Three members of the Paly boys’ track team will compete in the 2010 state track meet on Friday after qualifying at Central Coast Section finals last week at Gilroy High School.
To qualify, athletes had to finish in the top three at CCS finals. Seniors Philip MacQuitty and Tyler Nigro along with junior Maurice Williams were the only Viking qualifiers, finishing second in the 1600-meter race, high jump and triple jump, respectively. MacQuitty is the only veteran state qualifier, as he qualified in his freshman year by placing first in the 3200-meter race in 9 minutes, 11.99 seconds and also in his junior year, when he placed third in the 3200 in 9:10.93.
This year, MacQuitty qualified in the 1600 in 4:12.97, his fastest 1600 time and just short of his converted time from the mile of 4:12.45, a Paly record. Had MacQuitty run this time last year, he would have easily won the meet, but Pioneer’s Weston Strum won this year’s CCS Finals in 4:12.16.
MacQuitty was nonetheless satisfied with his performance, as the state meet has been his target since the beginning of the season.
“It felt good to qualify,” MacQuitty said. “It’s been the goal to make it to states and hopefully the final. Top five in the final would be awesome.”
Only the top 12 athletes will advance to the finals in the 1600 at states, and currently neither MacQuitty nor Strum is ranked in the top ten 10.
Nigro qualified in the high jump by clearing 6 feet, 4 inches. Nigro was very happy about his performance as he also set the state meet as his goal in the beginning of the season. Having made it this far, he has little expectations for placing at states, but he does hope to set a personal record.
“I know that I wont match up very well against the top guys in the state, so my goal will be to just do the best I can and hopefully get a new PR [personal record] of 6’6″,” Nigro said.
To qualify for state finals, jumpers must finish in the top nine or clear the same height as the ninth place jumper, with a maximum of 12 athletes advancing. None of the CCS finishers are currently ranked in the top 10 in the state, and the ninth best mark is 6’8.25″.
Williams qualified in the triple jump with a jump of 46’1.50″, finishing behind Santa Cruz’s Taylor Kientzel, who is currently ranked eighth in the state.
Only the top nine marks in the triple jump will qualify for the state finals, and the 10th-ranked jumper in the state has jumped over 48 feet, making Williams’ chances of qualifying for finals rather slim. However, a more attainable goal is the Paly record, set by jumps coach Tolu Wusu in 2003, of 47’2.25″.
Other athletes that competed in CCS finals included senior Daniel Jones in the 100-meter race, senior Josh Newby in the 3200 and senior Bennie Williams in the high jump. In addition, sophomores Tremaine Kirkman and Morris Gates-Mouton, junior Miles Anderson and M. Williams competed in the 400-meter relay.
An irritated hamstring prevented Jones from competing to his best ability in the 100, as he finished eighth in 12.32 seconds, far from the 11.09 he ran at CCS Trials. Jones will continue running next year at Yale University. His most memorable memories from this year include the 10.97 100-meter he ran at the K-Bell Invitational in the beginning of the year and the 400-meter race in the Paly-Mountain View dual meet against Mountain View’s senior Mark Rutner.
Newby also finished off his personal best in the 3200, finishing seventh in 9:38.58. He was seeded fourth after trials, in which he ran 9:30.31. Newby will continue running next year with Carnegie Mellon University, but he will miss high school competition.
“I felt really nostalgic competing in my last high school meet,” Newby said. “It made me realize how much I’m going to miss my teammates and coaches.”
B. Williams equaled his trials performance by clearing 6’2″ for 10th place, off the 6’4″ height he cleared at the first dual meet of the season against Mountain View.
Meanwhile, the 400-meter team set a personal record of 43.28 seconds to finish sixth, an improvement from its eighth place seed from trials. The relay team just managed to qualify for CCS Finals by slipping into the final qualifying spot in 43.86 seconds.
The athletes advancing to states will compete again next Friday at Buchanan High School in Clovis.