Scotts Valley senior distance runner Ava Decleve took home three gold medals during the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League Track and Field Championships this past weekend.
It was nothing short of spectacular, but perhaps the most surprising part was that one of those events was nowhere near her radar at the beginning of the spring campaign.
Decleve sprinted her way to victory in the 200-meters dash in a personal-best 25.24 seconds, edging Santa Cruz junior Joy Roberts (25.85) in second and Aptos senior Ella Boyes (26.56) in third in front of hundreds of screaming supporters at Harbor High School on May 2.
“It’s a quick race, and honestly I’m surprised myself,” Decleve said. “It was a great race just to get leg speed. I’ve hit times that I’ve wanted to hit in it. The girls around me in the 200 are really fast. I was hoping they would pull me. It’s a really fun race, I think that’s why I entered it.”
The UCLA commit also won the 400 race in 57.30 and the 800 in 2 minutes, 18.85 seconds, punching her ticket to the Central Coast Section semifinals at Gilroy High School on May 16.
“Looking back into that ride home, it was really bittersweet because I wouldn’t be racing again in Santa Cruz County,” Decleve said. “But also knowing I went out there and competed the way I was hoping for. That was definitely my goal, to get three golds. I completed that, but I was also sad because I knew this was my final race in this area.”
Decleve was also part of the Falcon 4×800 relay team with senior Dylan Turzak and juniors Hailey and Hanna Shehorn that placed second in 10:03.63. The group earned the second of two automatic SCCAL entries into the CCS semis, which is scheduled to begin at 9:30am.
Aptos won the team title with a score of 220 points, and finished the SCCAL season with a perfect record of 6-0. Scotts Valley placed second with 93 points, followed by Harbor (54.5) in third, Santa Cruz (52.5) in fourth, Soquel (42) in fifth and San Lorenzo Valley (29) in sixth.
Hanna Shehron (11:00.49) earned an automatic entry as runner-up in the 3200. Her twin sister Hailey (11:22.08) took fourth but still earned an at-large entry into next week’s CCS semis.
According to the CCS bylaws, at-large entries are for athletes who did not automatically qualify into the semifinals but their mark is equal to or better than the average of the last-place qualifying mark to the finals from the three most recent years.
Scotts Valley freshman Linnea Hannaleck was runner-up in both the 100 hurdles (17.56) and 300 hurdles (48.73), extending her season for one more week. Teammate freshman Brooke Lesniak was right behind her as she placed third in both the 100 hurdles (17.74) and 300 hurdles (53.51).
San Lorenzo Valley freshman HollyAnn Dickinson was runner-up in the high jump with a final mark of 4 feet, 6 inches, which earned her a spot into the CCS semifinals.
SLV junior Chloe Ryssemus will join her teammate as runner-up in the triple jump with a leap of 32-5.
Turzak nearly earned an automatic CCS entry in the 400 but she barely missed the cut after she placed third in 1:00.67.
Scotts Valley senior Jennifer Brownfield took sixth in the 800 in 2:34.31, and fifth in the 1600 in 5:26.59. SLV juniors Stella Gerlach (6:01.82) and Beth Gabrielson (6:10.05) took sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 1600.
SLV’s 4×100 relay team—Danielle Stiles, Emily Petrov, Dickinson and Madison Fogerty—placed third in 54.88, while the 4×400 relay team—Stiles, Gabrielson, Petrov and Fogerty—took third in 4:31.55.
All of the CCS qualifiers will now shift their focus to next week’s semifinals. In the meantime, Decleve said she’ll go to work as usual.
Earlier this season, she set a personal-best finish of 55.27 in the 400 at the Stanford Invite on April 4. Decleve went on to set a season-best of 2:11.26 after winning the 800 at the CCS Top 8 Invitational two weeks later.
“The past four years have been amazing, and it’s truly made me love the sport and love running,” Decleve said. “Coach Todd [Hoffman] and coach Bradley [Hartman], they’ve always supported me and my teammates through the past four years, and we’ve always been there for each other.”
Boys track and field
On the boys side, Scotts Valley senior Anton Khomenko won the 100-meter dash in 11.30 seconds, while teammate senior Evan Wong took third in 11.41 at the SCCAL Track and Field Championships.
Aptos won the team title with a score of 147 points, and finished the SCCAL season with a perfect 6-0 record. Santa Cruz placed second with 122 points, followed by SLV (101) in third, Scotts Valley (95) in fourth, Soquel (49) in fifth and Harbor (5) in sixth.
In the 200, Wong (23.27) and Khomenko (23.42) sprinted their way to place second and third, respectively, while San Lorenzo Valley senior Daniel Peabody (24.97) took eighth.
SLV junior Colton Ryssemus won the 400 in 51.67, while Peabody (53.47) placed third. Scotts Valley senior William van Haunalter placed eighth in 1:01.48.
Scotts Valley senior distance runner Aaron Weiss won the 800 in 1:54.29. Other top Falcon finishers included senior Nate McKeon (2:02.04) in fifth, Van Haunalter (2:04.22) in sixth, senior Jacob Ezgar (2:07.47) in seventh and junior Joshua Adams (2:08.78) in eighth.
SLV junior Jonathan Santi (4:29.68) placed fourth in the 1600, followed by teammate Lukas Reynolds (5:05.68) in 12th and junior Max Saslawsky (5:31.32) in 16th. Scotts Valley senior Berkeley Aldridge (5:21.17) and junior Ryan Staley (5:40.79) placed 14th and 17th, respectively.
In the 3200, Reynolds (11:29.54) and Saslawsky (12:46.80) took sixth and seventh, respectively.
The 110 hurdles came down to a close finish as Scotts Valley sophomore Aaron Wheeler (17.52) and SLV senior Isaiah Maier (17.83) finished second and third, respectively, behind winner Kaden Steele (16.15) of Santa Cruz. Scotts Valley sophomore Vincent McDermott (19.28) placed seventh.
Steele (41.42) also won the 300 hurdles ahead of Maier (44.20) in second, SLV freshman William Seda (44.83) in third, McDermott (45.58) in fourth and Wheeler (47.83) in seventh.
Scotts Valley’s 4×100 relay team—Caden Kilpatrick, Wong, Khomenko and Jake Locatelli—placed second in 43.89, while SLV’s relay team—Kenji Pane, Peabody, Maier and Charles Kressman—took fourth in 46.05.
Scotts Valley’s 4×400 relay team—Wong, von Haunalter, Khomenko and Weiss—won their race in 3:29.84, edging SLV’s relay team—Santi, Maier, Peabody and Ryssemus—in second in 3:30.62.
Scotts Valley’s 4×800 relay team—von Haunalter, Nate McKeon, Jackson Stull and Weiss—took second in 8:11.19.
SLV sophomore Peter Heery was runner-up in the discus event with a toss of 119 feet, 3 inches. He also placed ninth in the shot put with a throw of 34-5 inches, while teammate sophomore Jackson Bates (34-5) took sixth.
SLV sophomore Finn Lonsdale launched his way to victory in a pair of jump events, winning the high jump (5-10) and triple jump (39 feet).
Scotts Valley senior Vaughn Chomentoski won the long jump with a leap of 19-6 1/2. SLV sophomore Charles Kressman (19-4 3/4) placed third, followed by Lonsdale (18-11 3/4) in fifth and teammate freshman William Seda (18-11 1/2) in sixth.
