STANFORD INVITATIONAL TRACK AND FIELD
Boys standout: Nico Weiler (Los Gatos) won pole vault at 16-6.
Girls standout: Facing a 1.7 meters-per-second head wind, Ashton Purvis (St. Elizabeth) won the 100 in 11.74, at the time it tied the nation’s best mark.
Most competitive race: Top six boys in the 1,600 finished within a second.
Best field competition: Alycia Herring (Rancho Verde) won a jump-off with 2006 state champion Amber Purvis (Benicia) to take the long jump. Both went 18-10¼.
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
STANFORD, Calif. – When you watch Ashton Purvis blast out of the blocks and glide down the straightaway with a slight snarl, you think ultra competitor, elite athlete, a girl beyond her years.
When you talk to the St. Elizabeth (Oakland, Calif.) sophomore after a race, however, you think lollipops, crayons and grandma’s apple pie.
When she flashes that big giant smile with silvery braces, when her cheek bones bulge like a bubble gum bubble just below her bright wide eyes, we’re talking sugar with fructose and corn syrup.
“I’m just out here having fun,” she said after destroying the 100-meter field Saturday at the Stanford Invitational, one of the West Coast’s largest and most prestigious non-post season track and field meets and a precursor to arguably the nation’s largest meet, next week’s Arcadia Invitational. “This is where I won my first big meet last year and I like running here. It was fun.”
On Saturday at Stanford’s Cobb track and Angell Field, she won by more than a half-second in 11.74 seconds, which was announced as tied for the national-leading mark this year. (Earlier Saturday, junior Chalonda Goodman of Newnam, Ga., won the Mobile, Ala. Challenge in 11.54).
The mark was off her winning time of 11.64 here last year and well off her personal best of 11.41 set in the California Interscholastic Federation Meet in June, when she placed second.
“It’s all about the starts,” Purvis said. “If I can get off to a good start then everything else seems to work out fine.”
So what kind of start did she have on Saturday?
“I think it was pretty good but you’ll have to ask my coach if it was really good.”
Said her AAU coach Curtis Taylor: “It was OK. It still needs work.”
The long-legged 5-foot-8 Purvis continues to break national age and class records.
Last month in New York, she ran 23.43 to break her own sophomore 200 indoor record for the third time. She has the national freshman indoor mark of 23.55.
“The 200 is my better event,” Purvis said.
Said Taylor, who is also the head track-and-field coach at Laney College in Oakland: “She's right where she needs to be.”
Last season at state, she finished second in the 100 and 200 behind Mt. Pleasant (San Jose) senior Jeneba Tarmoh, who repeated as a double winner. Purvis’ times of 11.41 and 23.24 were lifetime bests, but not good enough to catch Tarmoh’s 11.27 and 23.20. Tarmoh is now a freshman standout at Tennessee.
Known as a fierce competitor, Purvis was surprisingly content after last year’s runner-up spots. It certainly gave her motivation in the off-season.
“Learning how to win is as important as it is to learn how to run,” Taylor said. “If you run your best and lose, that's OK. I think Ashton was OK losing in the 200 because she ran her absolute best. But she wasn't her best in the 100. She got a terrible start and was like sixth or seventh at the 50 mark then blew all those girls away except Jeneba.”
She had sibling motivation to do well on Saturday.
Her older sister Julian Purvis, a Michigan-bound hurdler, was running close to a perfect race in the 100 hurdles when she hit the eighth won, stumbled, retained her balance and finished second to Arizona-bound Dahlys Marshall, of Valley Christian (San Jose).
Marshall, who finished fourth in the fastest high school 100 hurdles race in history at the 2007 state meet, won in 14.09 to 14.29 for Julian Purvis.
Asked if she had to keep the Purvis name in the winners’ circle, Ashton said: “We always look out for each other. I’m just glad she didn’t fall and finished the race.”
So was Julian, who last year in the Stanford Invitational hit the second hurdle and fell in a heap, trying to catch arch California rival Vashti Thomas, also of Mt. Pleasant.
“I wasn’t really thinking about (last year’s fall),” Julian said. “It just kind of happened. It surprised me because I’ve never really hit a hurdle that hard that late before. It’s all right. I’m just glad I finished. It’s just a little bump. I’ll be ready next week (at Arcadia).”
