Serra Top 7 meet another stepping stone for Bay Area’s elite on eve of Stanford Invitational

3/25/2019

By VYTAS MAZEIKA | vmazeika@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

Senior Max Cluss won the 1600 and finished 3rd in the 800 at this weekend's Serra Top 7. On the girls side, Kegan Shaw finished 2nd in the long jump.

SAN MATEO — The Menlo-Atherton track and field squad put forth a display in both sprint and distance events, De La Salle and Carondelet took a 50-mile trek from Concord to test themselves against Central Coast Section competition, while CIF state football finalists from M-A and DLS left an impression Saturday at the 32nd annual Serra Top 7 Invitational.

Here’s a look at some of the highlights from the meet (plus, each of the gold medalists listed below) …

Bears sweep 100 and 3,200 for boys, girls

M-A senior Jessica Eagle, the reigning CCS champion in the girls 100-meter dash, is rounding into form after not only crossing the finish line first in 12.46, but also running the second leg of the winning 400 relay. “My goal is just to be ahead of where I was last year here,” said Eagle, who will compete next weekend at the Stanford Invitational, but plans to skip Arcadia. “I really didn’t have a PR in mind, I just wanted a season-best. And I knew that it was going to be a little windy, so it wasn’t really about the time, it was more like a glorified practice a little bit.” M-A senior Sara Osterberg ran 12 laps to claim gold in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters, then credited teammate Claire Beebe for help midway through the latter. “She actually passed me and it kind of just reminded me that even though there’s nobody ahead of me I still have to push myself to get the times that I want,” Osterberg said. The confidence boost off this meet could propel her to a strong finish this spring. “The past two weeks haven’t quite gone as planned going coming into this season,” said Osterberg, who will run the mile for the Bears in the distance medley relay at Stanford. “I think it was mostly sleep deprivation. And I’ve been hearing back from colleges, so that’s been kind of stressful in my life. I think getting past that time I’ve been able to catch up on sleep and just really focus on finishing a solid senior year of track.” On the strength of those victories, the Bears took first as a team with 86 points, with Carondelet as runner-up (74.5). In terms of the boys, M-A junior Francisco Sanchez edged out Serra junior Dylan Eaton by four-hundredths of a second to win the 100 dash in 11.34, while M-A senior Cole Mediratta beat out De La Salle senior Connor Livingston by less than two-tenths in the 3,200 with a time of 9:52.72.

NCS meets CCS from across the Bay

Carondelet sent a delegation to San Mateo that included individual champions in Journee Harvey (300 hurdles: 49.54) and Kelly Kern (pole vault: 12 feet, 1 inch) on top off the fastest 1,600 relay (4:11.65). De La Salle, its neighbor in Concord, also made its presence felt at the Serra Top 7 Invitational. “It’s all about competition, basically,” DLS senior Amir Wallace said. “We want to go against the best people, drop our times and compete.” Wallace swept the 110 and 300 hurdles for the boys, winning each event with ease by almost a full second in 15.26 and 40.50, respectively. That doesn’t mean he was satisfied. “I can’t complain, but I’d rather have a clean race and compete than have a messy race and win,” Wallace said. “It’s all about time now because I’m trying to qualify for Arcadia and eventually go to state.” Ideally, in terms of technique, he would’ve preferred to snap the trail leg harder. “The faster you get to the ground, the faster you run,” said Wallace, who is skipping Stanford to focus his attention on Arcadia.

Two state titles as a senior?

Wallace, a football standout who spent this past fall roaming the secondary for CIF state Open Division runner-up De La Salle, isn’t the only member of the all-Bay Area News Group first-team defense that participated in the meet. M-A senior Noa Ngalu, a 6-2, 280-pound defensive tackle bound for Washington, finished 11th in shot put and second in discus, nearly 10 feet behind DLS senior Michael Okoye (157-7½). “This whole time I’ve just been stand and throw, while everybody uses the full spin technique,” Ngalu said. “But I’m getting there.” After helping the Bears claim the Division 3-AA state trophy in December, Ngalu once again has his sights set on lofty goals. “I’m trying to see if I can get two state titles in one year,” he said. “That would be nice.”

Saints make some noise on the track

Serra closed out the varsity portion of the meet on its track as winner of the boys 1,600 relay. That was enough to secure second place with 58 points, while M-A and DLS tied for third just two points behind. None of them could keep pace with Santa Teresa, the runaway winner with 83 points. Omodiaogbe Oboh led the way for the Saints with a seemingly comfortable sweep of the 200 and 400 meters in 23.03 and 49.65, respectively. “I’ve been working on breathing and keeping composed, so a lot of people today have been telling me today that you look comfortable,” he said, “but it felt definitely opposite.” Oboh didn’t compete last year after finishing fifth in the 400 as a freshman, and his goal this season is to get under 49 seconds in his favorite event and qualify for state. His performance at the Serra Top 7 proved those are realistic expectations. “A meet like this, really, you have some time to spread out a little bit to try some new events or focus on one specific meet,” said Oboh, who will run the 400 at Stanford. “Since this is not a dual meet, you’re not going against one single school, so here coach lets us spread our wings a little bit, see what works, see what doesn’t.”

Quick hits

• Sacred Heart Prep senior Max Cluss finished first in the boys 1,600 (4:29.28). “The meet wasn’t as fast as I was expecting, but ultimately the goal was to win,” he said. “I put myself in a good position in the backstretch with 200 to go and I knew I had the kick left in the end.” Cluss also took third in the 800, a little over a second behind Willow Glen junior Devon Nuti, the winner at 2:00.05. His goals this season include WBAL titles in the 800 and 1,600 — with every intention of breaking school records at SHP in both events along the way. “I had a much better winter season,” Cluss said. “I ran like 35, 40 miles a week. And last season I was only doing 15 or so, it was pretty minimal. So I’ve definitely put in the work this winter season.”

• Terra Nova senior Carly Watts bested Notre Dame-Belmont senior Krissy Smoot in the girls shot and discus.

• Woodside Priory sophomore Aniyah Augmon, last year’s CCS runner-up in the girls 100 and 200, appears to be making a smooth transition from the basketball playoffs after claiming a CCS Division V title on Feb. 23, before being eliminated in the state playoffs by eventual Division III champion Oakland. At the Serra Top 7, Augmon won medals in the 200 (1st) and triple jump (3rd), while barely missing out in the long jump (7th).