Failing to have an athlete finish higher than third place in all of the individual events during Thursday’s track and field meet, Monta Vista could do nothing to stop the drive of Paly’s varsity boys’ team, who sailed to a comfortable 115-12 win over the Matadors.

During last year’s dual against Monta Vista, the varsity boys garnered a 104-22 victory; Thursday featured an even sweeter domination over Paly’s fellow De Anza League squad.

“They were no competition,” thrower junior Ashraf El Gamal said of Monta Vista’s team.

In another Paly takeover of the scoreboard, the Vikings swept first, second, and third place in six individual events: the 1600-meter, 100, 800, 200, 3200, and high jump. The first two places of the rest of the individual events all went to the Vikings, while the best any one Matador could accomplish was third place in only seven out of 13 individual events.

Paly’s 1600-meter relay members were the only Vikings to relinquish a first place finish to the Matadors, but, as this event was the last of the meet, a Monta Vista win meant an increase in its score from seven points to a still meager 12.

Both the 100- and 300-meter hurdles featured first and second place domination from the Paly duo of junior Pascal Truninger and senior Mohammed Abid. Truninger edged Abid by 0.2 seconds for first place in the 100 hurdles with a time of 16.4 seconds. Abid earned second in the race, shattering the time he clocked in for the 100 hurdles against Mountain View last week by more than one second.

The two switched ranks in the 300 hurdles, with Abid crossing the finish line first at 44.6 and Truninger second at 45.3. All in all, Truninger and Abid collectively gathered 16 points for the varsity boys in a grand performance from the Viking hurdlers.

“The hurdle unit is really strong,” Abid said. “So far, Pascal and I have taken first and second in every meet we’ve been in. We’re looking good for leagues.”

Another solid one-two came from sophomore Phil MacQuitty and junior Charlie Avis in the 1600 and 800 runs. MacQuitty earned first in both races with a time of 4:34.1 in the mile and 2:01.7 in the half-mile, with Avis finishing at a close second in both at 4:35.5 for the mile and 2:01.7, a fraction of a second behind MacQuitty, for the half-mile.

The trio of sophomore Daniel Jones and juniors Paul Brown and Bobby Holman handily swept the 100 and 200 sprints. Jones, Brown, and Holman finished first, second, and third respectively in both sprinting events, accumulating a quick and easy 18 points altogether.

Not only did Paly runners rout the Matadors Thursday, but the throwers and jumpers also overwhelmed Monta Vista competition.

El Gamal placed first in the shot put at 37 feet, 11 ¼ inches. He found the Monta Vista competition to be so lacking that he says he ended up throwing just for himself, rather than focusing on contending with the Matadors. Junior Andy Maliska claimed second in the shot put at 37’5” and first in the discus at 119’19”.

The matadors even failed to send in athletes to compete in the high jump, according to senior Dom Powell, which meant an easy nine points from first, second, and third place finishers Powell, sophomore Tyler Nigro, and junior Frank Wan respectively, essentially just for clearing the bar and competing amongst themselves.

Such definite success at an early stage certainly supports a bright outlook for the team.

“We’re looking really good early on in the season,” Powell said. “We’re going to dominate.”

Furthermore, after Paly’s impressive demolition of Monta Vista Thursday, Abid can only offer, with a smile, one piece of advice for the Matadors: “Monta Vista should just stick to academics.”

The varsity boys’ track and field team hopes to continue its early season momentum to secure a win against cross-town rival Gunn next Thursday, March 20 at 3 p.m. on Gunn’s track.