It was just April 18, still six weeks from the Central Coast Section finals, yet the 34th Top 8 Track and Field Classic certainly had a championship vibe to it.
Even before the running program started, seniors Luis Macial of Willow Glen and Marisa Kwiatkowski of Wilcox set the tone by winning the discus and triple jump with marks that rank among the top five in the state.
Macial heaved the discus 181 feet, 9 inches, a personal best and fourth best among California boys this season. Kwiatkowski, the state leader and No. 2 in the nation with a hop, skip and jump of 41-2.75 back in February, reached 40-3.5 to win at the Top 8, her third 40-plus triple jump of the season.
Then from the first race to the last, competition was fierce and San Jose City College’s springy Mondo track yielded PR’s galore.
The Los Gatos girls’ 400-meter relay team of junior Marina Torras, seniors Greta Wagner and Hannah Chen and sophomore Caice Lanovaz set a new meet record of 47.49 seconds, the 10th fastest time in the state. The same group won the 1,600 relay in 3:55.19, a 7-second margin over runner-up Scotts Valley, and the second fastest time in the CCS this spring.
Each member of the Los Gatos quartet scored points in other events too, helping the Wildcats repeat as Top 8 girls champions. They totaled 76 points, nearly double the scores of the closest challengers, Valley Christian (39) and Gunn (38). Piedmont Hills (35) and Scotts Valley (28) rounded out the top five. Wilcox (22), behind Kwiatkowski’s wins in both horizontal jumps, was seventh and Pioneer (16) tied for ninth, most of the points coming from senior Jeanine Noordam’s victory in the 800.
There were two heats for most varsity boys and girls events, with three for the short sprints and relays. There was one final for each frosh-soph contest. A scoring system of 10-8-6-4-2-1 rewarded the first six finishers in each event, including 10 points for individual winners.
Santa Cruz edged Bellarmine 69-60 for the boys title. Palma (38) was third, Menlo-Atherton (36) fourth and Willow Glen (24) fifth, mainly due to Macial’s wins in the discus and the shot put (53-11.75). Branham (19) was sixth out of 40 scoring teams, behind the efforts of a pair of juniors, hurdler Aidan Kirwan and pole vaulter Zachary Nichols.
Serra won the frosh-soph boys competition, racking up 98 points, more than the combined total of runner-up Mt. Pleasant (42) and third-place Archbishop Riordan (35). Lynbrook, paced by sophomore Grant Robison’s record-setting distance double, was fourth with 32.
Wagner, who will compete at UCLA next spring, scored four gold medals for the Los Gatos girls. In addition to the two relay victories, she cleared 12-7 to win the pole vault over Presentation senior Taylore Jaques (12-1) and raced to a first-place tie in the 100-meter dash with Menlo School senior Maddy Price. Both runners stopped the clock at 11.94, a blink better than Piedmont Hills freshman Reonna Collier (11.97). Lanovaz ran 12.13 for fourth.
Collier was a double winner herself, scoring CCS bests in both hurdles events. In the 300, Chen posted a school record 42.54–fourth fastest in the state–and pushed Collier to 42.41, the state’s second fastest time. Both times eclipsed a 27-year-old meet record (42.70) set by Leigh’s Effie Daetz in 1987.
Lanovaz took second in the long jump with a season best 18-2, six inches short of Kwiatkowski’s winning leap, and Chen was fourth with a wind-aided PR of 17-6. Leigh senior Lani Tran took sixth with a leap of 17-4.
Torras won the second 200-meter race in 25.74 and placed fourth overall. Gatos junior Melina Moore finished second in the high jump, clearing 5-2, three inches off her PR.
The winner was former Wildcat Mady Fagan of Saratoga, who cleared 5-6. Pioneer senior Caren McCarthy and two other girls cleared 5-0, but McCarthy was awarded third based on fewer jumps.
In the 800, Noordam clocked a season best 2:13.62 and edged Piedmont Hills junior Bianca Bryant (2:14.87), reversing last year’s CCS final when Bryant (in second) finished just ahead of Noordam (third) and both qualified for the state meet in the event.
Los Gatos junior Erin Chessin placed fourth in the same race with a PR of 2:18.58, but her time was sixth fastest overall.
