Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Olympian Joe Naivalu (center) is a star hurdler and sprinter, but it was West Valley College assistant track coach Marty Krulee winning the 100 with a lean at the finish line in this All-Comers event.

Olympians are All-Comers stars

Formers Wildcats also in the field

By Dick Sparrer

Joe Naivalu missed a few of the Los Gatos All-Comers track and field meets this summer.

But he had a pretty good excuse--he was in Atlanta, competing in the Olympic Games.

Naivalu, the two-time state hurdles champ from Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, represented Fiji in the 1996 Summer Games. But he still found time for a little competition on the track at Los Gatos High.

Naivalu, who had won the hurdles on the same Gatos track in the CCS Top-8 meet during the high school season, ran 14.5 in the 110-meter high hurdles and 10.88 in the 100-meter dash during the summer campaign in the All-Comers series.

But Naivalu's efforts were just among the many outstanding performances recorded during the 18th year of the popular All-Comers series.

"These meets keep track interest high in all of our CCS area," Willie Harmatz said. "All ages have enjoyed the meets all these years."

Harmatz, a track and cross-country coach at Los Gatos for many years, has organized the summer and winter All-Comers meets for all of the 18 years of the program. And the meets truly do attract all comers, from youth level to masters athletes and everything in between.

Olympians Naivalu and Patty Sue Plummer topped the field this summer.

Naivalu, a CCS champion in the 110 highs and the 300 intermediate hurdles, represented Fiji at the Olympics, then was back on the track at Gatos for All-Comers action. Later the Sunnyvale sensation set a new Fiji national record when he ran 13.91 in the highs at the World Junior Championships in Sydney, Australia.

Men's Open Division

Naivalu ran head-to-head with Marty Krulee in the men's open division 100-meters in All-Comers action over the summer. Krulee's 10.82 topped Naivalu's best of 10.88.

Krulee, the spring coach at West Valley College in Saratoga, also recorded an All-Comers best of 22.58 in the 200 meters. Another West Valley coach, Dan Besmer, topped the pole vault bar at 17-0.

Scott Slover, the state high school pole vault champion at Leland a couple of years back, soared 17-6 in the vault and former Leigh and West Valley jumper Darren Garcia flew 6-6 in the high jump.

Two-time Dammit Run champion Kendrick Sealy notched a quick 2.00.4 800 meters and Dan Gruber ran a 9:37 2-mile.

John Hamm ran 11.04 in the 100 and 21.4 in the 200, Joe Wright ran 22.08 in the 200 and Ron Pryer ran 48.0 in the 400. The three also teamed with Paul Bryant to run 42.6 in the 400 relay.

Kiet Vong leaped 21-11 1/2 in the long jump, Andy Richen flew 6-8 in the high jump and Youske Okano soared 16-6 in the pole vault. Tom Ryan and Matt Kendall each topped the vault bar at 15-6.

Graham Hill tripled with a 4:19.5 mile, a 9:16 2-mile and a 14:46 5,000 meters, and Mike Lucas doubled with a 1:59.8 800 and a 4:37.4 mile.

Other top marks in the division included: Steve Jones, 10.73 in the 100; Jim Blair, 9:29.9 in the 2-mile; Riccardo Magni, 44-1 1/2 in the shot put; Joe Carnegie, 1:56.2 in the 800; Don Anderson, 1:56.5 in the 800; and Tom McGraw, 129-3 in the discus.

Women's Division

Plummer, fifth in the women's 5,000 meters in the 1992 Olympic Games, recorded impressive marks in women's competition in the All-Comers summer series.

Plummer stopped the watch at 58.9 in the 400, 2:02.2 in the 800, 4:17.9 in the 1500 and 5:00.7 in the mile at Los Gatos this summer.

Former Los Gatos track and cross-country coach Joy Margerum starred over the summer with top marks of 12.57 in the 100, 18-1 1/4 in the long jump and 45.01 in the 300 hurdles.

Laura Essel and Monica Town-send are a pair of former Los Gatos track stars who starred again this past summer. Essel, the former Laura Henry (she still holds the school record in the 800 meters set in 1984), ran 11:45 in the 2-mile, and Townsend, the former Monica Daley, ran 2:24.2 in the 800.

Demesha Craig, the daughter of former San Francisco 49er great Roger Craig, clocked in at 24.88 in the 200 meters. Craig was the CCS champion in the 100 and 200 at St. Francis this past spring.

Lisa McGowan sprinted 12.45 in the 100, and Deanna Lopez ran 10:37 in the 2-mile. Debbie Castilla ran 5:31 in the mile and 11:48 in the 2-mile.

Jen Lee and Holly McLain each soared 5-0 in the high jump and Mary Lou Badillo and Tyra Holt each flew 11-0 in the pole vault.

High-school Boys

Curtis Napolean, the CCS 400-meter champion from Del Mar, breezed to a 49.5 in his specialty in the summer series, and 14-year-old Matt Mason nailed an impressive 20-1 long jump.

Eric Hu went 20-8 1/2 in the long jump and Glen Stone soared 19-4 3/8. Darren Marble flew 6-8 in the high jump, and Brad Goldstein doubled with a 142-8 in the discus and 48-6 1/2 in the shot put.

Other top marks in the division: David Grijalva, 14-0 in the pole vault; Joe McGowan, 11.4 in the 100 and 9.11 in the 65-meter high hurdles; Mike Sanders, 41-6 in the triple jump; Justin Nikbila, 12-6 in the pole vault; Paul Bryant, 11.14 in the 100 and 6.54 in the 60; and Jim Hocker, 51.6 in the 400 and 41.1 in the 300 intermediate hurdles.

Men's Masters

Kevin Mourning set new records in his age group in the 60 (6.37), the 100 (10.92) and the 200 (22.50).

Lynbrook track and cross-country coach Hank Lawson came through with a solid 4:29.9 in the masters 1,500 meters.

Other top marks included: Paul Raymond, 11.96 in the 100 and 24.99 in the 200; Dan Moon, 26.7 in the 200 and 4:47.9 in the mile; Jim Williams, 13-0 in the pole vault; Clay Larsen, 52-8 1/2 in the shot put; Mike Hatjes, 5-5 in the high jump; Mike Morris, 2:07.3 in the 800; Don Dvorak, 15-0 1/2 in the long jump; Bill Wood, 15-4 1/2 in the long jump and 32-9 1/2 in the triple jump; Brad Duffy, 57.4 in the 400; Gary Kelmonson, 104-10 in the discus; and Ladislau Pataki, 50-11 in the shot put.