Sacred Heart Prep’s Maxime Morelle continues to pace CCS shot put at Stanford Invite

Morelle dialed it in nonetheless, reeling off a top chuck of 58 feet, 3 inches, enough to hold off San Mateo senior Yianni Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald placed second with a throw of 56-7 1/2.

“It was as tough day but he was able to pull it out,” SHP assistant coach Charles Olaires said.

Morelle’s top throw of the season still stands at 63-2, recorded March 21 at the St. Francis Invitational. It’s the best throw by 1 foot in the Central Coast Section this season, and the second-best throw in the state, back of Redondo Union’s Bo Ausmus at 63-7 3/4. Fitzgerald ranks third in CCS at 59-4 1/2, also at the St. Francis Invite.

“It’s to a point, our goal at the end of last year and the beginning of this season, whenever he had a bad day it would be better than his best day last season,” Olaires said.

With Sacred Heart Prep taking a senior trip to Puerto Vallarta last week, Morelle returned Friday evening. He settled in Saturday during the preliminary round, qualifying for the finals on his first throw.

The senior stayed with his rotational mechanics, despite unexpectedly competing on the more slippery surface of the adjunct shot put pit. Most of the throwers attempted to compensate by using extra chalk on their shoes, while some augmented their mechanics entirely.

“All things considered, having just traveled ... he was able to lock in,” Olaires said.

Long jump hijinks

It was a banner day for San Mateo County in the long jump. In the college portion of the meet, College of San Mateo secured the championship in the men’s long jump, as Noah Gonzalez, a freshman out of St. Ignatius, outdueled Fresno Pacific’s Micah Vossler with a distance of 22-9 3/4. Vossler finished at 22-9 even.

In the boys’ long jump, Westmoor’s Benicio Labuguen, one of the school’s most promising jumpers in a generation, wrestled with a bonkers day in the jumping pit Friday to take sixth place. Labuguen returned Saturday to place fifth in the boys’ triple jump at 45-2 1/4.

Problems in the long jump stemmed from hot weekend weather wreaking havoc on the electronics used to measure the jumps. After the first flight of the day, there was a substantial delay as the laser gauge malfunction, Westmoor head coach Ron DiMaggio Sr. said.

“They were having difficulty getting the exact angle,” DiMaggio said. “It was comical. ... Sometimes the elements make it very hard. And Im’m not saying it was the fault of the people doing it. ... Stanford has first-class stuff. You would think sometimes it just comes out, and it doesn’t.”

Labuguen took sixth in the long jump at 22-7. The senior owns the third-best long jump in CCS this season, and the second in triple jump.

“I’m extremely pleased,” DiMaggio said. “We took it very conventional going through, taking a limited number of jumps. We’re gearing for June. I have to assume ... he’ll be jumping in the state meet the first of June.”

DiMaggio last had a jumper place in the state meet in 2005 when Jaime Gonzalez finished fourth in boys’ long jump. In 2004, Westmoor’s Julian Eisan reached the podium in boys’ triple jump in fifth place.

Carlmont girls take second in DMR

Carlmont’s Daniela Cuadros, Isabella Schuett, Katelyn Elliott and Vivian Ivanov delivered a second-place finish in the girls’ 4,000-meter distance medley relay, recording a time of 12 minutes, 1.55 seconds. St. Francis was the only team to crack the 12-minute barrier, blazing to the meet championship in 11:59.68.

Carlmont junior Simon Gehrke also claimed a second-place finish, running the boys’ 800 in 1:54.25. Willow Glen junior Noah Tally was first in 1:53.81.

In the boys’ DMR, Menlo-Atherton claimed a second-place finish in 10:22.38. Vacaville won the event in 10:19.92. Menlo School placed fifth in 10:27.45.

Other results ...

Crystal senior Anna Salter finished top 3 in the girls’ 800 Saturday at Cobb Track, claiming a time of 2:11.48. Carondelet senior Gretchen Yakaitis placed first in 2:10.57. Salter was also a fourth-place finisher in the girls’ 1,600, with a time of 4:52.45. Palo Alto’s Amaya Bharadwaj took first in 4:49.28.

In boys’ discus, Serra senior Tevita Heimuli took fourth place with a throw of 158-4, with Sacred Heart Prep senior Maxime Morelle seventh with a 155-10.

Also earning a fourth-place finish was Notre Dame-Belmont senior Allison Yue in the girls’ pole vault, cracking 11 feet at 11-0 1/4. Reno junior Mackenzie Sellers ruled the pit with a first-place vault of 11-10.

San Mateo junior Kaitlyn Schuh placed fourth in the girls’ high jump at 5-2 1/4.

Carlmont senior Kiana Chen was fifth in the girls’ 400 hurdles in 1:05.10. Carlmont took fifth in the boys’ 4x400 relay with a time of 3:21.86.

M-A senior Cason Mitchell placed sixth in the boys’ 3,200 in 9:12.93.

Menlo sophomore Lawrence Onyejekwe raced to a third-place finish in the boys’ 400 hurdles with a time of 54.33, with Elk Grove seniro Cy Lugo winning by over a full second in 52.28. Harker senior Brady Tse was second in 53.35.

In the boys’ pole vault, Sequoia senior Logan Trinklein placed sixth with a top vault of 14 feet, 4 1/2 inches. Coppell’s Noah Schuller was first at 16-2.