Shearer accounts for 38 points to help Silver Creek girls tie San Lorenzo Valley for second behind first small school champion Menlo; Los Gatos produces second-highest total by boys program in meet history with 83-point effort

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Menlo School became the team with the smallest enrollment to win a girls title and Los Gatos ended years of frustration by capturing its first boys team crown Friday at the CIF Central Coast Section Championships at Gilroy High in Gilroy, Calif.

Menlo, which captured its first Division 4 girls cross country section championship in program history in November, relied on the efforts of Charlotte Tomkinson, Kyra Pretre, Alexandra Chan, Michelle Louie and Lauren Hamilton to accumulate 53 points to prevail over Silver Creek and San Lorenzo Valley, which tied for second at 38 points.

Los Gatos produced the second-highest total by a boys team, receiving contributions from Joey Monti, Masaki Wada-Law, Matt Monti, Luca Bommarito, Vincent Foster, Oliver Aristil and Max Gurevitz to amass 83 points, with St. Francis Mountain View achieving its first runner-up finish since 2005 with 56 points.

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Bellarmine College Prep made its 11th straight appearance on the podium, finishing third with 42 points, led by Colin Peattie doubling in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters, running a section sophomore record 4:11.52, before returning with a 9:27.42 effort to complete the sweep.

Only San Jose Independence, which won seven titles in an eight-year span from 1981-88, scored more points in a Central Coast Section boys final than Los Gatos with 85 points in 1988.

Los Gatos had finished runner-up five times in program history, including 2016. The Wildcats placed fifth the past two seasons.

But Los Gatos relied on winning the 4x400-meter relay in 3:20.86, Wada-Law prevailing in the 110 hurdles (14.49), Aristil capturing the high jump with a 6-6 clearance (1.98m), in addition to securing the top two spots in the 300 hurdles and shot put to contribute 66 points to its overall total.

In addition to teaming up on the 4x400 relay, Joey Monti (38.09) and Wada-Law (38.47) swept the 300 hurdles, with Matt Monti and Gurevitz producing marks of 53-3.25 (16.23m) and 53-2.50 (16.21m) to take the top two places in the shot put for Los Gatos.

St. Francis Mountain View, which earned one title with Scott Toney prevailing in the pole vault with a 15-9 clearance (4.80m), continued to improve from sixth in 2016, fourth in 2017 and third last year.

Tomkinson and Pretre had a significant presence for Menlo, which didn’t score a point at the 2016 final, before improving to 31st in 2017 and sixth last year with 25.5 points.

The duo took the top two spots in the 800, with Tomkinson – third in the 400 in 57.35 – clocking 2:13.69 to prevail over 1,600 champion Pretre, who followed her 5:01.58 effort with a 2:15.16. They also contributed to a runner-up finish in the 4x400 relay, edging third-place Los Altos by a 3:56.74 to 3:56.75 margin.

San Lorenzo Valley won the 4x400 in 3:55.75, the third victory for senior Camryn Crouch, who also triumphed in the 200 in 24.97 and 400 in 56.53. She helped the Cougars place second for the first time since 2000.

After helping Silver Creek secure its first title since 1977 by joining forces with Arianna Fisher to contribute to a 65-point effort last season, senior Jazlynn Shearer accounted for all of the Raiders’ points Friday, capturing the 100-meter hurdles in 13.86 seconds, producing a winning leap of 18-9 (5.71m) in the long jump and recording a victorious mark of 38-8.50 (11.79m) in the triple jump, along with taking second in the 100-meter dash in 12.18 seconds.

It marked the third year in a row Silver Creek placed in the top two and the sixth time in program history.
Azjani McGill also made the podium in four events for Monterey, winning the 100 in 10.82 seconds, the 200 in 21.56 and contributing to the victorious 4x100 relay, which clocked 41.92. Monterey also placed fourth in the 4x400 in 3:25.13.

Santa Teresa, which placed fourth with 39 points, received a victory in the boys 400 from Omodiaogbe Oboh in 48.71 and another in the triple jump from Jared Vazquez at 46-0.50 (14.03m), with Westmont junior Garrett MacQuiddy clocking 1:54.83 to prevail in the 800.

Silver Creek sophomore Charlie Dang won the boys discus with a personal-best 168-6 (51.35m) and The Kings Academy senior Bralyn Lux earned the title in the long jump with a leap of 23-4.25 (7.11m).

Menlo-Atherton senior Jessica Eagle won the girls 100 in 12.07 and contributed to victory in the 4x100 relay in 48.22. Los Gatos junior Abby Monti became the third member of her family to win an individual title, clocking 44.18 in the 300 hurdles.

Carlmont junior Kaimei Gescuk, the section’s reigning Division 1 cross country champion, secured her first championship in the 3,200 in 10:42.15.

It was a split decision in the girls throws, with Terra Nova senior Carly Watts capturing the shot put with a mark of 46-2 (14.07m), edging Notre Dame Belmont senior Krissy Smoot at 45-7 (13.89m). Smoot returned to win the discus with a throw of 142-4 (43.38m) to prevail against Watts at 140-4 (42.77m).

San Jose Presentation senior Isabella Grant won the pole vault title on fewer misses following a 12-6 clearance (3.81m) and Santa Clara sophomore Maia Garcia cleared 5-6 (1.67m) to capture the high jump crown after placing second last season.

Westmont senior Jessica Swalve, the national leader this season in the heptathlon with 4,807 points April 5-6 at the Arcadia Invitational, qualified for state in three events. Swalve placed second in the 100 hurdles (14.50), 200 (25.13) and tied for runner-up in the high jump with a 5-2 clearance (1.57m) to account for all 23 of the Warriors’ points.