Three San Lorenzo Valley High runners and one Scotts Valley High distance runner qualified for the Central Coast Section finals with strong races at
Gilroy High on May 21.
Cougar distance runner Anna Maxwell won both of her events, the 1600 and 3200 meter races. Teammate Cody Johnson, a sophomore, took second in the 800 in 1:55.72 and Nick Hicks, a senior, qualified 11th out of 12 runners in the 3200.
Scotts Valley sophomore Vanessa Fraser took second in the 3200 behind Maxwell to qualify for the CCS finals on Saturday, May 28 at Gilroy High School.
In the 1600, Maxwell edged out her Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League rival, Aptos’ Nikki Hiltz, by just over two seconds finishing in 5:01.08 (Hiltz finished in 5:03.71).
Maxwell cruised to the win for her heat in the 3200 meters, leading at times, by as much as a quarter-lap. Fraser, her longtime friend, won the other heat in 11:07.46, roughly 13 second behind Maxwell.
The rest of the local competitors seemed to be cursed. Athletes just missing qualifying spots by hundredths of a second, by technicalities, bad days and by default.
Scotts Valley pole vaulter, Alex Benko, cleared the qualifying mark of 13 feet, but tied with five other vaulters at the same height and got bumped off the list.
SLV pole vaulter Amanda Lackides cleared 10 feet but missed qualifying by six inches. 10-6 was the winning height, and the height she had cleared earlier in the SCCAL finals.
Falcon hurdler Ranae Malone took 9th place in the 300 meter hurdles but missed qualifying by .14 seconds.
SLV freshman Abby Sherman turned in the 9th fastest time in the 800 meters but missed the qualifying mark by one tenth of a second.
Falcon 1600 runner Abby Utic missed moving on by five seconds in her race, finishing in 5:16.37.
High jumper Evan Hilton, of Scotts Valley, was four inches from the finals in high jump clearing 5-10.
Cougar thrower Cameron Kellogg, threw 100 foot 3 inches in the discus, just five feet behind the qualifiers and two feet from the shot put finals, throwing 34 feet even.
Despite many top ten finishes, the valleys will be represented by just four athletes in the finals this weekend.
