Serra relays flex closing speed to claim 3rd at CCS Track and Field Championships

Heading into the race, Serra was sitting in fifth place in the team standings with 26 points. The 10 points awarded for the 4x400 win moved the Padres into third place to claim the final team podium spot with 36 points, leapfrogging Woodside (33) and St. Francis (33), who finished tied for fourth.

“It means a whole lot,” Labrador said. “I feel that we’ve definitely been looking forward to this the whole season. The kind of team we are, we always wait till the last race. ... So, it feels great.”

Serra claimed three individual championships at the meet. Earlier in the day, the 4x100 relay team of Labrador, Coughlin, Henley and Jusiah Vinson set a new program record with a first-place time of 41.44. Senior Luke Lewis also made his mark on the record books in the shot put, reeling off a first-place distance of 61 feet, 10 inches on his penultimate throw to break his own program record set earlier in the year.

Henley also added points with third place in the boys’ 400 in 48.21 seconds, finishing back of an immortal by Woodside senior Mattheo LaCasia, who won it in 46.92, a new meet record and the sixth fastest time in CCS history.

It was Henley’s epic finish in the 4x400 that sealed the podium finish, though. The stage was set with Serra running in lane 3, next to St. Francis in lane 2. The sophomore gained a tempo ahead of the pack through his first 200 meters before falling back just before the final turn behind both St. Francis and Mountain View.

“He’s the type of person to always catch them instead of lead the race,” Labrador said. “So, once I seen him kind of get past, I didn’t have any worries. I just knew. I knew he was going to get it on the straightaway.”

Henley’s slingshot into the straightaway saw he and Mountain View anchor Amir Ware gain some space. Serra had lost a 4x400 race to St. Francis by fractions of a second earlier in the season, and when Henley and Ware hit the tape, it seemed Mountain View might have done the same. Just fractions of a second later, however, Henley threw up his hands in victory.

“When I saw him put his hands up, I was like: ‘Oh, we’ve got this,’” Buret said.

Bellarmine won the boys’ team championship with 72 points, while St. Ignatius was second with 54. Crystal, backed by wins from senior Benjamin Bouie in the 1,600 and the 4x800 relay, placed 10th with 20 points. Menlo was 12th with 20 points, thanks largely to senior Landon Pretre’s first-ever individual CCS track championship in the 3,200. Hillsdale placed 18th with 13 points. Sacred Heart Prep rounded out the top 20 in the 58-team field with 12 points to place 20th.

Two big finishes for Henley

Henley’s anchor leg in the 4x100 was also dramatic as he battled with Hillsdale anchor Jonas Bell down the stretch. Serra and Hillsdale finished one-two, with the Hillsdale team of Bell, Noah Nues, Sineth Andrabadu and Kingston Hua recording a time of 41.81.

“It feels great,” Henley said. “Two San Mateo people running against each other. We knew it was going to be a hard race and we just had to focus and just get the race done.”

The race was even when Henley took the baton for the final 100 meters, but the sophomore relied on the explosiveness that helped him break his own Serra record in the 400 (47.82 at the WCAL championships) earlier in the postseason.

“I think we were even,” Henley said. “I think he was a tiny bit in front of me, and I just knew I had to run my race and make sure we finished that race.”

Coughlin makes his mark

As the WCAL Forward of the Year in boys’ soccer, Coughlin decided to try out his renowned soccer speed as a sprinter by joining the Serra track team this season. He only joined the 4x100 relay team midway through the season, and spent even less time with the 4x400 relay team; Saturday’s CCS finals marked his first turn ever in the event.

“I wanted to do it do the last couple years because, for soccer, I’m pretty quick,” Coughlin said. “So, I showed up to the first meet. I think I did pretty well and I just kept going, and now we’re here.”

Henley and Vinson were part of the 4x100 relay team that set the Serra record last season at the WCAL Championships. The sudden addition of Coughlin proved even faster.

“Right when Nate came in, we knew: ‘Oh yeah! We’re going to be a good team. We’re going to break the school record again,’” Henley said.

Coughlin wasn’t expecting to run in the 4x400 finals. At the preliminaries the week prior, Vinson ran the third leg, but Coughlin was thrust into action Saturday.

“That was outstanding, because it was his first time running in the relay,” Labrador said. “And he’s never run a 400 in high school. So, it’s crazy to think all that talent was just sitting there. In my opinion, he’s the reason that we won this race.”

Nordlund hurdles M-A into 10th

Menlo-Atherton was the county’s top finisher in CCS girls’ team standings, taking 10th place with 25 points. With the top three finishers in individual events qualifying for the CIF State Track & Field Championships held this coming Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High School in Clovis, M-A senior Sara Nordlund punched her ticket to states in both hurdles events.

