The final official track and field meet of the high school season was completed Saturday, with a handful of San Mateo County athletes qualifying out of the trials and making the field for the finals of the CIF State Track & Field Championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
And two of the athletes in the mix for a state title came up agonizingly short. Menlo School’s Justin Pretre and Crystal’s Benjamin Bouie were among the favorites to win their respective races — Pretre in the 3,200 and Bouie in the 1,600.
The 3,200 is a strange one because unlike every other event, there is no trials race. The top 27 runners who qualified from section championships run just one race at state — the final. Coming into the final, Pretre was the fastest qualifier with a time of 8:48.57, which won the CCS championship.
In the state championship race, Eyan Turk of Woodcrest Christian, who qualified sixth win a time of 8:58.90, bettered Pretre by nearly three seconds to win the state title with a time of 8:51.62. Pretre settled for second with a time of 8:54.25.
Bouie set a new personal record in the 1,600, posting a time of 4:04.84 that was good for second in the state behind Conor Lott of Clovis North, who won with a time of 4:03.32.
Bouie improved on last year’s fourth-place finish and shaved more than five seconds off last year’s state time.
In the sprints, Woodside’s Mattheo LaCasia made the podium in the 400. The CCS 400 champ finished fourth in the race in Saturday’s final, with a time of 47.04, the fifth time he has posted a sub-48 time this season. The winner was Jack Stadlman of Temecula Valley, who was one of two runners to post sub-47 times, winning with a 46.02.
LaCasia, who also qualified for the state trials in the 200, was disqualified for a lane violation Friday.
In the throws, Woodside’s Evan Usher and San Mateo’s Emmanuel Fitzgerald both had podium finishes in the discus. Usher set two PRs on consecutive days. Friday, he qualified fourth with a throw of 177-3. In the finals, he uncorked a throw of 179-11 for a new school record and was the best distance among Central Coast Section throwers this season.
Fitzgerald also blew past his previous best. After qualifying 11th with a throw of 162-0, Fitzgerald had the throw of his young career in the finals, launching a toss of 177-10 to finish sixth.
The winner, McKay Madsen of Clovis North, dominated the field. His winning throw of 210-8 was more than 24 feet further than the second-place mark of 186-0.
In the shot put, three county athletes finished in the top-10, led by Serra’s Luke Lewis. While he could not duplicate his CCS PR mark of 61-10, his toss of 58-6 3/4 was good enough for third place. Usher made the podium with a fifth-place finish with a mark of 58-4 3/4, while Sacred Heart Prep’s Maxime Morrelle was ninth with a distance of 56-1 1/2.
Madsen, who dominated the discus field, also crushed the shot put field in winning his second title of the day. His throw of 69-11 was nine feet better than the second-place throw.
The performances by Usher and LaCasia helped the Woodside boys’ team finish 17th out of 101 teams with 13 points.
In other field events, Westmoor’s Benicio Labuguen, who snuck into the triple jump final by claiming the 12th and final spot from Friday’s trials, moved up two places to finish 10th in the final with a mark of 45-7 1/4. The winner was Keith Cotlage of Cajon, whose leap of 51-4 1/2 was more than a foot better than second place.
In girls’ pole vault, Burlingame’s Avery Boyse finished fourth with a height of 12-2, one of three vaulters to reach that mark. The winner was Del Norte’ Paige Echsner, who cleared 12-10.
Menlo-Atherton’s Katherine Cueva did not make it out of qualifying Friday as she no-heighted.
Meanwhile, there were a handful of other county athletes that did not make it out of qualifying. In the boys’ 4x100 relay, Hillsdale won its grudge match with Serra. After losing to the Padres in the Central Coast Section final, The Knights, running in Heat 3, posted a time of 41.75 while finishing fifth.
It was the third outing in a row the Knights set a new school record. They set the new mark in winning the PAL championship in a time of 42.12. They set a new benchmark in finishing second to the Padres at the Central Coast Section finals with a time of 41.81.
Serra, running in Heat 2, finished third in a time of 41.88. The top qualifier was Servite, which qualified with a 40.28 and in the finals, shaved another hundredth of a second in winning with a time of 40.27.
The Serra 4x400 relay team finished fifth in its heat with a time of 3:19.06.
In the girls’ 1,600, Crystal’s Anna Salter finished 10th in Heat 2, with a time of 5:01.34. The winning time Saturday was 4:35.64 posted by Santiago’s Braelyn Combe. On the boys’ side, Menlo’s Will Hauser finished sixth in his 1,600 heat, with a 4:11.19.
Menlo-Atherton hurdler Sara Nordlund ran both the 100 and 300 hurdles. She ran a 14.91 in the 100 hurdles, finishing seventh in her heat. In the 300 hurdles, she finished sixth in her heat with a time of 44.61.
The winning time Saturday in the 100 hurdles finals was 13.07 by Anisa Bowen-Fontenot of San Diego, while the winning time in the 300 hurdles was 39.64 posted by Morgan Herbst of Carlsbad.
And as previously reported, SHP long jumper Oskar Herlitz and San Mateo high jumper Kaitlyn Schuh did not make it out of qualifying in their respective events Friday.
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