Several members of the Paly boys’ track team will advance to the Central Coast Section semifinals next week, following some solid performances in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League qualifiers on Friday, May 15, at Los Gatos High School, earning the team eighth place.
The meet kicked off with a Viking win as the 400-meter relay team of seniors Paul Brown and Kasey Fields, junior Daniel Jones, and sophomore Miles Anderson finished first in a personal best of 43.58 seconds.
The relay team felt satisfied with its performance and excited for CCS.
“Everything seems pretty good,” Fields said. “My hip did not bull up on me. We were not hurt. We were fresh. Miles [Anderson] kept his form and did not lose the lead.”
Anderson agrees and feels optimistic about CCS.
“I think it’s going to be fun,” Anderson said. “We should do good.”
Although Anderson did not manage to qualify individually in the 100-meter race, Jones finished first in both his 100-meter and 200-meter heats, ranking him second overall in the 100-meter at 11.13 seconds and third overall in the 200-meter race at 22.72 seconds. Brown finished fourth in the 400-meter at 51.06 seconds.
In the 3,200-meter race, both junior Philip MacQuitty and senior Skyler Cummins qualified for CCS with third and fourth place finishes, respectively. Both ran comfortably to qualify without putting too much strain on their legs.
“I wasn’t going all out, but I was trying pretty hard,” MacQuitty said. “I was just trying to qualify. Next week, I’m just going to qualify for finals, and then at finals I hope to win again like I did in freshman year. My first hard race will be at CCS finals, and hopefully it will be a good one.”
Cummins also did not push himself too hard.
“I just ran to qualify, and I qualified,” Cummins said. “I’ve got two races in the next two weeks where I have to go all out, so today I just wanted to stay in control.”
Although they failed to qualify for CCS, several other Paly athletes had remarkable performances.
In the 1,600-meter race, junior Peter Wilson managed to complete his race after Mountain View runner Chris Wells accidentally tripped him early in the race.
“I got hooted [tripped] after 200 meters,” Wilson said. “My stride was coming down, and he clipped me.”
Wilson picked himself up and fought through the rest of the race alone behind the pack.
“I got back up and I was about seven seconds behind the guy I was running next to,” Wilson said. “I was running by myself. I tried coming up, but at that point I was just wasting my energy.”
Distance coach John Welsh shared Wilson’s disappointment.
“It was really disappointing, but there’s not much you can do,” Welsh said. “It just pains you because he trained so hard. Peter always runs tough, and he got right back up.”
Welsh was also proud of junior Josh Newby’s effort in the 3,200-meter, in which he finished in 9 minutes, 54.08 seconds. Although this was not fast enough for Newby to qualify for CCS, it was a five-second improvement from his previous best.
“Peter [Wilson] and Josh Newby were long shots to qualify,” Welsh said. “Josh ran a great time. You can’t complain with a five second PR [personal record].”
Another great effort came in the high jump as junior Michael Hueschen cleared 5 feet, 10 inches, tying his personal best. Although this jump did not qualify him for CCS, Hueschen felt satisfied with his performance and sees plenty of opportunity for improvement next year.
The CCS qualifiers will race again in the CCS trials at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 23 at Gilroy High School.