In the 1,600, Presentation senior Hannah Wood finished third with a PR of 5:02.49, and Los Gatos junior Cecily Johnson was seventh with a season best of 5:10.09.
Gunn senior Sarah Robinson ran away with the girls 3,200, setting a new meet record at 10:16.98. Harker freshman Niki Iyer was second at 10:57.39, a PR and fifth fastest in the CCS this year. Monta Vista junior Jenny Xu was sixth with a PR of 11:07.10.
Valley Christian athletes dominated the girls throwing events, as sophomore Elana Bruckner (46-1.5) was first and junior Ronna Stone (41-5) second in the shot put.
Stone was first in the discus with a throw of 118-11.5 and Bruckner (111-7) was fifth. Emma Seyer, a Monta Vista senior, placed fifth in the shot with 35-5.75. In the discus Matadors senior Kiersten Chuc was 11th with an effort of 99-10, one place behind Willow Glen junior Kiya Paul (103-3).
Lynbrook’s Robison broke a pair of 32-year-old meet records as he romped to frosh-soph victories in the long distance events with faster times than the ones posted by the varsity winners. He covered the 1,600 in 4:19.48, breaking the old record of 4:22.70, set by Overfelt’s Sean Crowley in 1982. In the 3,200, Robison’s 9:27.33 became the new standard, supplanting the 9:32.80 run by Leigh’s Chris Craig.
In the varsity four-lapper, Los Gatos junior Chris Foster (4:21.08) took second, right behind Monterey senior James Welsh (4:20.21) and just ahead of Bellarmine soph Marcus Avila (4:22.81).
Los Gatos juniors Jack Sexton (4:27.21) and Ben Haderle (4:27.95) both had big PR’s, each going under 4:30 for the first time while finishing first and third in the second heat.
Westmont junior Samuel Blake won the varsity 3,200 with a PR of 9:28.21. Willow Glen junior Fenn Hoppe just missed a medal, but earned a PR with his seventh-place time of 9:38.60. Rams senior Abdinur Hussein finished ninth with a PR of 9:40.63.
Kirwan, the CCS leader in the 300 hurdles, lowered his PR to 38.91, as he edged Palma senior Devin Hinson by .01. Lincoln junior Jacob Hoekstra’s first sub-40 time, 39.87, earned third place after he nabbed second in the 110 highs with a PR of 14.78. Kirwan ran 15.05 for sixth in the highs.
Junior Tony Moller of Los Gatos produced PRs in both hurdles events, winning the second 300 group with 40.10, after taking seventh in the highs with 15.24. Willow Glen senior Phillip LoPresti was second in Moller’s 300 heat with a PR of 41.30.
Los Gatos junior Marcus Lanovaz dashed to second in his heat of the 100 and seventh overall with a time of 11.19, and he placed eighth in the long jump with a leap of 20-2.5.
In the pole vault, Branham’s Nichols soared 14-8 for a PR and second place behind Mt. Pleasant senior Mark Nicholas (15-10).
Saratoga’s Steven Sum, the section’s top 3,200 runner, won his heat of the 800, but his time of 1:58.15 was third best of the evening. Bellarmine senior Adam Greenlow was the fastest finisher at 1:57.33.
In the frosh-soph two-lapper, Lincoln sophomore Frank Zhou won with 1:59.92.
Saratoga senior Eric Ringsrud sprinted 22.55 to earn fourth in the 200 and finished ninth in the high jump with a leap of 5-10.
Junior teammates Hakeem Mays and Isaiah Sires-Wils each clocked a PR in the 100, Mays placing fourth at 11.10 and Sires-Wils ninth with 11.25. In the 200, Sires-Wils finished seventh in 22.85 and Mays was ninth in 22.96.
Leigh senior Rahul Sirasao took fourth in the 400 with a PR of 50.42 and Lynbrook senior Davis Catolico was sixth in 50.55.
Catolico also earned a second-place medal with his triple jump of 44-7.25. Bellarmine senior Grant Bush won the event with 45-5.
Leland senior Jack Weeks cleared 6-2 for fourth in the high jump.
Saratoga sophomore Tanner Zuleeg placed second in the frosh-soph shot put, heaving the 10-pound steel ball 49-9.5. Leland sophomore Trevor Lippi was fifth with a 43-11 effort.
