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Sports

TRACK: Local Stars Tune up at CCS Top 8 Meet

Carlmont's Surovell finishes sixth in boys long jump in Los Gatos; Pacheco leads Serra pack.

Burlingame High School's Allison Daley won a nifty stretch battle with Saratoga's Crystal Yen in the girls 300-meter hurdles at the Central Coast Section “Top 8” Classic at Los Gatos High. Daley and Yen were clear of the field down the stretch, with Daley leading the entire way and pulling away slightly at the end on Friday night. Daley won in a time of 45.31 seconds. Yen was second in 45.68.

“It's a good race,” Daley said. “This meet really shows off the competitors in CCS. It's a good showcase. We were tight and I was just over the last hurdle and then I pulled away a little bit. I just looked at the times and they were all pretty close.”

Daley said she was happy with her time.

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“This part of the season, it's a good time,” she said. “I have things to work on. I felt pretty good going over (the hurdles). I didn't have any flubs. But getting out (faster out of the blocks), I'm still working on.”

Daley said she wants to make it to the CCS finals, where she finished fourth last year – good enough to make the California Interscholastic Federation championships on time. There, she was eliminated in the preliminaries. She would also like to lower her personal-best of 44.81, maybe even drop it under 44-flat.

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Another San Mateo County winner was Woodside's Chris Waschura, who took the boys 1,600 in 4:18.34. He took control of the race by the halfway point and scored a nice victory over some top local talent. Waschura outkicked Bellarmine's Kyle Rae (4:18.56) and Cupertino's Peter Anthony (4:19.98).

Waschura said it was Willow Glen's Donald Plazola who got his attention, however. Plazola went out on the lead toward the end of the first lap.

“Luckily, Donald was there to wake me up a bit,” he said.

Waschura won the open (daytime) division of the one mile at the Arcadia Invitational earlier this month in 4:14.66, a victory that gave him confidence.

“Definitely, I had confidence on my side with my race at Arcadia,” he said. “Arcadia was sort of my breakthrough race this year. From here on out, I have my eyes set on CCS.”

Mills' Sabrina Mendoza won a battle of Sabrinas in the girls shot put, out-distancing Sabrina Sandoval of Gilroy by just half an inch. Mendoza won the event at 36-11.5. Mendoza had earlier taken fourth in the discus at 110-9, an outstanding evening for the sophomore. Brielle Rowe of Mountain View won the discus at 123-10.

Mendoza said she likes the discus more, but acknowledged that she is better in the shot put. She also said she can be hard on herself.

“I have high expectations for myself so you'll probably see me angry at myself a lot,” she said. “Every time, I always think, 'Do you want to be good or be great?' It helps me to be better.”

Mercy-Burlingame's Rebecca Reid took second in the girls triple jump at 34-11. That extended her personal-best as well as the school record that she holds in the event. Catherine Li of Los Altos won the event at 36-2.

“I just felt really good today,” Reid said. “My first jump went really well, that was the one I got the PR on. That was a really good jump because my phases were alright. From there, my phases were a little off, my mark was off, so I had to keep changing it.”

Reid said her second phase is the big problem and that she needs to extend it to get better. She also would like to keep her feet up at the landing to gain an extra couple of inches.

“Usually every meet, I do better, I get a PR,” she said. “It's been pretty good this year. I started sophomore year, so I'm still progressing but I've definitely been on my way up.”

The immediate goal is to get past 35-feet, but Reid said she'd really like to get into the high-35 range.

“That would get me a good mark for colleges,” she said. “To get into CCS finals, I would have to get into the 35s.”

Serra senior Dalyn Pacheco took second in the boys triple jump at 43-11.25. Ricky Strehlow of Wilcox won the event at 44-3.25.

“I’m content. I’m not happy with it – I’m content,” said Pacheco, whose mark was nearly a foot short of his Serra Top 7 showing of a week earlier. “It’s just putting it all together, keeping it all consistent -- because I know I have great jumps in me, but I have to have great jumps throughout.”

Aragon's girls 1,600 relay team of Addy Eveslage, Chanel Joyce, Candice de Sauvage and Lauren Croshaw finished third in 4:04.88. Mountain View won the event in 4:00.22.

Croshaw also was seventh in the girls 800 at 2:18.93.

Menlo School's Sam Parker had the lead for most of the boys 800, but took fourth in 1:56.17. Four boys came across the line within .24 seconds of each other. Willow Glen's Plazola, who went sprawling at the end, was the winner in 1:55.91.

Serra’s Luke Longinotti was sixth in the boys shot put at 47-4, and teammate Ben Parodi took sixth in the boys discus 140-0. Fellow Padre Chad Baur was sixth in the boys 100 (11.30) and ninth in the boys 200 (23.13).

