Trinity Wilson, entire field powers through windy Sacramento MOC

Lip snarled and hands on hips, the nation's top 100-meter female hurdler from St. Mary's (Berkeley, Calif.) had just won the Sacramento Meet of Champion title for the second straight season but she was hardly celebrating.

"That felt really slow," she said. "I hate head winds. Plus I'm not looking forward running in the 200. That's kind of killing my mood.

"I wish we could have just turned the hurdles around and raced the other direction."

A steady diet of wind in the 31st annual event at Hughes Stadium made life tough, demeanor's cranky and times relatively slow on Saturday.



Wilson, for instance, ran a tactically sound race but she won in 13.92 seconds, well off her national best mark of 13.50. She was somewhat challenged by Hercules senior Chalese Davis (14.05) but even more so by a 2.6-meters-per-second head wind.

"I'm glad (Davis) was right there to push me," Wilson said. "But frankly my biggest opposition today was the wind. I tried not to think about it."

She had to battle it a little more than an hour later and she powered through to win the 200 in 24.70, well off her best of 24.37. Once again she won going away but was up against a 1.3 headwind.

Her private coach Curtis Taylor has Wilson running the 200 to help with conditioning and endurance for the hurdles. But he's also considering Wilson competing in the long sprint all the way through state.

Seven more performances of note at Northern California's top meet which often serves as precursor for the California Interscholastic Federation State Championships, held June 3-4 in Clovis: 

{PAGEBREAK}



1. Logan (Union City) senior Ciarra Brewer showed why she's a real threat to finish as the national leader in the triple jump with five marks longer than 41-feet, including the winning jump of 41-9¾, the nation's best legal mark.

It was more than a foot further than her previous best this season of 40-9 1/2, though last week she won at her own invitational at 42-9 but no wind indicator was used, negating the mark for national consideration.

Brewer, who won the state meet as a sophomore and has a best of 43-4 1/4, has been nursing a sore right hamstring which hampered her last season, when she took second at state.

"I was hoping to get into the 42s today, but I'll take 41-9," Brewer said.

The Florida-bound standout said she's shooting for a jump of 45-0 this season, but her main goal is to get back in the state winner's circle. "I hope I can reclaim my title and get my hamstring completely healed," she said.

2. California (San Ramon) junior Noel Frazier had shown loads of promise over the last couple years with a best of 6-8. But on Saturday, he cleared a fairly remarkable 6-11, which ties him for the ninth best mark nationally this season and second best in California.



Frazier got over on his first attempt at 6-11 before missing three times at 7-1.

"I kind of squeezed over it," Frazier told Phil Jensen of the Contra Costa Times. "I think I got kind of lucky. It was a good jump, though. I just had to focus and think I can do it."

3. Davis (Calif.) senior Trevor Halsted was hoping to break the school record of 4:15 in the 1,600 and he got that and won too by going 4:14.00 to edge Castro Valley's Ben Eversole (4:15.33). Halsted is coming off a stress fracture of his left foot. He missed the entire summer training regimen.

"That makes this very satisfying," Halsted said. "Everything worked out pretty perfectly."

Halsted took the lead with 400 meters to go but was passed by Eversole with 200 left. "But I had enough in the tank," Halsted said.

Indeed, he zoomed past Eversole with 100 to go to win the entertaining race.



{PAGEBREAK}

4. Campolindo (Moraga) junior Carrie Verdon, who led her team to a state cross-country championship, recorded the fifth best 3,200 time in the event's history by winning wire-to-wire in 10:29.76. What made the win so impressive is she ran absolutely alone. Runner-up Anna Welsh, of Monterey, was almost 15 seconds behind at 10:44.52.

"I feel good because I went out and ran my race," Verdon said. "This is a big confidence booster for down the stretch."

5. Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) senior Allen Williams wons both the 110 hurdles (14.30) and the triple jump (46-4¼) - two of the sport's most technical events. Both marks were well of his best marks of 14.16 and 48-10, but Williams was still pleased.

"A win is a win," said the 5-9, 155-pound standout who grew up a state gymnastic champion. "And two wins is even better. The conditions weren't the best but I tried to make the most out of it."

6. McQueen (Reno, Nev.) senior Brianna Tate wasn't so hot on her winning 400 time of 55.67 over Colony sophomore Sarah Dunmore (57.48), but she was just happy to be warm period.



On Friday, McQueen competed in Douglas (Nev.) where temperatures dropped near freezing during the evening.

"I was just happy to be warm period," said Tate, who will run next season at a very hot destination, Arizona State.

{PAGEBREAK}

7. Deer Valley (Antioch) senior Jesse White looked primed to make his goal last season to get to the state 400 finals. Instead he got ill, made a gallant comeback and finished one spot of a state berth.

On Saturday, White looked like a contender for a state-final berth by winning in 48.17, easily handling a talent field that featured six marks below 50 seconds. White carried out his game-plan to perfection, staying loose around the final turn and then pulling away from an even field.

Clayton Valley (Concord) senior Michael Stupka finished second at 48.52 and Edison senior Roman Bridges was third at 48.87.



"I'm going to try to take state this year," White said. 

Notes: Castro Valley senior Anthony Martore won one of the more entertaining races of the night, edging San Rafael senior Trevor Ehlenbach in a back-and-forth 800, 1:54.38 to 1:54.51. Fairfield junior Darrell Jackson was also right in the fight at 1:54.87. ... Another photo finish came in the boys 300 hurdles where Elk Grove junior Nick Martinez and De La Salle junior Michael Barton finished with the same 38.02 time, but Martinez somehow outleaned and won at the line. He fell in a heap. ... Jesuit-Carmichael senior and Duke-bound Stephen Boals won the shot put for the second straight year at 59-0¼, well off his personal best. Boals helped Jesuit bring home the state team title last year with a fourth-place finish. "We have some really good sophomores and they are a couple years away," Boals said. "But you never know. We could do it again." ... Vacaville senior Vivian French recorded a rare double, taking the shot put 41-7½ and the discus (143-3).

