Track and Field: Five Grizzlies Ready for State

For California High senior Colleen Lillig, competing against the best distance runners in the state is hardly a new experience.

She participated in the state Cross Country meet the past four years and will be making her second appearance at the Track and Field Championships on Saturday in Clovis, where she'll wrap up her high school career in the 3,200-meter final.

This time it'll be a little different.

"We have three girls on the distance team and we're all going to state," Lillig said. "It's really exciting."

When Lillig won the 3,200 at the North Coast Section Meet of Champions in 10 minutes, 43.08 seconds on Saturday at U.C. Berkeley, she was followed in second place by teammate Elaine McVay who shaved off 15 seconds from her personal record.

"My coach (Dave Hill) stressed 80 seconds a lap, so that's all I focused on," said McVay, who finished in 10:51.22.

While Lillig was a near-lock to go to Clovis and McVay figured to have a good shot at finishing in the top-four to qualify as well, freshman Heather Donner's chances in the 800 didn't seem as good.

As Donner made the final turn they looked even worse, but the competitive freshman found another gear and chased down Deer Valley senior Jamira Cox in the final meters and held off Monte Vista sophomore Mikaela Hammitt to finish fourth and grab the last qualifying spot.

"She doesn't even understand how big of an accomplishment it is to go to State as a freshman," said Hill, who coaches the Cal distance runners. "At the end of the race she was disappointed. She told me she wanted a better time."

Watch the race

Donner balanced track with her club soccer commitment during the season, which Hill said provided an interesting dynamic.

"She comes from a sport where the goal is to win," he said. "In practice, she wasn't intimated training with Colleen. She wanted to keep up and that made her better."

In practice, Hill made sure Lillig, McVay and Donner made a habbit of running past the finish line as opposed to running to it — in Donner's race it paid off.

"I wish I could say I had a master plan that worked out," Hill said. "But it really was just all three of them working hard. They just got better and better."

Along with the three distance runners, the Grizzlies will have sophomore Noel Frazier and senior Andre Rawls competing in the high jump.

Frazier is the second-ranked sophomore in the state with a seeded mark of 6-foot, 7-inches, while Rawls — who doubles as the goalie on the soccer team — came in ranked No. 22 in the field with a height of 6-foot-4.

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