Local runners set for Nike Nationals

Last year, Olesen was the only runner repping M-A with the Menlo-Atherton Track Club at the prestigious season-end national track meet held at Hayward Field on the campus of University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. The then-junior shined in the top-flight Championship section of both her events, taking fourth the girls’ mile and seventh in the 800 meters.

“It’s remarkable,” M-A coach Andy Pflaum said. “And it not only positioned her for another great year this year, and high expectations for this year, but it also has a slipstream effect … for other kids she runs with. … When they see that this is somebody I know … I know the work she does and the progress she makes, that’s going to have an effect on the kids around them.”

Sure enough, when the Menlo-Atherton Track Club opens the high school portion of the four-day meet Thursday, Olesen will be joined by 10 teammates. Six girls and five boys from M-A are set to compete, including Olesen’s best friend and training partner, Annie Pflaum.

The two started running together in middle school. This week marks their final event running together as teammates before heading off to college — Olesen to compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the University of Virginia, and Annie Pflaum for the Ivy League with Dartmouth College.

“They love it,” Andy Pflaum said of his daughter and Olesen getting the chance to run as teammates one last time, “but they don’t expect to be done, in one sense, because they’re both heading to the East Coast, and they’ll probably see each other a couple times together at meets.”

While the Menlo-Atherton Track Club is technically not affiliated with M-A High School, the team of 11 makes up one of four San Mateo County public schools with representation at the national meet.

“Usually it’s one kid has a qualifying time or maybe two, but by the end of the season, the kids are really just done at that point,” M-A cross country coach Eric Wilmurt said. “And Andy has done a really good job getting these kids ready for the end of the season.”

Wilmurt stepped away from M-A track this season to take an assistant coaching position at Hillsdale, where his daughter Kira Wilmurt recently finished her freshman season.

Three Hillsdale athletes will be competing as part of the San Mateo Track Club — recent junior Sineth Andrabadu is set to take the track Friday in the Championship section of the boys’ 100, while Thursday, Nisith Andrabadu and Christian Salamanca will each compete in the Freshman section of the boys’ 100.

“Sprints are coming around,” Eric Wilmurt said. “We brought on a new coach the last couple of years ... and we’ve got a a lot of young exciting runners, and they’re just getting faster.”

Carlmont has two relay teams running as part of the Belmont Track Club — Antonio Campbell Rodriguez, Gabriel Goncalves, Simon Gehrke and Landon Schaefer are slated for the boys’ 1600 sprint medley relay; and Campbell Rodriguez, Goncalves, Brian Sagon Jr. and Ethan Shen will compete in the boys’ 4x100 relay.

Recent Burlingame graduate Avah Reichow will finish her track career — before heading to UC Davis to pursue a collegiate career in gymnastics — by competing in the second-flight Emerging Elite section of the girls’ 400 hurdles.

There are also four county private schools represented this week in Eugene, highlighted by recent Crystal Springs Uplands junior Benjamin Bouie (Championship section boys’ two mile), recent Serra junior Luke Lewis (Championship section boys’ shot put), and recent Menlo School graduate Summer Young (Championship section girls’ high jump). Recent Sacred Heart Prep junior Sophie Cheung is also competing in the Emerging Elite section of the girls’ two-mile race.

Young, competing for the Menlo iGreyhounds Track Club, has a legitimate chance to contend for a national title in girls’ high jump. After claiming the CCS crown in the event, the Menlo senior took runner-up at the CIF state championship meet with a top height of 5-feet, 8-inches. Only nine of the 35 girls’ high jumpers in Eugene have done better, led by Karsyn Leeling from Sidney, Nebraska the only one to surpass 6 feet with a jump of 6 1 1/2.

“Summer has a rare opportunity that she might come out as the national champion,” iGreyhounds coach Jorge Chen said. “That would be just amazing.”

While Young is competing in the high jump Saturday, her iGreyhounds teammate Landon Pretre will be running the Championship section of the boys’ one mile. A recent Menlo junior, Pretre took the title in the Freshman section of the two-mile event at the 2022 Nike Nationals. He placed 11th in the Championship section of the event last year, and also took 11th in the Championship section of the boys’ 3000.

“He just had a long season and he kind of just wants to end it with the mile,” Chen said. “... He’s really excited to have a really awesome cross-country season next year.”

The iGreyhounds earned a podium finish Wednesday with Henry Hauser taking sixth place in the Freshman section of the boys’ one mile in 4:24.92.

Also competing for the iGreyhounds is Denny Dong in the Emerging Elite section of the boys’ 800. Teaming in the Emerging Elite section of the boys’ 4x800 relay is Jared Saal, Asher Lev, Jonah Block and Amay Srinivasan.

Recent Serra junior Christopher Yoon will compete in the Emerging Elite section of the boys’ long jump.

Also competing in individual events for the Menlo-Atherton Track Club is Annie Pflaum (Championship girls’ 800, Emerging Elite girls’ one mile); recent junior Sara Nordlund (Championship girls’ 100 hurdles, Emerging Elite 400 hurdles); recent graduate Aidan Doherty (Emerging Elite boys’ mile). Competing in relay events are, Annie Pflaum, Louisa Pflaum, Paige McGaraghan and Cleo Rehkopf (Championship girls’ 4xMile); Doherty, Rowan Pecson, John Cutler and Timothy Rousseau (Emerging Elite boys’ 4x800); and Pecson, Cutler, Rousseau, and Cason Mitchell (Championship boys’ 4xMile).