Falcons’ runners prepare for CCS finals | High school track and field

The scene is all set for a trio of Scotts Valley High athletes participating at this weekend’s Central Coast Section Track and Field Championships.

Senior distance runner Jeremy Kain, junior sprinter Sam Freeman and sophomore distance runner Ashlyn Boothby will compete alongside 12 other local athletes at Gilroy High School on Saturday.

Field events start at 3pm and running events start at 5pm. 

The top three finishers in each event will advance to the CIF State Championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis from May 27-28. 

Boothby finished in 5-minutes, 03.42 seconds at last week’s CCS semifinals, earning her a spot in this weekend’s championships. 

She admitted that it wasn’t her best finish and she was dealing with a cold that entire week leading up to the qualifiers. 

“I was not feeling great going into that race, so I just did enough to qualify,” Boothby said. “I’m happy that I pulled that off because I got some serious competition at CCS finals that I’m really looking forward to going up against.” 

Boothby set a personal record of 4:52.81 at the CCS Top 8 competition in Los Gatos in April. She was three seconds slower than the top competitor, Castilleja High School junior Samira Kennedy, who has a personal record of 4:49.37. They competed against each other at the CCS Top 8.

Boothby said her goal is to qualify for the CIF championships. She should expect to advance, but there’s also a possible upset in the making for first place if she can match or exceed her personal best.

“I’m going to try to stick with them the best that I can, hopefully outkick them and qualify for State,” she said. “I don’t know, we’ll see what happens. It’ll be tough, though.” 

Another great race to watch will be the boys’ 400 which will feature Freeman and Santa Cruz senior Caleb Womack. Both runners had the two best times in the semifinals in 49.62 and 49.73, respectively. 

“I really never saw it in the cards for this season,” Freeman said. 

Freeman set a personal best at last week’s CCS semis, while Womack clocked in a personal best in 49.68 at the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League finals. 

The competition ahead of them are Will Brennan (49.51) of Los Gatos High  and Jeremiah Earby of Menlo-Atherton, who has a blazing personal record of 48.75. 

Freeman said they all have similar times and his goal is to sit on Womack throughout the entire race until about the final 100 meters. 

“I’m expecting that race to be a dog fight, it’s going to be tough,” Freeman said. “It’s going to be decided in the last 100 [meters], for sure.”

Freeman began the season running in the 52-second mark, which was in the lower or middle of the pack for CCS qualifiers. 

He said a big part of his improvement was feeding off the energy from some of the faster guys in the SCCAL such as Womack. 

“At CCS [semifinals], it all just came together perfectly,” Freeman said. 

Freeman has also been receiving help from sprints coach Christina Robinson, who is the assistant coach of the cross country team. 

She introduced a fuller warm-up system that includes hurdle mobility, which helps loosen up the legs.

“The workouts are good and she always shows up, has a really good attitude and it helps feed what we need to do, and it helps us want to work,” Freeman said.

Kain, who is committed to compete next year at Duke University, had the second fastest times in the 800 (1:55.84) and 1,600 (4:18.50) in last week’s semis.

He was satisfied with his results and he believes it was very telling of what the finals could look like. 

“The seed goal is always to survive and advance, just make it to the next round,” he said. “These more championship-style races definitely can be a bit more strategic but I was pretty confident in my body and how I was feeling.”

Kain will once again race against Aptos High junior Trent Nosky, who won the 1,600 at the SCCAL finals. This newly formed friendly rivalry should be fun to watch. 

Kain set a personal record in the 1,600 meters in 4:07.77 at the Arcadia Invitational, while Nosky set a personal best in 4:14.87 at the CCS Top 8 Meet. 

Kain is expected to advance to the CIF state qualifiers but there are at least three other runners that can spoil the drama. Tanish Chettiar of Bellarmine (4:14), Harrison Dance of Saratoga (4:12), and Mateo Fessimeier of Palo Alto HS (4:12).

“It’ll provide some pretty serious competition, which I’m excited for,” he said.

Kain will have a second race about an hour later in the 800. He will need to fend off Crystal Springs High junior Furious Clay and at least two other runners if he wants to be top dog. 

“I’m really excited for finals, I think I’m in a pretty good spot and just coming off the trials I feel my body’s pretty strong and things should be going well.”

*Additional reporting by Raul Ebio, special to the Press Banner

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CCS Track and Field Championships