The much-anticipated showdown between Thomas, the Purvis sisters and Marshall never materialized on Saturday. That’s because Thomas, the national record holder in the 100 hurdles, scratched in the hurdles and open 100 because of a nagging hamstring injury.
Marshall, one of Thomas’ closest friends, said Thomas will likely go next week at Arcadia.
Thomas, who won the 100 hurdles last year in 13.03 and tripled jumped 42-8 ¾ indoors last month in Idaho, is considered one of the best female athletes in the country. She has committed to Texas A&M.
“I pray for her and her health not only because we help push each other but because she’s my good friend,” Marshall said.
Marshall had never beaten Julian Purvis, the 2006 state short hurdles champion, in a hurdles race that Purvis had finished.
She was shocked when she saw Purvis, running in lane 4, faltered on the next-to-last hurdle. Marshall was in lane 3. On Friday, Julian Purvis ran a state-best 13.81 in preliminaries.
“Once she gets past the fifth hurdle she’s usually flawless,” Marshall said. “I was surprised and happy I won and happy she didn’t fall.”
In last year’s state finals, six girls finished in under 14 seconds. After Thomas, the next five girls were Julian Purvis (13.32), Holy Names (Oakland) senior Ke’Nyia Richardson (13.32), Marshall (13.66), Locke (Los Angeles) senior Ebony Collins (13.85) and Everygreen Valley junior Golde Ibia (13.99).
The Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland girls 1,600 relay team did win a 2007 state crown but surprised even themselves by defeating favored James Logan-Union City.
O’Dowd’s relay team of seniors Shane Mullany Banks (headed to Louisville) and Brazile Clark (Cal) and juniors Lia Rivers-Birt and Damajerie DuBose had the day’s best time of 3 minutes, 54.25 seconds, just edging runner-up Logan (3:54.57).
“(Logan) is our arch rivals,” Banks said. “They’re the team we look to beat every week. They’re the standard.”
That’s odd considering O’Dowd, not Logan, Long Beach Poly or Long Beach Wilson, shocked everyone by taking the state crown last year in 3:47.42. DuBose is the only newcomer on the team and this was the first time this season the foursome ran together. Banks was out the last three weeks with mononucleosis.
“We’re going to have to get down to 3:45 to contend for state so we have a lot of work,” said Clark.
De La Salle was hoping to break 42 seconds in the 400 relay but was happy with its 42.46 mark considering anchor Ken Egu was out with a leg injury.
Senior Matt Williamson, a lanky 6-foot-3, 170-pounder, filled in admirably, maintaining the five-meter lead given by Travis Carrie, Chase Wheeler and Ricky Kearney.
The same foursome won the 1,600 relay (3:20.98) by more than four seconds.
“I never would have imagined running down that straightaway by myself with the baton in my hand,” Williamson said of his anchor leg. “My coach just said run as fast as you can, don’t think about anything and whatever you do, don’t look back.”
Other highlights: Franklin (Elk Grove) senior Gavin Banks won the boys 100 in 10.88, edging fellow Sac-Joaquin Section rival William Henry (Edison, Stockton) in 10.92. “The main thing is I didn’t panic,” said Banks, who overcame a bad start to take the lead at about the 50-meter mark. … Dublin’s James Attarian (4:15.76) win a highly competitive 1,600, edging Gig Harbor’s Miles Unterreiner (4:15.89) and a very balanced field. The top six marks were within a second. … Drew Gordon, the UCLA-bound All-American basketball player, just two weeks following his team’s loss in the state finals, won the discus with a marginal mark of 159-10 after taking second in the shot put. … Defending state pole vault champion Nico Weiler, a foreign exchange student now at Los Gatos, won easily at 16 feet, 6 inches. The native of Germany has a lifetime best of 17-6 ½, and prevailed in June with a state-meet record of 17-2. .
STANFORD INVITATIONAL
BOYS
100: Gavin Banks (Franklin-Elk Grove) 10.88, William Henry (Edison-Stockton) 10.92, Jordan Polk (Lincoln-Portland, Ore.) 10.94.
400: Sebastian Sam (Oak Grove) 48.00, Alan Flemons (Lincoln) 48.85, Ricky Kearney (De La Salle) 48.95.
