Mills girls’ track remains only undefeated team in PAL duals; M-A freshman dazzles

Talton may be new to the PAL circuit, but she’s got plenty of experience. She’s spent the past six years running for the East Palo Alto Greyhounds.

“I knew coming into M-A the coaches are really, really good,” Talton said. “I wanted to be challenged and I want to get better.”

M-A head coach Aisha Swayzer was glowing about her freshman’s performance, and with good reason. Talton added a first-place finish in the girls’ 200 in 25.84.

“Mostly it’s her work ethic,” Swayzer said of Talton’s ability. “And she has a natural form.”

Mills hosted the three-team dual with M-A and Sequoia. The team scoring is done head-to-head, with the Mills girls earning two wins to remain the only undefeated team in PAL duals. The Lady Vikings outscored Sequoia 91-44. Sequoia entered the meet as the only other unbeaten team in PAL duals. Mills also defeated M-A 88-40.

Mills junior Jackie Pan is quite the feel-good story. Pan earned two distance wins, topping the field in the girls’ 1600 with a time of 5:25.88. She also won the girls’ 3200 in 12:16.58.

“I feel like we’re doing very, very well,” Pan said. “We’ve got an influx of really good underclassmen … so they’ve been really pushing our team.”

Pan is coming off a challenging cross-country season, in which she only hit stride toward the end. She was diagnosed with anemia during the fall, and started taking iron supplements to continue running. The result was a strong finish at the PAL cross-country championships, when she earned the fifth and final individual Central Coast Section bid.

“So, I barely made it,” Pan said.

Pan said Mills has some strong freshman up-and-comers as well, citing freshman Chloe Amayun as distance runner to watch.

“She’s been keeping me on my toes,” Pan said.

Three of M-A’s top girls’ runners — Tatum Olesen, Annie Pflaum and Chloe Pilette — drafted to take second, third and fourth place, respectively, in the girls’ 1600. The trio is gearing up for M-A’s trip to Arcadia this weekend, where their sights are set on the girls’ distance medley relay.

Olesen took second in the 1600 with a time of 5:52.96; Pflaum took third in 5:52.98; and Pilette took fourth in 5:53.01.

Other girls’ results:

Mills junior Alyssa Draheim earned two first-place finishes, winning the girls’ 400 in 1:01, and the 800 in 2:33.82; M-A sophomore Sara Nordlund won the 100 hurdles in 16.64; M-A junior Yael Stewart won the 300 hurdles in 51.66; M-A won the 4x100 relay in 50.91; and Mills won the 4x400 relay in 4:29.53.

In the field events, Draheim won the high jump for Mill with a top jump of 4 feet, 6 inches; Mills freshman Alexis Ivankov won the long jump with a 15-02; Mills sophomore Reece Roach won the triple jump with a 30-02; and Sequoia sophomore Desiree Huffer won the shot put with a 29-09, and the discus with a 40-09.

Sequoia boys split

Sequoia earned one win 76-41 over Menlo-Atherton, but fell in a closely-contested head-to-head score with Mills 67-65.

Senior sprinter Leimana Makasini enjoyed a fine day for the Ravens, earning two individual wins with a time of 11.57 in the boys’ 100, and a 23.04 in the 200.

“I think I did good,” Makasini said. “I wasn’t feeling so good beforehand, so I’m just glad to win the heat.”

Makasini’s best performance of the day, however, was running the anchor leg in the 4x100 relay. Makasini took the baton in third place in the three-team race, 10 yards back of the leader, and proceeded to chase down the field for the win. Sequoia finished with a first-place time of 44.62, edging out Mills’ second-place finish of 44.92.

“Big, long strides,” Sequoia coach Mike McRae said of Makasini’s running style. “(He) gallops down the track.”