Menlo-Atherton sweeps PAL track and field championships

By night’s end, though, it was Menlo-Atherton that reigned supreme, as the Bears took the team titles in both the girls’ and boys’ varsity meets.

“Everybody did a great job,” said M-A senior Jeremiah Earby, who finished the day by bringing home a first-place finish in the boys’ 4x400 relay with an inspired anchor leg. “Some people had some PRs. Some people have come in as an alternate and done some great things. I’m just proud of everybody on our team.”

M-A had already sealed the boys’ varsity team championship by the time the 4x400 team of Earby, Myles Jackson, Brandon Scott and Jalen Moss stepped onto the track for the finale event. The Bears totaled 81 points, topping second-place Woodside (55) and third-place Aragon (50).

Earby played a major role in the Bears’ title and tallied several personal records of his own. He topped the podium in the boys’ 200 with a PR of 22.29, and also PR’ed with his second-place run in the 400 of 48.75. In the 4x100 relay, along with Flood, Moss and Johnnie Barbie, Earby earned his third PAL title with a team time of 43.76.

The senior saved an impressive lap for last though, taking the baton from Moss while M-A was running neck-and-neck with San Mateo.

“I really just paced the 4x4,” Barbie said. “I knew if my third leg, Jalen, got me the baton with a lead, or just anything where I could just be able to run a nice, smooth pace, I’d be good with it. And he did exactly that. He got it to me in the lead and I just ran a good pace.”

Earby ran from behind for the opening 200 meters but took off like a rocket around the final turn to lift the Bears to win in 3:31.64, nearly 1.8 seconds ahead of San Mateo.

“I just knew I had a lot in the tank,” Earby said. “I just let it out on the last 200.”

The M-A girls’ 4x400 team finished with a second-place run in 4:19.98, with Hillsdale’s team of Lia Mora Ramirez, Tianna Waring, Colleen Lucey and Kira Wilmurt taking the title with a time of 4:15.31. The distance was too much for M-A’s anchor leg, Tatum Olesen, to make up, but the sophomore exploded down the stretch to hold off third-place Carlmont (4:20.81).

“I was a little wiped out from my other races too,” Olesen said. “But I think just trying to make up more time and ground, not all the way passing her, but just making up as much ground as I could, would be good.”

M-A won the girls’ varsity team championship with 81 points, topping second-place Hillsdale (68) and third-place Aragon (54).

Olesen earned two individual titles, topping the field in the girls’ 800 with a time of 2:21.06, out-touching teammate Annie Pflaum, as the sophomore took second-place in 2:21.11. In the 1,600, Olesen and Pflaum dueled it out again, with Olesen needing a PR to win it in 5:04.36, and Pflaum taking second in 5:05.41.

Photo finish in girls’ 100

What a finish it was in the girls’ 100, with .09 seconds separating the top four runners.

Daniels said she got a late start off the gun but made up for it with a first-place time of 12.92; Hillsdale senior Grace Snodgrass took second in 12.98; Westmoor senior Heart Nobel Dean took third in 13.00; and M-A sophomore De’Auri Ellis took fourth in 13.01.

“I would say I was pretty confident because, coming to the end, I had a little bit of a lead,” Daniels said.

Dimick dominates

Had Dimick taken a victory lap after his first-place performance in the boys’ 3,200, he may very well have lapped every runner on the track. The Carlmont senior ran an explosive final lap, picking off seven runners, and pulling away from second-place finisher, Ethan Brooks of Woodside, who PR’ed with a time of 9:41.92.

Brooks also took second place in the boys’ 1,600, finishing back of Hillsdale senior Andrew Taylor, who took the title with a PR of 4:23.78.

In the girls’ 3,200, M-A sophomore Cleo Rehkopf took the title with a PR of 11:25.14.

Elco’s Roberts pacing CCS

El Camino senior Yutaka Roberts ran the race of his life in the boys’ 400, topping the field in 48.12. He certainly needed the PR time to hold off Earby, as the M-A senior recorded the second-best time at 48.75 in the Central Coast Section this season. Roberts produced the best time in CCS thus far, however.

“A lot of it was the competition,” Roberts said of the benchmark time. “And also, I went all out. So, I was feeling pretty good this time.”

Roberts — who also holds the top CCS time in the 800 this season in 1:51.04 — took the PAL title in the boys’ 800 with a time of 1:57.89.

Hillsdale rules hurdles

Hillsdale senior Zach Leighton swept both boys’ hurdles events. He earned the title in the boys’ 110 hurdles with a PR of 15.96, topping Westmoor senior Brendan O’Connell’s second-place time of 16:30.

O’Connell sat out the boys’ 300 hurdles to nurse an injury, and Leighton ran away with the title with a PR of 40.92.

O’Connell — who earned a special waiver to compete in the PAL finals after missing the trials due to a positive COVID test — was content to qualify for the CCS championships in the 110 hurdles.

“If I run him (in the 300 hurdles), he’s not going to run next week,” Westmoor head coach Ron DiMaggio said. “And the whole goal was to make CCS.”

Hillsdale senior Ailish Kissane took the title in the girls’ 100 hurdles in dominant fashion. Her time of 16.27 was over a full second ahead of Half Moon Bay sophomore Kamryn Lamprecht’s second-place time of 17.29.

Lamprecht won the girls’ 300 hurdles title in 47.52 seconds, topping Kissane’s second-place time of 48.27.

Other boys’ champions: Capuchino sophomore Jax Bonney, 100 meters, 11.16; Carlmont junior Richard La Grill, shot put, 43 feet, 5.5 inches; Terra Nova senior Jack Gillen, discus, 128-01; Woodside senior Luke Buddie, high jump, 6-02; Aragon junior Erik Dodge, pole vault, 13-06; M-A’s Barbie, long jump, 21-00.5; and Capuchino senior Isaac Nishimoto, triple jump, 42-07.

Other girls’ champions: Burlingame sophomore Cora Haggarty, 200, 26.21; Burlingame’s Haggarty, 400, 58.45; M-A’s Rehkopf, 3,200, 11:25.14; Hillsdale’s Kissane, Snodgrass, Makena Anderson and Katherine Lim, 4x100 relay, 51.70; Capuchino senior Emma Haungatau, shot put, 31-09.75; Cap’s Haungatau, discus, 93-07; San Mateo senior Gwynn Chio, high jump, 5-00; Sequoia sophomore Abby Goetz, pole vault, 9-04; Aragon sophomore Pia Cho, lng jump, 16-11.75; and Carlmont junior Naomi Metzler, triple jump, 34-02.