San Lorenzo Valley High has another Central Coast Section champion: Freshman distance runner Anna Maxwell won the 3,200-meter run at Gilroy High to win her first CCS track and field championship May 25.
Maxwell qualified for the state championship with the run and also qualified for state in the 1,600 after finishing third.
Joining her at the state championship will be Scotts Valley sophomore Vanessa Fraser and SLV sophomore Cody Johnson.
“This was really a tremendous push for both Cody and Anna,” SLV coach Rob Collins said. “Both of them were dealing with a flu bug issue — Cody ran with the flu, and Anna was just getting over it.”
The trio will head to the state track meet Friday and Saturday, June 3 and 4, at Buchanan High in Fresno.
Maxwell, who is ranked third in the nation for freshman 1,600-meter runners and sixth among freshmen in the 3,200, missed lapping other runners in the field by fewer than 10 meters and earned the 16th-seed spot at the state meet for both the 3,200 and the 1,600.
Fraser, the only representative from Scotts Valley to move on to state, finished third behind Maxwell in the 3,200. The run qualified her for a No. 20 seed in Fresno.
SLV distance runner Nick Hicks exceeded expectations and finished ninth in his 3,200-meter race. According to Collins, Hicks had no idea he would make it as far as he did.
Johnson netted a third-place finish in the 800 meters, which fit him into the state meet in the No. 28 spot. Johnson is ranked 17th in the nation among sophomores. His season-best time is 1:55.72, which he ran in the CCS preliminaries.
Johnson was stuck in a battle for third place with Valley Christian’s Sean Davis as the two sprinted to the finish for the coveted third spot that would send the runner on to state. As Davis tried to pass, he tripped over his own feet just a few meters from the finish line. Johnson had to bounce to the side and step around the fallen runner, earning the third-place finish in 1:57.79.
“This was all just about getting through it and moving on to state,” Collins said. “They both did such a great job under the conditions they were facing. I am very proud of them.”
The state meet preliminaries are today. The finals will be Saturday, with field events at 4 p.m. and running events at 6.
For information: www.cifstate.org/sports/state/track_field/index.
