Willow Glen Resident

Sports

Corona runs to a second straight 1,600-meter win at CCS Top 8

By Mike Barnhart

For the second straight weekend, Willow Glen senior Marcos Corona won the 1,600-meter race in a major invitational track meet.

Six days after running a personal best 4:15.89 at the Hampton-Phillips Invitational at San Jose City College, Corona captured the four-lap event at the 28th Central Coast Top 8 Track and Field Classic last Friday night.

"I wanted to get another PR, but the second lap was too slow," explained Corona, who clocked 4:17.5 on the fast Los Gatos High track. "It was fun, though. I was able to control the race."

With junior teammate Mohamed Abdalla still out of the line-up with a sore left foot, Corona thought he had a good chance to sweep the distance events. After all, Abdalla had run faster (9:11 at the Arcadia Invitational) than any other Central Coast Section runner in an eight-lap event this season.

"I thought I would win, but after the fifth lap my stomach started tightening up," Corona said, after finishing seventh in the 3,200 in 9:44.47, about 15 seconds behind winner Diego Estrada of Alisal.

Sophomore Nohe Lema placed fifth in the event with a personal best of 9:40.75.

Sophomores John Ladd (800 meters) and Mike Gibilisco (100) picked up third-place finishes In the frosh-soph boys division. Teammate Nati Wolde was sixth in both distance events.

The next day at the Bill Kearny Invitational at Salinas' Hartnell College, Stephanie Serna won the girls shot put with a heave of 35-7.5, a personal best mark that would have placed fifth at the Top 8 meet. Ladd was a double winner for the frosh-soph boys, winning the 800 and the 1,600.

Earlier in the week, the Rams boys improved to 6-0 in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League dual meet season with a 112-25 win over Leland.