Sprint pair take different routes to win joyous titles at the North Coast Section Meet of Champions.
BERKELEY, Calif. - The reactions or plights of Takkarist McKinley and Lilla McMillan couldn't have been more different.
Yet their sprint triumphs Saturday in the North Coast Section Track and Field Meet of Champions couldn't have been more joyous. Or in some regards more unlikely.
Campolindo's Carrie Verdon repeated
as NCS MOC 3,200 champion.
File photo
Under extremely breezy conditions at Cal's Edwards Stadium, McKinley, a massive 6-foot-2, 235-pound junior, won the 200 meters (22.23 seconds), anchored the winning 400 relay and placed third in the 100 leading Kennedy-Richmond to its first MOC team championship.
Kennedy tied another first-time champion Amador Valley-Pleasanton with 46 points apiece.
This is the first year of track for McKinley, a standout defensive and tight end on the football team, who was talked into going out by hurdling and football star Kenneth Williams III.
Williams, a UCLA football-signee, did his part Saturday by winning both the 110 hurdles (14.01) and 300 hurdles (37.38) and contributing the second leg to the winning relay (season-best 42.07).
"I'm loving this," screamed McKinley, who offered hugs to anyone in arm's length after his 200 win. "Heck no, I never anticipated anything like this when I came out. All the hard work and support of my teammates and coaches made this happen.
"This definitely put Kennedy on the map."
McMillan, a senior at Tamalpais-Mill Valley, was equally joyous but she showed none of it outwardly.
She became the first Marin County female ever to win one, let alone two, sprint championships.
It was a far cry from her freshman year and steady progression to the top for the petite 5-foot-4 standout who won in times of 12.47 (100 meters) and 25.01 (200) against ridiculously strong head winds of 3.7 meters-per second and 4.2, respectively. Those winds knocked down times all day.
As a freshman, McMillan finished last in the MOC 200, a memory she's never forgotten.
"That was incredibly disappointing that day," she said. "But I had great coaching (from Kevin Engle) and I just stuck with it. It's really, really nice to prove people wrong and to compete with the best. This feels great. I'm so happy."
So was Bishop O'Dowd-Oakland sophomore Nathaniel Moore who took the state lead (No. 3 in the nation) with a winning long jump of 24 feet, 7¾ inches. Moore scratched three times in the triple jump during his league meet, so it's allowed him to focus on the long jump, supposedly his weaker event.
"I didn't feel like it was 24-7 when I took off or landed," Moore said. "I feel pretty juiced now."
National triple jump leader and Holy Names-Oakland junior Sasha Wallace won her second event – the 100 hurdles (14.23) – after taking the triple jump on Friday (42 feet, 3¼).
The only other double winner was Amador Valley junior Matthew Esparza in the shot put (58-0) and discus (170-5). It took a remarkable effort on the anchor leg of the 1,600 relay by teammate Josh Slaton for the Dons (3:18.91) to edge James Logan-Union City (3:18.92) which allowed Amador Valley to tie for the team title. Bishop O'Dowd-Oakland girls won its first MOC title thanks largely to two relay wins.
University's Bridget Blum (5:00.66) and Jennie Callan (5:01.23) went one-two in the 1,600 – a first for the small San Francisco school.
Other standout performances: California-San Ramon sophomore Madison Ricks (800, 2:09.52) and senior Noel Frazier (high jump, 6-9), St. Joseph-Alameda senior Nick Ratto (800, 1:53.93) and Campolindo-Moraga senior Carrie Verdon (3,200, 10:30.76).
CCS: At Gilroy High School, E.J. Floreal won the 100 (10.81) and 200 (21.84) and anchored the winning 400 relay team in a school record 41.56 to lead Palo Alto to its first Central Coast Section title. Carlmont-Belmont's Elliot Surovell won the 400 (49.98) and Menlo-Atherton's George Baier took the 1,600 (4:20.77) after barely qualifying last week. St. Francis' Marcy Toney (pole vault, 15-9) and Cody Bickham (discus, 168-7) also won. In the girls, St. Francis' Micha Auzenne won the 100, 100 hurdles and long jump.
Look for more California highlights throughout the day.