Carlmont’s Elliot Surovell finished sixth in the boys long jump at 20-9.75. Two Scots cleared 10-0 in the girls pole vault -- Casey Schade was 10th and Monique Lam took 12th.

Crystal Springs Uplands’s Elsa Valenzuela was eighth in the girls 3200 at 11:37.24.

Allison Sturges of Mountain View had the best mark of the night. Sturges won the girls 800 in 2:12.48, which would rank seventh in California on last week's list. Three other girls broke 2:15 in the race: Nikki Hiltz of Aptos (2:13.36), Kayla Knapp of Los Gatos (2:14.40) and Kieran Gallagher of Gunn (2:14.93).

________________________________________________________________________________

CCS Top 8 Classic

at Los Gatos High School

BOYS

100: Jourdan Soares (Gilroy) 10.98. Others: 6. Chad Baur (Serra) 11.30. 200: J'Tier Favors (Gunderson) 22.08. Others: 9. Chad Baur (Serra) 23.13. 400: Andre Chapman (Bellarmine) 49.11. 800: Donald Plazola (Willow Glen) 1:55.91. Others: 4. Sam Parker (Menlo School) 1:56.17, 13. Andy Martinez (Crystal Springs Uplands) 2:01.68. 1,600: Chris Waschura (Woodside) 4:18.34. Others: 18. Andrew Menzel (Serra) 4:35.21. 3,200: Kevin Bishop (Monta Vista) 9:17.98. Others: 14. Nathan Madonich (South San Francisco) 9:39.58, 20. Ryan Dimick (Carlmont) 9:51.57. 110 hurdles: Sean Goetzl (Aptos) 14.77. 300 hurdles: Scott Medina (San Benito) 37.99 (meet record; old record: 38.06 Guy McGowan, 1997). 400 relay: Gilroy 42.28. 1,600 relay: San Benito 3:21.38. Others: 10. Crystal Springs Upland 3:35.18. HJ: Stephen Dorsey (Monterrey) 6-6. PV: Keith Rayburn (North Monterrey County) 14-6. Others: Joe Rosario (Serra) no height. LJ: Khalil Johnson (St. Francis) 22-7 ¾. Others: 6. Elliot Surovell (Carlmont) 20-9 ¾, 10. Dominic Goodman (South San Francisco) 19-11. TJ: Ricky Strehlow (Wilcox) 44-3 ¼. Others: 2. Dalyn Pacheco (Serra) 43-11 ¼. SP: Richie Casas (North Monterrey County) 52-10. Others: 6. Luke Longinotti (Serra) 47-4, Ben Parodi (Serra) no mark. Discus: Richie Casas (North Monterrey County) 155-7. Others: 6. Ben Parodi (Serra) 140-0.

GIRLS

100: Shelby Smallwood (Valley Christian) 12.39. 200: Iesha Hardiman (Wilcox) 25.32. 400: Iesha Hardiman (Wilcox) 56.68. 800: Allison Surges (Mountain View) 2:12.48. Others: 18. Mei-Lin Okino (Carlmont) 2:25.67, 22. Corin Soelberg (Carlmont) 2:28.53. 1,600: Nikki Niltz (Aptos) 4:55.37. 3,200: Anna Maxwell (San Lorenzo Valley) 10:48.90. Others: 8. Elsa Valenzuela (Crystal Springs Uplands) 11:37.24. 100 hurdles: Crystal Yen (Saratoga) 15.25. 300 hurdles: Allison Daley (Burlingame) 45.31. Others: 11. Greer Chrisman (Burlingame) 50.41, 12. (tie) Amanda Kielian (Mercy-Burlingame) and Megan Benham (St. Francis) 50.69. 400 relay: Archbishop Mitty 49.49. Others: 13. Burlingame 52.67. 1,600 relay: Mountain View 4:00.22. Others: 3. Aragon 4:04.88. HJ: Michellie McDonald-O'Brien (St. Ignatius) 5-5. PV: Taylore Jaques (Presentation) 11-8. Others: 10. Casey Schade (Carlmont) 10-0, 12. Monique Lam (Carlmont) 10-0. LJ: Ailene Nguyen (Saratoga) 17-9. TJ: Catherine Li (Los Altos) 36-2. Others: 2. Rebecca Reid (Mercy-Burlingame) 34-11. SP: Sabrina Mendoza (Mills) 36-11 ½. Discus: Brielle Rowe (Mountain View) 123-10. Others: 4. Sabrina Mendoza (Mills) 110-9.

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