With her victory in the girls 400-meter dash at Saturday’s Central Coast Section track and field finals in Gilroy, Hannah Rutherford became the first Mountain View High freshman since sprinter Rachael Estell in 2014 to qualify for the state meet.
That’s impressive company – Estell qualified for state all four years before competing at Harvard University – but Rutherford went a step further. She also qualified for this weekend’s meet in the 200 dash by placing third, making her the first Mountain View freshman to advance to state in multiple events.
“It’s crazy – completely unexpected,” Rutherford said of her success. “But as the season went by, my expectations got higher and higher.”
And her times got lower and lower. Rutherford won the 400 in 55.88 seconds, tying a personal record and besting her semifinal time the previous week by nearly a second.
“I was able to get a strong start and caught up to Anjali (Yella of Harker), who I thought was my biggest competition, at about the 200 mark,” Rutherford said. “With 150 to go, I felt someone coming from the inside and that helped push me the last 80 or so.”
Rutherford had to play catch-up in the 200, finishing in 25.23.
“Until about the last 30 meters or so, I was fourth and was panicking a bit because only the top three go to state,” she said. “I was able to stay strong, maintain my form and drive hard and pass someone.”
Once again, that was sophomore Yella, whom Rutherford edged by .04 seconds for third.
Next stop: Buchanan High in Clovis for state, set for Friday (trials) and Saturday (finals).
“Qualifying to state from CCS is hard to ever do,” Spartans sprints coach Mark Rutner said. “She did it twice in her first season, and it is really incredible.”
Soobrian sets standard
Los Altos junior Lauren Soobrian broke her own school record in winning the 3,200 by a comfortable margin Saturday.
Ahead from the start, she clocked a 10:17.17 to beat runner-up Kaiya Brooks of Crystal Springs by nearly 6 seconds.
“It went pretty well,” Soobrian said. “I wanted to go out strong and put out a nice solid effort before state.”
Soobrian’s time was more than 47 seconds faster than her winning effort at the CCS semis.
“We went out fast,” she said of the finals race. “The pace was a little fast the first lap and then settled in from there.”
Soobrian also had planned to run the 1,600 – which she won in school-record time the week prior – but scratched hours before the race.
“It’s too close to the 3,200, so I thought it was best to focus on the 3,200 and gear up for state,” she said. “The races are two hours apart, but after the cool down and everything, there’s only really an hour break.”
MacKenzie moves on
Los Altos junior Megan MacKenzie won the girls triple jump with a personal-best 36 feet, 6 inches.
She also ran on the Eagles’ second-place 4×400 relay, teaming with Cameron Cox, Maddy Randall and Jenna Houdek for a season-best time of 4:01.38.
LA boys dominate
The Los Altos boys decisively won the CCS team title – its first in 27 years – with 66 points; runner-up Bellarmine totaled 44.
Joshua Kung won the triple jump (44-9) and took fifth in the long jump (21-10). The senior also ran on the Eagles’ second-place 4×100 relay, combining with Jake Howmiller, Braden Harrison and Zach Fagin on a time of 42.47.
Senior Shawn Toney placed second in the 300 hurdles (personal-best 37.61) and fourth in the 110 hurdles (14.47). He was also on the Eagles’ second-place 4×400 relay – along with Reece Enthoven, Howmiller and Harrison – that ran a season-best 3:20.84.
Junior Fagin set personal records in taking second in the long jump (22-5.5) and third in the high jump (6-4). In addition, he was fifth in the 100 dash (10.94).
Senior Harrison came in seventh in the 200 dash (22.14).
LA girls secure second
Behind the efforts of MacKenzie and Soobrian, the Los Altos girls (44 points) finished second to Silver Creek (51) at the meet.
Other scorers included Ella Fadil (third) and Fiona Bodkin (sixth) in the 3,200, Riley Capuano (sixth) and Emily Soobrian (seventh) in the 1,600 and Houdek in the 100 dash (sixth). Bodkin, Capuano and freshman Emily Soobrian (Lauren’s sister) all set personal records.
Another Eagle advances
Los Altos junior Brandon Louie made state in the wheelchair shot put, 400, 100 and 200, winning all these events at CCS.
MV runners represent
Mountain View’s Emmanuel Leblond placed sixth in the boys 3,200 run and teammate Nicholas Trepanier was ninth in the 1,600.
Lancers finish fourth
The St. Francis girls placed fourth at CCS with 33.5 points.
Coach Phil Pompei noted that all of the Lancers’ qualifiers scored in at least one of their events.
Sophomore Lillian Kaelber won the 800 run in a school-record 2:11.48 that was nearly five seconds better than her semifinal time. She later anchored St. Francis’ victorious 4×400 relay (3:59.19).
Two more Lancers put up points in the 800: Sabrina Zanetto (fifth) and Hinako Yamamoto (eighth).
Jamie Wade placed fifth in the high jump, Christel Elkins came in eighth in the 1,600 and pole vaulters Katherine Floering and Alexa Egan finished sixth and eighth, respectively.
