As the booming voice on the loudspeaker ran down Faules' accomplishments prior to the start of his first race, the 110 hurdles, one had to wonder how the Homestead senior would perform under such pressure.

"That was the most nervous I'd been the whole year," said Faules. "But as soon as the gun went off, everything went away. It felt awesome."

Showing no sign of nerves, Faules exploded out of the blocks and sustained his early lead to run away with the victory in 14.61.

But Faules was only halfway done with his night. An hour later, he earned his second CCS title by again getting an early lead and holding off his competitors to win the 300 hurdles in 38.75.

"It wasn't my best race, technically," said Faules, "but the time shows I still ran hard. I hit the first hurdle, and for a lot guys I think that would throw them completely off their race."

But not Faules--nothing has proven to throw him off.

Faules will be joined in next week's state meet in Norwalk by teammate Brittney Reynolds, who finished third in the long jump with a mark of 18-2. Reynolds also finished third in last year's CCS meet, but this year she plans to take a different approach to next week.

"Last year I was so excited," said Reynolds. "I didn't care if I got dead-last. This year I am looking to do better."

Homestead's other CCS qualifier, Eddie Sumpter, ran 22.73 to finish eighth in the 200.


Lynbrook

Lynbrook boasted a fair number of participants on Friday night. Garrick Wong sprinted to fifth in the 100 in 11.18, and Julie Chen came in sixth in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.75. Durrell Roberts added a seventh in the 100 in 11.20 and raced to a personal-best of 22.09 in the 200, placing him in fourth.

But the Vikings saved their best performance for last, as the boys' 4x400 meter relay team snatched a trip to the state meet by placing third with a blistering time of 3:23.08. Roberts gave his team a huge boost by running the opening 400 in 49.1. The Vikings found themselves in third after Chris Bencomo and Chris Deal completed their legs of the relay. Taimur Kahn ran a 48.8 on the final leg to seal the third-place finish.


Other local standouts

Monta Vista's Jason Yow ran 4:27.94 in the 1,600 to finish seventh, while Cupertino's Brian McDonough placed 12th in 4:32.33. In the girls' 1,600, Kimberly Chew of Cupertino raced to seventh in 5:12.87.