1600: James Attarian (Dublin) 4:15.76, Miles Unterreiner (Gig Harbor) 4:15.89, Derek Thomas (Arroyo) 4:16.06.
3,000: Diego Estrada (Alisal) 8:28.46, Miles Uterreiner (Gig Harbor) 8:29.25, Garrett Seawell (Woodcreek) 8:38.66.
110 HH: Aaron Burney (Granite Bay) 14.51, Kyler Martin (Vacaville) 14.53, Marcus McMillan (Vacaville) 14.58.
400 hurdles: Eric Surprenant (Lynbrook) 54.37, Myster Holliman (Mt. Eden) 55.43, Joey Anderson (Acalanes) 55.75.
400 relay: De La Salle 42.46, Skyline 42.86, Rancho Verde 42.91.
1,600 relay: De La Salle 3:20.98, Rancho Verde 3:24.59, San Ramon Valley 3:26.33.
3,200 relay: Palo Alto 8:00.58, Carlmont 8:01.53, San Ramon Valley 8:03.04.
HJ: Ray Nikzat (Lodi) 6-6, Aaron Macoubray (Lincoln-Portland) 6-6, Mike Souza (El Camino) 6-4.
PV: Nico Weiler (Los Gatos) 16-6, Justin Miller (California) 16-0, Josh Cusick (St. Lawrence) 16-0.
TJ: Chad Jones (Bishop O’Dowd) 46-10 ½, Victor Johnson (James Logan) 44-2 ½, Freeman Lewis (St. Mary’s-Berkeley) 43-10 ¼.
SP: Colin Quirke (Los Gatos) 59-3 ½, Drew Gordon (Mitty) 52-6 ½, Jason Wacker (Shasta) 52-2 ¾.
Discus: Drew Gordon (Mitty) 159-10, Austin Davis (Cardinal Newman) 157-3, Colin Quirke (Los Gatos) 156-4.
GIRLS
100: Ashton Purvis (St. Elizabeth) 11.74, Sanmi George (Laguna Creek) 12.36, Kasey Rodgers (Franklin) 12.36.
400: Kellie Schueler (Summit) 55.18, Kristen Houp (Valley Christian) 55.65, Thandi Stewart (James Logan) 56.35.
1,600: Taylor Johnson (San Lorenzo Valley) 4:57.06, Marissa Ferrante (Aptos) 4:57.84, Heather Cerney (Caronddlet) 4:59.04.
3,000: Maria Malone (Folsom) 9:57.31, Jacque Taylor (Casa Grande) 9:59.76, Kelsey Smith (South Tahoe) 10:14.05.
100 IH: Dahlys Marshall (Valley Christian) 14.09, Julian Purvis (St. Elizabeth) 14.29, Briana Stewart (James Logan) 14.59.
400 hurdles: Jami Hardy (Logan) 63.17, Joi Glass (Skyline) 63.62, Rachelle Wilson (Summit) 64.88.
400 relay: Rancho Verde 47.89, Hercules 47.86, Cesar Chavez 48.40.
1,600 relay: Bishop O’Dowd 3:54.25, Logan 3:54.57, Oakmont 3:56.70.
3,200 relay: Torrey Pines 9:28.92, St. Mary’s-Berkeley 9:44.57, Oak Ridge 9:46.36.
HJ: Adrienne Johnson (Carondelet) 5-8, Kiersten Dolbec (Saratoga) 5-8, Janelle Coulter (Aptos) 5-6.
PV: Kelsey Hintz (Del Norte) 12-0, Sarah Engle (Homestead) 12-0, Claire Hawkins (Santa Margarita) 11-6.
LJ: Alycia Herring (Rancho Verde) 18-10¼, Amber Purvis (Benicia) 18-10¼, Ciarra Brewer (James Logan) 18-5½.
SP: Irene Kujore (Arroyo) 41-9 ¾, Jackie Alhoo (St. Mary’s-Stockton) 40-9, Luisa Musika (Milpitas) 39-8.
Discus: Lindsay Machado (El Corado) 137-1, Rachel Hammar (Buhack Colony) 133-5, Kathryn Daniels (Milpitas) 126-1.
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