Nordlund took third place in the girls’ 100 hurdles in 15.19, while Los Altos junior Daniela Hughes blew away the field with a first-place time of 14.64. Mercy-Burlingame junior Sydney Domingo took fifth in 15.63 for a podium finish. Nordlund followed that with a second-place finish in the girls’ 300 hurdles in 44.57, with Mitty junior Shiloh Haliburton-Rudy claiming first in 44.23, and Carlmont junior Kiana Chen taking third in 45.17.

Also earning points for M-A was freshman Caroline Pflaum in the girls’ 1,600, taking fourth place in 4:57.66. In girls’ pole vault, junior Katherine Cueva took third place with a personal record 11 feet, 3 inches.

Burlingame’s Boyse takes care of business

Setting the pace in the girls’ pole vault all season has been Burlingame senior Avery Boyse, who earlier in the year, at the Peninsula Athletic League championship trials, broke her own PAL record and became just the eighth girl in CCS history to touch 13 feet with a vault of 13-00.

Due to a strong crosswind during the girls’ pole vault finals Saturday, as well as Boyse still quite pale while battling through illness, the senior didn’t have her best day in the pit. Still, her best vault of 11-9 was enough to claim the CCS title. Boyse tied with Leigh senior Quinlyn Abel, but won the championship via tiebreaker format.

Other individual champions include:

Bouie won the boys’ 1,600 with a CCS championship meet record of 4:06.02. Menlo senior William Houser placed fourth in the event with a PR of 4:10.37. The senior then teamed in the 4x800 relay with Cameron Kani, Tarik Baker and Conrad Chern to claim first place in 7:51.87, including a remarkable anchor leg by Bouie of 1:50.3. Crystal junior Anna Salter took third place in the girls’ 1,600 in 4:56.63.

Pretre earned the boys’ 3,200 championship for Menlo in 8:48.57, marking his first individual CCS track title. He is the youngest of three Pretre siblings who have all run at Menlo, including Kyra Pretre and Justin Pretre. The youngest Pretre also owns the 2023 CCS boys’ 4x800 relay championship, along with his brother Justin. Nueva senior Ryan Fitzpatrick placed fourth in the 3,200 with a PR of 9:04.87.

Menlo made it a clean sweep in the 3,200 races as senior Veronica Taira earned the girls’ 3,200 championship in 10:48.53. In just her second year as a distance runner, Taira owns the best 3,200 time in the CCS this season of 10:35.88 from her April 11 performance at the Arcadia Invitational. Sacred Heart Prep senior Sophie Cheung placed fourth in the 3,200 in 10:59.58.

Other placers include:

SHP junior Oskar Herlitz took second place in the boys’ long jump with a distance of 22-11 3/4, setting a new program record. Herlitz took down the previous mark of 22-10 set by Nico Robinson in 2013.

San Mateo sophomore Kaitlyn Schuh took second place in the girls’ high jump, matching the championship height of 5-4 by Monta Vista junior Lelani Laruelle, who won via tiebreaker format. Schuh, also a standout player on San Mateo’s PAL Ocean Division champion girls’ basketball team, is still the top sophomore in the CCS high jump this season. Carlmont junior Emerson Elyse-Barajas took fifth with a 5-2.

Woodside senior Evan Usher medaled in two field events. He took second place in the boys’ discus with throw of 162-08, finishing ahead of San Mateo senior Emmanuel Fitzgerald’s third-place throw of 162-04. In the shot put, Usher placed fifth with a 57 9 1/2.

Westmoor junior Benicio Labuguen took second place in the boys’ long jump, hitting a personal record 46-05.

In the boys’ 200 meters, Woodside’s Lacasia added to his medal count with a third-place finish of 21.63. He also teamed in the 4x100 to take fourth in 42.22, along with Isaiah Jacobo, Brody Gentner and Carmel MendesGrassia.

In addition to his second-place finish in the boys’ 4x100 relay, Andrabadu placed fourth in the boys’ 100 in 11.04.

In the boys’ 4x800 relay, Carlmont’s Simon Gehrke, Daniel Choy, Landon Schaefer and Sean Conley took fourth place in 7:57.54. In the girls’ 4x800 relay, Carlmont’s Daniela Cuadros, Katelyn Elliott, Anita Metzler and Sarita Josephson took fifth place with a time of 9:27.59.

In girls’ discus, Sequoia senior Desiree Huffer took fifth place with a 126-06.

In the boys’ 400, Aragon junior Charles Harger reached the podium in fifth in 48.79.

In the boys’ 300 hurdles, Menlo freshman Lawrence Onyejekwe took sixth place in 39.93.

In boys’ pole vault, Sequoia senior Axel Larson took sixth place with a 13-08.