The track and field postseason is not for the faint of heart. To win a Central Coast Section championship and earn a spot in the CIF State Track and Field championships next month, it requires athletes to be good — or great — over a two-day span, separated by a week.
CCS championship hopefuls descend on Gilroy High School Saturday to begin whittling down the field, with the CCS Trials field events beginning at 9:30 a.m. and track events kicking off at 10 a.m.
The top eight advance to next the CCS Championships Saturday, May 24, also at Gilroy.
Among those competing is more than 60 athletes from San Mateo County. Fifty-four qualified from the Peninsula Athletic League, West Catholic Athletic League and the West Bay Athletic, along with 11 relay teams.
All with predicted varying degrees of success. For some athletes, running their best time of making their longest jump of the season is success. Others hope to do well enough to advance to the finals next week, while a handful seek spots on the CCS podium or a spot in the state finals.
And a select group have section titles in their sights, among them is Woodside’s Mattheo LaCasia, who is the top qualifier in the 400-meter and the No. 2 qualifier in 200. Qualifying times come from an athlete’s performance at their league championships. LaCasia won the PAL title in both the 400 and 200.
LaCasia, who ran the fastest 400 in CCS back in April at the CCS Top 8 Invitational with a time of 47.22, now has clocked the second-fastest time in the section with his 47.57 ran at the PAL championships.
In the 200, LaCasia’s 21.59 was a new personal and PAL record and trailed only St. Ignatius’ Prince Buchango-Babalola, who won the WCAL title with a time of 21.40. LaCasia has run under 22 seconds five times this season.
LaCasia’s qualifying time was fourth-fastest in CCS this season.
Lurking in both races, however, is Serra’s Jeovanni Henley. The sophomore qualified for the CCS Trials in both the 200 and 400, as well, and has top-10 CCS times in both races this year. He exploded in the WCAL 200 final, finishing with a PR of 21.92 — dropping 11 one-hundredths of a second off his previous best. It was the first time he went under 22 seconds this season.
His 400 improvement was even more spectacular as he shaved nearly two seconds off his previous best as he finished second at the WCAL championships with a new PR of 47.82. His previous best was 49.62.
While LaCasia and Henley will compete in the sprints, Menlo School’s Landon Pretre is a heavy favorite in the longest race — the 3,200 meters, which consists of eight laps. Pretre comes into the trials as the only runner in CCS to post a time under 8:50, as he ran an 8:49.30 at the Arcadia Invitational in April. In all, only four runners have posted times under nine minutes.
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He ran a pedestrian, for him, 9:06.27 to win the WBAL title to be the top qualifier at CCS — more than 10 seconds faster than the second-fastest qualifier, his teammate Will Hauser, who ran a new PR of 9:15.98.
Menlo-Atherton’s Sara Nordlund should be a contender in both hurdles events. She qualified seventh with a time of 15.62 that she ran in winning the PAL title. Los Altos’ Daniela Hughes, who has the fastest time in CCS this season, qualified with a 14.47, but Nordlund has the third-fastest time in the event this season, having run a 14.81 at the Top 8.
Mercy’s Sydney Domingo qualified third with a time of 15.50, but has a season-best 14.83.
Nordlund enters the 300 hurdles as the top qualifier with the second-fastest time in CCS this season. Her best is a 44.38 and she qualified with a time of 45.16. She and the rest of the field will have some work to do in catching Shiloh Haliburton-Rudy, who qualified first and has the fastest time in CCS this season with a 43.95 run at Arcadia last month.
There should be plenty of intrigue in the field events, as well, with a trio of county athletes expected to challenge for a CCS championship.
Woodside’s Evan Usher qualified first in the discus, waiting until his final throw to win the PAL crown with a toss of 167-5. But he has eight of the 10-best throws in CCS this season, with a PR and CCS-best of 172-1. He has gone 160-0 or better in his last five meets.
San Mateo’s Emmanuel Fitzgerald, who lost out to Usher for the PAL title, had the third-best throw in CCS at 166-1 at the PAL finals.
In the shot put, Serra’s Luke Lewis is a heavy favorite. The defending CCS shot put champion, Lewis has improved by nearly three feet since 2024 and qualified with a throw of 61-3.5o to win the WCAL title, this after setting a new PR during the WCAL trials with a throw of 61-6.25. He is the only qualifier in CCS to have eclipsed the 60-foot mark, doing it four times this season.
Burlingame’s Avery Boyse made herself the favorite to win the girls’ CCS pole vault and putting up a monster PR and new PAL record when she cleared 13 feet at the PAL championships.
She is only the second person in the entire state and tied for 24th in the nation to do so this season and the only vaulter in CCS to clear 12 feet.
But again: CCS championships can’t be won Saturday. But they sure can be lost.
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