Menlo-Atherton captures Peninsula Athletic League boys’ track and field championship

When the dust cleared, the Bears claimed a 94-86 win over second-place Hillsdale to earn the PAL meet boys’ team championship, their first since 2022. It was M-A’s distance runners that put head coach Aisha Swayzer’s team over the top, as a wall of burgundy-and-gold hit the tape for a clean sweep in the 3,200 meters for one of the most exciting finishes of the afternoon.

“Oh, heck yeah!” Swayzer said. “They’ve been working really hard for that. So, it was definitely exciting.”

Carlmont repeated as the PAL meet girls’ champion with a more decisive win, 135-68 over M-A.

Wall of burgundy-and-gold

M-A senior Cason Mitchell entered the league meet having never won a boys’ 3,200 race in his four-year varsity career, regular or postseason. The reigning PAL cross country champion fronted a fab four of Bears finishers Saturday, though, winning the individual championship in 9 minutes, 32.75 seconds.

Mitchell out-legged junior teammate Benjamin Salceda, who took second in 9:32.91. M-A senior Aidan Sharp was third in 9:35.60, and junior Calvin Blanford was fourth in 9:35.76. The top three track placers were also part of a top-heavy finish at the PAL Cross Country Championships, when Mitchell (first), Sharp (second) and Salceda (fourth) anchored M-A to sweeping the top five podium spots Nov. 1 at Hallmark Park.

M-A sprinter Jacob Roeder also dazzled in the sprints as a double champion. The senior set the tone with an explosive first-place performance in the boys’ 100, catching El Camino junior Nathan Nand down the stretch to hit the tape in 10.67, breaking a 32-year-old program record of 10.69 set by Brent Vartan in 1994. Nand placed second in 10.71. Roeder then doubled down, capturing the boys’ 200 championship with a personal record 21.78, with Nand once again taking second in 22.03.

“I still have to break the 200 school record,” Roeder said. “I PR’d today and I won, so it was great. But I still haven’t hit the school record. I’m really close. I’ve got a couple weeks to do that, and keep advancing.”

A former M-A football standout, who totaled 652 receiving yards in his varsity career, Roeder stepped away from the gridiron early in his senior season. He started training for the track season in October.

“So, this is basically my first full season being able to run, take it seriously,” Roeder said.

M-A senior Evan Chopra also made history by racing to the individual championship in the boys’ 1,600. The 2025 PAL champ in the boys’ 800 as a junior, Chopra added to his career medal count with a PR of 4:13.11 in the 1,600, smashing the PAL meet record by nearly four seconds.

In the team scoring, San Mateo (64 points) took third, reigning champion Carlmont (62 1.2) took fourth, followed by Mills (38 1/2); El Camino (36); Aragon (32); Woodside (31); Westmoor (29); Jefferson (20); Sequoia (17); Half Moon Bay (12); Burlingame (4); and Capuchino (1).

Carlmont girls repeat

The M-A boys’ team championship final score of 94-86 was the exact same of the Carlmont girls’ 2025 PAL championship win over Aragon. This season, the Lady Scots earned a more decisive win, nearly doubling up second-place M-A.

Senior distance runner Daniela Cuadros led the way, earning three first-place medals, including repeats with an exhausting itinerary in the girls’ 3,200 in 11:19.18 and the 4x800 relay. She added a third individual championship in the 1,600 in 5:00.45.

“I was little off my PRs in both of [the individual races], but I’m still putting my best foot forward,” Cuadros said. “I was a little tired after the 1,600, but I still wanted to show up for the [3,200] and do my best. So, I was proud to be able to two-peat for first for that one.”

Carlmont junior Katelyn Elliott took second in both, tabbing a PR of 5:02.89 in the 1,600, and timing the 3,200 in 11:30.33.

Cuadros, Elliott, sophomore Alexandra Farrell and freshman Isabella Schuett teamed to set the meet record in the 4x800 relay in 9:28.27.

All told, Cuadros ran approximately three-and-a-half miles Saturday at breakneck speeds.

“I just think her conditioning is amazing right now,” Carlmont head coach Josh Schaefer said. “She’s in the best shape probably of her life. Coming off her CCS win in cross country for DI, she went to state, she ran really well, she’s really focused on — obviously, she’s a senior, so she did all the college application stuff. ... I think she really just used the running to really just try to push herself to stay focused.”

