TRACK: Mercy, Sacred Heart Win WBAL Titles

In the West Bay Athletic League track and field championships at College of San Mateo on Thursday, Mercy High School of Burlingame and Sacred Heart Prep successfully defended their 2010 team titles in the girls and boys ranks, respectively. But their blueprints for repeating couldn’t have been more different. Mercy relied heavily on its proven veterans while Sacred Heart ushered in a fresh crop of stars.

Mercy, which has won the girls championship each year since the WBAL expanded to include Sacred Heart and Menlo in 2009, amassed 110 points, exactly twice as many as runner-up Menlo, thanks largely to the continued excellence of Veronica Smart and Rebecca Reid. The seniors were both double winners – Smart took the shot put (36 feet, 4 inches) and discus (104-8) for the second straight year, and Reid defended her triple jump title with a leap of 33-11 and also won the high jump (4-10).

Meanwhile, the Sacred Heart boys impressively reloaded after a senior-laden romp last year. On Thursday, the Gators won eight of the 13 individual events – and all of their champions are either juniors or sophomores.

Nico Robinson blew away the field in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles in 16.17 and 42.08 seconds, respectively. He also took second in the high jump (5-10) behind teammate and fellow sophomore Cameron Van (6-0).

Sacred Heart also boasted double winners in juniors Tyler McCool (long jump and triple jump) and Leo Koloamatahgi (shot put and discus). And junior Will Morgan took the 100 in 11.64, one one-hundredth of a second in front of Eastside College Prep’s Lawrence VanHook.

“It’s really exciting. It’s incredible,” said McCool, whose team didn’t have a single repeat champion. “We have all these juniors scoring big. I can’t wait till next year. … We have a lot of team chemistry, so it’s been a lot of fun.”

Sacred Heart (138 points) needed all of that star power to squeak by its archrival for the team title. Menlo, powered by standout distance runners Sam Parker and Matt Myers, and jack-of-all-trades senior Jordan Williams, finished with 135 points.

Crystal Springs Uplands, which swept the boys relays and saw Jeff Grimes win a middle-distance title for the third straight year, finished in a third-place tie with The King’s Academy with 46 points.

(Click here for complete results of the WBAL championships.)

Menlo’s Parker, ranked second in the Central Coast Section in the 800 entering the week, kicked into high gear with about 150 meters to go to pass Andy Martinez of Crystal Springs and then Woodside Priory’s Arnaud Kpachavi. Parker won in 1:58.21. Kpachavi was second in 1:59.04 and Martinez (2:00.42) third.

Earlier, Parker, a Menlo Park resident, won the 1600 for the second straight year, finishing in 4:35.03 to claim a spot in the CCS semifinals at Gilroy High on May 21. (The top two WBAL finishers in each event advance to CCS.)

“Mentally, I was all in for this meet because if I didn’t perform here, my high school track career is over,” said the senior, “and I’d like to see it last another week.”

Myers, a Menlo freshman, used a Parker-esque acceleration down the final straightaway to win the 3200 in 10:23.95. Sacred Heart junior Zach Kaplan, who led for the bulk of the race, was second in 10:26.61. Myers also finished second in the 1600 (4:37.46) and fourth in the 800 (2:06.45).

In the girls competition, Priory distance star Kat Gregory showed little rust despite still dealing with the effects of a stress fracture in her left foot suffered midway through the cross country season last fall. The junior secured a three-peat in the 3200 in 11:31.31, the lone current WBAL athlete with such a sustained run atop any event. Gregory also defended her 2010 title in the 1600 in 5:13.87. She finished fifth in CCS in that event as a sophomore in 5:08.60.

“It was an interesting experience to realize my body isn’t immortal,” related Gregory, who said she was sidelined for nearly four months and had previously competed in the 3200 just once this season. “Probably the toughest thing was not running all winter. I was going stir crazy.”

Castilleja’s Rachel Skokowski, who has repeatedly dueled with Gregory in track and cross country, took second in the 1600 in 5:14.55. The Princeton-bound senior, eager to use the final weeks of her elite prep career as “a stepping stone” toward the collegiate ranks, also won the 800 for the second year in a row in 2:23.99.

Sacred Heart sprinter Maggie Fong, whose team finished third with 45 points, was pleased to finally be rid of perennial foil Angela Gradiska, a 2010 Pinewood grad who won CCS titles in the 100 and 200 each of the last two years. Fong, a junior from Menlo Park enjoyed healthy wins in the 100 (12.62) and 200 (26.21).

Mercy’s Smart led her team’s eye-opening sweep of the throws. Senior Mia Vassallo, a Redwood City resident, was second in the discus (84-1) and third in the shot put (28-5.75). Chauntel Sapp, a junior from South San Francisco, took second in the shot put (29-9.75) and third in the discus (82-4.5).

Smart was thrilled the Crusader trio will realize its season-long goal by heading to Gilroy as a unit.

“From the beginning of the season, we were like, ‘We want to throw this, we want to throw that,’” said Smart, who ranked seventh in CCS in the shot put and 15^th in discus entering the week. “We knew if we (could) reach our goals, everything would fall into place and we’d finish first, second and third.”

Amanda Kielian of South San Francisco aided Mercy’s championship rout by taking second in the 300 hurdles (50.33) and fourth in the 100 hurdles in 17.90. She won both events as a junior. Reid (San Bruno) added a fifth-place finish in the long jump at 14-9.75, capping a striking individual haul.

Menlo freshman Maddy Price, who is in the top 10 in the section in the 400, claimed a WBAL title in that event in 59.03. Mercy’s Regina Fitzpatrick (San Mateo) was second (1:00.25).

Price also teamed with Laura Gradiska, Ellie Still and Sienna Stritter to win the 4x100 relay in 51.87.

Priory freshman Caitlin Teoman, a San Mateo resident, won the 100 hurdles in 17.21, narrowly edging Gradiska (17.29).

Grimes, a Crystal Springs senior, took first in the boys 400 in 50.73. He did not compete in the 800, the event he won as a sophomore and junior.

Grimes also ran the first leg of his team’s winning 4x100 relay and anchored the 4x400 squad.

Cole Woodruff, Trevor Assaf and Anthony Shao helped make up the first relay, which clocked a 45.44. Willy Hawkins joined Martinez, Assaf and Grimes in winning the meet’s final running event in 3:30.80.

Sacred Heart’s McCool won the long jump in 19-5.75 and the triple jump in 40-5.75. He also took second in the 200 in 23.81. Teammate Koloamatahgi went 137-0 in the discus and 43-3.25 in the shot put.

Menlo’s Williams finished second in the long jump (19-1.5), third in the high jump (5-8) and 300 hurdles (45.31) and fifth in the triple jump (36-1).

The King’s Academy’s Stephen Kmak (23.35) won the boys 200, Elyse Williams took the girls long jump (15-8) and Amy Wright claimed the girls 300 hurdles in 48.42. The TKA girls won the 4x400 relay in 4:16.56.