Tomkinson off to fast start for Menlo T&F

While Tomkinson settled for eighth place among some of the best distant runners in the state, her time of 5 minutes, 3.87 seconds was a historic one. She not only broke Menlo’s program record for the event, she also recorded the best time in the history of the West Bay Athletic League, breaking the record of 5:04.28 set by Menlo’s Lizzie Lacy in 2015.

”Obviously she’s used to shorter races on the track,” Menlo head coach Jorge Chen said. “This is a bigger race for her but she did really well.”

Was it the biggest splash of Tomkinson’s junior season to date? Certainly not. And it seems the best is yet to come for the 2018 Central Coast Section champion in the 800 meters, an event in which she took sixth place at the state championship meet.

Running the mile is an important warm-up for her, though. She has another off-brand race set for this coming Saturday at the Stanford Invitational, where she plans to run the girls’ 400. This leads up to April 5-6 and the Arcadia Invitational in Los Angeles, where she will return to her specialty 800 for a preview of the state championships later this year.

Tomkinson has already clocked two of the most impressive 800 runs among California high school runners this season. She opened the season at the New Balance Nationals in New York City with a time of 2:13.03. It was the best time in California for exactly one week before she bettered it at the Dublin Distance Fiesta with a 2:10.61.

“She’s obviously one of the top runners not only in the state of California but in the country as well,” Chen said.

These are the early marks of a runner on a mission. Tomkinson is competing with a proverbial chip on her shoulder after a disappointing outcome at last season’s state meet. Sixth place is nothing to scoff at, sure. It put her on the podium as a sophomore after all. But her finals performance began with an upsetting restart when the runner in front of her tripped, causing Tomkinson to trip over her.

While a restart was declared for the mishap happening inside the opening 50 meters of the event, Tomkinson was visibly rattled.

“For me, I thought she could have been top 3 last year,” Chen said. “Unfortunately she got tripped up, things didn’t go her way. But she was still a podium finisher … and that’s very good. Nothing to be sad about. But after that race she knew she could go a lot faster. So, it gave her a lot of motivation.”

The motivation carried over to difficult decision come her junior year. As an underclassman, Tomkinson played girls’ soccer at Menlo but this year opted to run for the iGreyhounds winter club team on the indoor track circuit. As a result, she missed out on Menlo’s CCS Division I girls’ soccer championship.

The trade off seems to be in the exceptional outlook of Tomkinson’s junior track season.

“In some ways she felt like she has some unfinished business to be taken care of,” Chen said. “And she’s obviously taking care of it this year.”

Menlo junior Kyra Pretre saw an encouraging outcome with a program change of her own. While Tomkinson was competing in the mile — a rarer event in the high school ranks — Pretre ran in the 1,600 meters at Azusa, setting a new personal record of 5:01.73. She also set a PR in the 800 later in the day with a time of 2:14.29.

M-A girls shine at Serra Top 7

Menlo-Atherton seniors Jessica Eagle and Sara Osterberg each topped the podium twice as the M-A girls captured the team championship Saturday at the Serra Top 7 meet in San Mateo. The Bears totaled 86 points, topping second-place Carondelet (74.5) and third-place Notre Dame-Belmont (52).

Osterberg topped the field in the 1,600 with a time of 5:20.93. She went on the win the 3,200 with a time of 11:42.09, outdueling M-A teammate Claire Beebe down the stretch. Beebe, a sophomore, recorded a second-place time of 11:43.95.

Eagle shined in the girls’ 100, taking first place in 12.46 seconds. Eagle also topped the podium in the girls’ 4x100 relay, along with seniors Autriyana Hardy, Maggie Hall and Lauren Collinsworth, with a time of 49.57.

Mills senior Tessa Chan won the 800 with a time of 2:21.85.

In the field events, Terra Nova senior Carly Watts continued her march to discus and shot put dominance. Watts took the discus title with a top throw of 139 feet, 7 inches. She also topped her CCS-best mark set the previous week, firing a first-place distance of 45-6.

St. Ignatius sophomore Megan Ronan, of Burlingame, took the title in the girls’ long jump with a distance of 18-2.

Serra boys repeat in 4x100 relay

For the second straight year, Serra took the title in the boys’ 4x100 relay. The all-junior team of Juan Pablo Roa, Nate Sanchez, Terence Loville and Dylan Eaton topped the podium with a time of 43.70. Sanchez also took second in the boys’ 400 in 50.99 seconds.

Serra took second place in the team competition with 58 points, finishing well back of Santa Teresa (83). De La Salle and Menlo-Atherton tied for third place (56 apiece).

M-A earned two individual boys’ championships. In the 100, M-A junior Francisco Sanchez won with a time of 11.34 seconds, topping Serra’s Eaton (11.38) in a photo finish. M-A senior Cole Mediratta took first in the boys’ 3,200 with a time of 9:52.72.

Sacred Heart Prep senior Max Cluss took first place in the boys’ 1,600 with a time of 4:29.28.