The Carlmont 4x800 relay team ranks second in the Central Coast Section this season with a time of 9:09.78, at the Mt. SAC Relays, April 17. St. Francis holds the season’s top time in 9:08.04, at the Arcadia Invitational, April 10. The rivalry may cause Cuadros to drop the 3,200 at the CCS Finals, Saturday, May 23, at Gilroy High School.

“Thirty-two is the one that I’m not so sure about because it’s like 10 minutes after the 4x8,” Cuadros said.

The Scots earned individual championships in two relays, as well as both hurdles events.

Carlmont senior Emerson Elyse Barajas topped the podium in the girls’ 100 hurdles with a PR of 15.68. Barajas earned two PAL titles, after setting a meet record the previous week in the girls’ long jump with a PR of 18-01 1/2. She also medaled with a second-place finish in the high jump. Senior Kiana Chen delivered the 300 hurdles title for the Scots in 45.73.

Chen also triumphed in the girls’ 4x400 relay, teaming with Schuett, Farrell and freshman Vivian Ivanov to win it in 4:03.64.

“We’re always just pushing ourselves to be the best,” Cuadros said. “And I think, especially coming into this race, knowing they could take the 4x4 title, they wanted to. And I think that’s our mindset with everything.”

Ivanov was the only freshman to win an individual championship, fronting the girls’ 400 in 58.47.

In the team scoring, Mills (59 points) took third, followed by Burlingame (49); Aragon (43); San Mateo (38); Hillsdale (36); Sequoia (34); Woodside (31); Half Moon Bay (13); Terra Nova (10); Capuchino (8); South City (2); and Westmoor (1).

El Camino senior breaks meet record in 800

El Camino junior Dylan Bullentini denied M-A’s Chopra a second PAL title, and raced into the meet record books doing it. Bullentini took first place in the boys’ 800 with a PR of 1:55.67, eclipsing the former PAL meet record, set by another El Camino standout, Yutaka Roberts, in 1:55.74 in 2021. Chopra placed second in 1:56.88.

Roberts still owns the El Camino program record in the event of 1:51.04, set at the CCS Top 8 meet in 2022, ranking eighth all-time in CCS history.

Carlmont swept the boys’ relays, with senior Landon Schaefer and junior Simon Gehrke each earning two titles. Schaefer and Gehrke teamed with freshman Nathan Kron and junior Daniel Choy in the boys’ 4x800 for a first-place time of 8:06.45. In the 4x400, seniors Connor Schaefer and Andrew Dent joined Gehrke and Landon Schaefer to win it in 3:28.66.

Fitzgerald takes down Adam Tafralis’ shot put mark

San Mateo senior Yianni Fitzgerald broke the PAL meet record in shot put with a throw of 59-0 1/2, surpassing the mark set Mills’ Adam Tafralis in 2002 of 56-2. That makes Fitzgerald a two-time PAL champion, after taking first in discus with a throw of 157-04 the previous week.

Westmoor senior Benecio Laguben set the meet record for boys’ triple jump the previous week with a distance of 48-01. Laguben earned a second title Saturday, ruling the long jump pit with a distance of 22-06.

Jefferson senior Antonio Martinez was a two-time champ as well, taking first in the boys’ 110 hurdles in 15.48, and again in the 300 hurdles in 40.50.

In the girls’ discus, Mills junior Kelailah Johnson earned the title with a PR of 118-01. It was the second PAL crown for Johnson, after winning the shot put championship with a 36-01 the previous week.

Other individual champions: Woodside senior Evelyn Tolver, girls’ 100, 12.26; Aragon junior Amelia Hayden Gephart, girls’ 200, 25.31; Aragon senior Charles Harger, boys’ 400, 49.39; Burlingame junior Elizabeth Carroll, girls’ 800, 2:18.17; San Mateo junior Kaitlyn Schuh, girls’ high jump, 5-04; Mills senior Alexis Ivankov, girls’ triple jump, 35-06 3/4; Sequoia senior Logan Trinklein, boys’ pole vault, 14-02.

Other relay champions: Aragon’s Madison Ketcham, Tessa Matthews, Victoria Chen and Gephart, girls’ 4x100, 49.53; Hillsdale’s Nisith Andrabadu, Christian Salamanca, Elijah Nues and Jonas Bell, boys’ 4x100, 42.79.