Runners doubled over and pulled out of races because the physical strain was too much. Relay teams ran to high-five teammates after posting the fastest qualifying times, and seniors gathered all their energy to finish out their high school careers with personal bests.

But Will Faules knew better.

When the defending CCS champ in the 300-meter hurdles was edged out by 1/100th of a second in the same event, he didn't panic.

"Today is about getting through to next week," said Faules.

The Mustang senior did just that, as he posted the top time of 14.98 in the 110-meter hurdles and finished second in the 300-meter hurdles in 39.63.

While others raced for personal bests, Faules said he wanted to post a good performance after being sick with the flu most of the week.

And as for dealing with the title of CCS defending champ, Faules has that under control, too.

"Hearing the title over the loudspeaker puts a little pressure on me, but I dealt with the pressure last year in the finals, so that makes it easier."

Brittney Reynolds is hoping history repeats itself, as she works toward finishing in the top three in the CCS finals and advancing to the state meet in the long jump.

Reynolds matched a personal-best that she performed last year with her jump of 18-6 that placed her in second.

Though Reynolds did not qualify for the finals in the 200-meter dash, she was glad about being able to focus only on the long jump for Friday's finals.

"I need to work on getting my foot on the board and getting a good pop off it," said Reynolds. "My coach said I was five inches behind the board when I jumped 18-6."

Eddie Sumpter joined the duo of Faules and Reynolds as he qualified for the 200-meter finals by winning his heat in 22.66.


Lynbrook

Sometimes it takes a bad performance to appreciate a good one. And the Lynbrook sprinters found that out the hard way at Saturday's CCS trials at San Jose City College after Garrick Wong's false start in the 4x100 meter relay to disqualify his team, which held the second-fastest time in CCS.

But the Vikings' fortunes quickly turned around. Soon the image of Wong clutching his head in disbelief was replaced by his smiles after his performance in the 100-meter dash, and by his teammates high-fiving one another after running a season-best time in the 4x400 meter relay.

"In track, short memories key success," said Wong, after running 11.17 in the 100 to finish fifth and qualify for the finals.

Wong's teammates from the 4x100 meter relay rebounded by placing second in the 4x400 in 3:23.04.

"Three of the four runners that ran on the 4x100 also ran in the 4x400," said head coach Darrin Garcia. "They showed a lot of maturity to come back."

Durrell Roberts qualified for the finals in two additional events, after winning his heat in the 100-meter dash with an 11.30 and finishing fourth in the 200-meter dash in 22.14.

Julie Chen locked down sixth in 100-meter hurdles in 15.94 to also qualify.

"Individually, we did real well," said Garcia. "Aside from the false start, I am really happy."


Monta Vista

Amongst all the frowns and grimaces on Saturday shone Jason Yow's smile.

Yow, of Monta Vista, qualified for the 1,600-meter finals (the top 12 finishers in the 1,600 and 3,200 advanced) by pacing his way into eighth in 4:27.25.

And though he missed qualifying in the 3,200-meter by two places, Yow was still pleased because his 9:55.64 broke his personal record by seven seconds.

"It's just fun to be here," said Yow, who is only a sophomore. "I was racing to break my personal records."


Fremont

Two of the Fremont throwers breathed a sigh of relief at Saturday's CCS trials at San Jose City College.

For junior shot putter Matt Barkley, who finished third and qualified for the finals with his throw of 53-2, the relief came in knowing that he still had another chance to win the boys' competition.

"Good thing this isn't the finals," said Barkley as he hastily left the shot put ring to go practice after already competing for the day. "Second-place is the first loser. I need to go practice if I want to win."

Sophomore thrower Kelly Bushnell's relief came after a long wait to see if she would finish in the top eight to advance to the discus finals.

The discus field had been broken into four flights of eight, with the last flight holding the best marks. Bushnell held the ninth-best qualifying mark, so she was placed in the third flight.

"I had the top mark going into the fourth flight, but there were eight girls who could have been ahead of me," said Bushnell, "so it was tense watching the final flight."

In the end, her 116-2 mark placed her in sixth and proved to be more than enough to get her into the finals.


Cupertino

Another young runner finding success on Saturday was Cupertino's Kimberly Chew. The freshman ran to a seventh-place finish in the 1,600 meters in 5:13.44.


CCS double

Senior Trevor Fontes completed a unique double for Fremont this spring. Fontes qualified in two sports for CCS—in both diving and the discus. And just ask him—neither one is an easy feat.

"It was difficult to make it into CCS for one, let alone both sports," said Fontes. "But if I had to pick one, diving is harder because it's cumulative. In discus, all you need is one good throw."

Fontes was also named the CCS Scholar Athlete of the Year.