sixth, 2:12.87.

Boys’ 1,600: Henry Hauser, Menlo, second, 4:09.95; Ryan Fitzpatrick, Nueva, third, 4:10.37; Aidan Sharp, Menlo-Atherton, fourth, 4:16.93.

Girls’ 1,600: Salter, Crystal, second, 4:49.13.

Boys’ 3,200: Fitzpatrick, Crystal, first, 9:02.61.

Girls’ 100 hurdles: Emerson Elyse Barajas, Carlmont, sixth, 15.32.

Boys’ 300 hurdles: Tres Onyejekwe, Menlo, second, 36.88

Girls’ 300 hurdles: Kiana Chen, Carlmont, second, 44.34.

Boys’ 4x400 relay: Serra, third, 3:19.11; Carlmont, sixth, 3:23.85.

Boys’ 4x800 relay: Menlo, first, 7:46.26; Carlmont, third, 7:47.27.

Girls’ 4x800 relay: Carlmont, second, 9:04.52.

Boys’ shot put: Case Jacobson, St. Francis, first, 62-7 3/4; Maxime Morelle, Sacred Heart Prep, second, 60-1 1/4; Yianni Fitzgerald, San Mateo, third, 57-3 1/4.

Girls’ shot put: Rachel Shomaker, San Mateo, fifth, 35-9; Kelailah Johnson, Mills, sixth, 35-5 1/2.

Boys’ discus: Jacobson, St. Francis, third, 157-11; Fitzgerald, San Mateo, fifth, 155-7.

Girls’ discus: Johnson, Mills, third, 121-4; Gabby Dyogi, Terra Nova, fourth, 120-10.

Boys’ high jump: Zeki Soudah, Hillsdale, sixth (tie), 6-0.

Girls’ high jump: Kaitlyn Schuh, San Mateo, first, 5-6.

Boys’ pole vault: Logan Trinklein, Sequoia, second, 14-6.

Girls’ pole vault: Allison Yue, Notre Dame-Belmont, first, 11-8; Alex Ivankov, Mills, second, 11-2; Katherine Cueva, Menlo-Atherton, fourth, 10-8; Hailey Dao, Carlmont, sixth, 10-2.

Boys’ long jump: Oskar Herlitz, Sacred Heart Prep, fourth, 21-11; Benicio Labuguen, Westmoor, fifth, 21-10 3/4.

Girls’ long jump: Barajas, Carlmont, third, 18-2; Sydney Domingo, Mercy-Burlingame, fifth, 17-11 3/4.

Boys’ triple jump: Labuguen, Westmoor, first, 48-7 1/2; Herlitz, Sacred Heart Prep, fourth, 46-1; Jakob Gowdy, Hillsdale, sixth, 45-8.

Girls’ triple jump: Ivankov, Mills, fifth, 35-9 3/4.