See all the results, next page.

{PAGEBREAK}

Sacramento Meet of Champions 2011

At Hughes Stadium, Sacramento



BOYS

100 – Andre McBride (San Leandro) 11.15, Breonntae Snelling (Kennedy-Sacramento) 11.25, Kyle Sharp (Modesto) 11.31.

200 – Breonntae Snelling (Kennedy-Sacramento) 22.37, J'Tier Favors (Gunderson) 22.40, Shawn Sims (Deer Valley) 22.63.

400 – Jesse White (Deer Valley) 48.17, Michael Stupka (Clayton Valley) 48.52, Roman Bridges (Edison) 48.87.

800 – Anthony Martore (Castro Valley) 1:54.38, Trevor Ehlenbach (San Rafael) 1:54.51, Darrell Jackson (Fairfield) 1:54.87.

1,600 – Trevor Halsted (Davis) 4:14.00, Ben Eversole (Castro Valley) 4:15.33, Chris Kigar (El Camino) 4:15.68.



3,200 – Robert Pflasterer (Del Campo) 9:15.37, Brian De La Mora (Davis) 9:15.63, Benji Xie (Oak Ridge) 9:19.60.

110 HH – Allen Williams (Bishop O'Dowd) 14.30, Nick Martinez (Elk Grove) 14.64, Michael Barton (De La Salle) 14.74.

300 IH – Nick Martinez (Elk Grove) 38.02, Michael Barton (De La Salle) 38.02, Casey Wheeler (De Oro) 39.52.

400 relay – De La Salle 42.30, Grant 42.60, Colony 42.71.

1,600 relay – Amador Valley 3:18.57, McQueen 3:19.21, Deer Valley 3:19.58.

HJ – Noel Frazier (California) 6-11, Kevin Nielsen (Granite Bay) 6-9, Jonte Grant (Hayward) 6-5.



PV – Colin Barber (San Ramon Valley) 14-9, Tom Sullivan (Galena) 14-3, Reed White (Vacaville) 14-3.

LJ – Haran Piggee (Galt) 22-11, Jonte Grant (Hayward) 21-09, Kevin Nielsen (Granite Bay) 21-7½.

TJ – Allen Williams (Bishop O'Dowd) 46-4¼, Deon Pinder (Merrill West) 46-0, Eric Sloan (Bear Creek) 45-1½.

SP – Stephen Boals (Jesuit) 59-0¼, Ben Parodi (Serra) 57-0½, Ben Teichman (San Ramon Valley) 53-8¾.

Discus – James Kinloch (Granite Bay) 182-7, Curtis Bleasdale (Vacaville) 169-9, Mauricio Cornejo (Terra Linda) 167-2.

GIRLS



100 – Emily Cooper (Vista del Lago) 12.50, Shelby Smallwood (Valley Christian) 12.54, Atiya Harvey (Logan) 12.56.

200 – Trinity Wilson (St. Mary's) 24.70, Cekarri Nixon (St. Francis-Sacramento) 25.61, Shelby Smallwood (Valley Christian) 25.98.

400 – Brianna Tate (McQueen) 56.67, Sarah Dunmore (Colony) 57.48, Chloe Winn (Monte Vista) 57.80.

800 – Teresa Mallory (Golden Valley) 2:16.95, Madison Ricks (California) 2:17.62, Lora James (Shasta) 2:17.71.

1,600 – Xochitl Navarrette (Colony) 4:55.76, Kelsey Santiseban (Castro Valley) 4:56.43, Jena Pianin (Amador Valley) 5:02.55.

3,200 – Carrie Verdon (Campolindo) 10:29.76, Anna Welsh (Monterey) 10:44.52, Karlie Garcia (Oakmont) 10:46.96.



100 H – Trinity Wilson (St. Mary's) 13.92, Chalese Davis (Hercules) 14.05, Shanique Walker (Mt. Pleasant) 14.41.

300 IH – Erica Wilson (Deer Valley) 43.79, Gabby Williams (Reed0 45.08, Brian Edwards (Colony) 45.69.

400 relay – Colony 47.87, Deer Valley 48.04, Monterey Trail 49.01.

1,600 relay – Colony 3:57.60, Acalanes 3:59.67, Monte Vista 4:03.15.

HJ – Gabby Williams (Reed) 5-8, Nyasha LeSure (Reed) 5-2, Jessica Emde (Oak Ridge) 5-2.

PV – Katie Zingheim (Granite Bay) 12-7, Cimran Virdi (Las Lomas) 12-1, Angie Charles (Bella Vista) 12-1.



LJ – Kendal Nielsen (Bear River) 17-1¼, Jazmine Guinn (Berkeley) 17-1, Shea Taylor (Grace Davis) 17-0¾.

TJ – Ciarra Brewer (James Logan) 41-9¾, Sasha Wallace (Holy Names) 39-4, Tessa Runels (James Logan) 38-3½.

SP – Brianna French (Vacaville) 41-7 ½, Heather Vermillion (Redwood-Visalia) 41-0, Tiffany Wong (Rocklin) 37-4.

Discus – French 143-3, Lissette Mindivil (Redwood) 137-9, Brielle Rowe (Mountain View) 124-10.