Publication Date: Friday, May 28, 2004
M-A's Mineau is on track for his third state meet berth
M-A's Mineau is on track for his third state meet berth
(May 28, 2004) by Keith Peters
One of the older Central Coast Section records in track and field is the 9:01.6 time run in the 3,200 by Gunn's Gordon MacMitchell in 1973. Jeremy Mineau wasn't even born when MacMitchell raced to that victory more than 30 years ago.
Mineau, now a senior at Menlo-Atherton, believes the record could be threatened tonight by a strong field at the CCS championships at San Jose City College.
"I think there'll be a lot of people around the CCS record," said Mineau, who plans on being one of them. "The state meet might not have anyone under nine minutes, so it will be important to be close to that time (tonight) in order to gain some confidence and momentum."
Field events get things under way today at 4 p.m., with running slated for 6 p.m. The boys' 3,200 final will go off after 8:30 p.m., and should be more competitive than last year's race when Mineau won by 13 seconds in a then-school record 9:11.11.
While Mineau was favored last season and has the fastest qualifying mark (9:17.49) for tonight's race, he still ranks second in the section behind Alex Dunn of San Lorenzo Valley.
Dunn, who competed in the 1,600 last season and has the state's third-fastest metric mile time of 4:10.41 this year, decided to concentrate on the 3,200 where his 9:06.94 leads Mineau's school-record 9:08.96. Dunn ranks No. 5 in the state and Mineau No. 7. Mineau has competed in the past two state meets.
Also vying for a top-three finish and trip to the CIF State Meet in Sacramento next weekend will be Carlmont's Kyle Shackleton (9:09.71), Nathan Huerta of North Monterey County (9:16.23), Patrick Parsel of Carmel (9:18.31), Ben Sitler of St. Francis (9:23.45) and Andrew Lipkin of Gunn (9:24.89).
If the weather conditions are good (not too windy), Mineau sees himself in Sacramento for the state finals on June 5 at Sacramento City College's Hughes Stadium.
"My guess is that it'll be down to two guys at the end of the race," said Mineau, including Dunn in that group.
With Dunn out of the 1,600, a possible berth has opened for Menlo-Atherton junior Evan Anderson. As a sophomore, Anderson finished fourth at CCS and missed a state meet berth. This season, Anderson has the No. 5 time in the section (4:16.61) with two runners ahead of him (Dunn and Mineau) not competing.
Anderson goes into tonight's finale with the No. 2 qualifying time (4:17.65) and the confidence of being consistent in big-meet races this season.
While Mineau and Anderson appear solid favorites to advance to the state meet, Sacred Heart Prep junior David Jackson and Paly senior James McCluskey will have two shots each at joining the M-A tandem.
Jackson has the No. 3 qualifying time (49.47) in the 400 meters in addition to the final spot in the 300 intermediate hurdles. McCluskey qualified in both the discus and shot put. He ranks sixth in the shot put this season (53-10 1/2).
In the girls' competition tonight, Palo Alto junior Katrina Zawojski will be among the busiest athletes. She's entered in four events - 400 relay, long jump, triple jump and 200. She qualified fifth in the triple jump with a career-best 37-0, which broke the school record of 36-11 1/2 set by Anne Jin Lee in 1991. Zawojski also is No. 7 in the long jump (17-4), sixth in the 200 (25.50) and a member of the 400 relay squad that qualified third with a school record of 49.49 that broke the 1999 mark of 49.76.
Menlo-Atherton freshman Keianna Talton will be in three events - 100, 200 and 400 relay. She's the No. 3 qualifier in the 100 (12.40) and No. 4 in the 200 (25.30).
Gunn's Orlie Kapitulnik will be in the 100 and 200 while the Titans' Tori Tyler is qualified in both the 1,600 and 3,200 (No. 1 in a season-best 10:52.97).
Menlo School's Libby Jenke is along the favorites in the 800 while M-A junior Laurie Roberts has a similar role in the high jump. Gunn's Tal Cohen qualified in the pole vault.
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
