Charlie Harger runs 50.98 PR in 400m
As the season progressed into its latter half, the Dons snatched a dominant victory over Hillsdale on April 9. With the win over Hillsdale, the Dons now stand in first place for girls varsity and second place for boys varsity in the race to the CCS championships with a 5-0 and 4-1 record respectively. Thanks to strong performances last year, Hillsdale was promoted from the Ocean division into the Bay division, and now ranks right below Aragon in third for the varsity boys and fifth for the varsity girls.
“They are an up and coming team that moved up into this division,” said head track coach Greg Alverado. “So we had to keep our eyes open for a long day.”
The meet proved to be one of the most successful of the season, with 108 new personal records out of 212 competitions. In the boys varsity 400m, the Dons swept the podium, with current Peninsula Athletic League first seed Charles Harger taking first with a PR of 50.98, Gavin Tang taking second with 52.58 and Jalen Scroggins in third with 52.71.
“There was definitely a lot more excitement for this [PR] since I’ve been stuck at 51 for so long, so to finally get past 51 [seconds], it was a lot more exciting,” Harger said.
The Dons had similar success in the varsity boys 1600m, as senior Toby Harris clinched first with a time of 4:37.23, barely inching out Miles Rokala’s new 4:37.30 PR.
“The Hillsdale guy was very physical, a lot of elbows,” Rokala said. “But we just had to cover all the moves and make some of our own.”
While the boys racked up points in mid- and long-distance events, the sprinting duo of senior Pia Cho and freshman Mina Hwang took first and second in the girls varsity 100m with times of 12.72 and 12.82 respectively, with Cho missing the school record by two hundredths of a second. The two carried their momentum into the 200m and long jump, where they also placed top two.
In the boys 110m hurdles, senior Jeremy Gosch edged out junior Marcus Rife with his time of 16.20 versus Rife’s 16.41. Rife took first place in the 300m hurdles with a time of 43.16 while junior Charles McWhorter took second with a time of 44.43. On the girls side, senior Maya Yoo took first in the 100m and 300m hurdles, running a PR in both events.
In pole vault, senior Jarod Nunnemaker continued his usual dominance as the top seed in PAL, clearing 14 feet to get first place for the Dons. However, Hillsdale responded with top-notch performance in throwing events, where the Dons were only able to grab limited points.
“Today their discus team was really good,” Nunnemaker said after placing second in discus. “They kind of smoked us.”
They’ve always had a pretty strong team in certain events and we’ve had a strong team in other events, so it’s always been pretty neck and neck.
Jarod Nunnemaker
With this victory over Hillsdale, the Dons are one step closer to the CCS championships and have high expectations going into the meet.
“It’s going to be tough to repeat last year, but we have a good chance. I think it all depends on how all the schools match up,” Alvarado said.
The Dons will participate in the Top Eight Invitational at Los Gatos High School on Sunday, April 20.
