Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Westmont's Serena DeLaPlace (right) leads the pack early in the race in the 1600 meters at the CCS finals. DeLaPlace ended up fourth in the race in 5:18.33.

Carroll, DeLaPlace place

Saratoga, Westmont have CCS placers

By Dick Sparrer

Danny Douglas made it by six inches.

Brian Auch missed by two.

A Cupertino relay team advances while a Los Gatos relay team does not... both of their fates decided by less than a second.

And Saratoga's Brian Carroll missed a state berth by just over a second in the 300 intermediate hurdles.

That's how close things were when the finest athletes in the area got together for the Central Coast Section track and field championships last Thursday at San Jose City College.

The top three finishers in each event would advance to the state finals June 6-7 in Sacramento. And often, it was the difference of a few inches or a few seconds that meant a state berth, or the end of the season.

The Santa Clara Valley Athletic League actually qualified an impressive field for the state meet.

The SCVAL will send nine girls and six boys to compete in individual events at state, and the league will also send two boys' relay team and one girls' team to Sacramento.

Fremont's Douglas is among the six boys set to make the state trip, and he qualified with an outstanding effort at the CCS finals last week.

Douglas soared 45-1114 to finish second in the triple jump in the section championships. He had qualified for the finals by finishing fourth in the CCS semifinals with a leap of 45-234.

Joining Douglas for the state trip will be CCS placers Brian Carson of Gunn, Aaron Bryant of Wilcox, Jason Rudolph of Palo Alto, and Darren Marble and Pete Bjorklund of Los Altos.

Cupertino will send its 400-meter relay team to the state meet after the quartet breezed to a third at the CCS finals in 42.54.

The SCVAL will also be represented by the boys' 1600-meter relay team from Gunn (first at CCS in 3:18.65) and the girls' 400 relay team from Gunn (first in 48.67).

Rounding out the list of SCVAL athletes who placed at CCS to earn state spots are Stephanie Chavez and Jeanne Fishback of Los Gatos, Colleen Wrenn of Palo Alto, Tenesha Webb of Wilcox, Monica Coleman and Evelyn Shih of Gunn, Jenn Santos and Holly Demeter of Los Altos and Christine Chan of Mountain View.

Saratoga didn't send anyone on to the state meet, but the Falcons came through with a strong CCS showing to cap an outstanding 1997 season.

Carroll ended up sixth in CCS in the 300 intermediates in 40.14. Carroll had finished third in the semifinals in 38.47, with teammate Chad Allen seventh in 39.87, just missing a trip to the finals.

Westmont's Serena DeLaPlace and Melissa Taylor ended the year with solid performances at CCS.

DeLaPlace was fourth in the finals in the 1600 in 5:18.33, but only the top three advanced to state. She had finished seventh in the semifinals in 5:16.97.

Taylor flipped the shot put 35-0 for seventh in the CCS semifinals, just missing the finals.

Saratoga had logged an impressive showing at the CCS North Regional meet prior to the section semis.

Carroll and Alex Lux each won their heats, and Lux and Taylor Teerlink each came through with career bests in the meet for the Falcons.

"It was a big day for Saratoga athletes," said track coach Marshall Clark.

Carroll finished first in his heat in the 300 intermediate hurdles in 39.5, with Allen second in the same heat in 41.0. Carroll was the top qualifier in the regional, and Allen qualified fifth for the CCS semifinals.

Carroll and Allen also teamed with Brent Colman and Sean Hanley for a third in their heat in the 400-meter relay in a season best 43.73. The quartet ranked as the fourth qualifier from the regional to advance to the semis.

Lux breezed to a career best 49.9 in the 400 meters to win his heat and qualify third in the regionals for the semis.

Carroll was fourth in his heat in the 110 hurdles in 15.69, Nima Nafei was sixth in his heat in the 800 meters in 2:04.77, Colman was fourth in his heat in the 100 in 11.23 and Allen was fifth in his heat in the 100 in 11.24.

Teerlink qualified for the CCS semifinals in two events. She was second in her heat with a career-best 47.96 to qualify sixth in the 300 low hurdles, and she was second in her heat in the 100 in 16.07 to qualify fifth in the 100.

Jill Moon soared 16-5 to rank of the fifth-best qualifier in the long jump, and she qualified seventh in the triple jump at 33-5.

The mile relay team of Moon, Teerlink, Ashley Ferreira and Laura Prolo ran 4:20.20 in the mile relay to finish second in their heat and qualify seventh for the CCS semis.

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