Central Coast Section Championship Preview

1600 Meters
Girls CCS Meet Record: Anna Maxwell San Lorenzo Valley 4:42.57 2013
Boys CCS Meet Record: Mark Stillman Willow Glen 4:08.7 1977
Girls At-Large Mark: 4:55.96
Boys At-Large Mark: 4:14.83

The 1600 has been one of the better events for this section at the state level. This year, the field appears to be a bit more wide open without the same star power of the past. The favorite will be Pacific Collegiate junior Alex Stout. She appears to have the best kick in the field and it doesn't appear that anybody has the wheels to run away from her. Emily Skahill St. Francis looks like her main challenger. She raced unchallenged last week and will definitely be in the mix on Friday. The battle for the 3rd place spot should come down to Cupertino freshman Oriana Jalal, Elena Kamas Homestead, and Kaylah Grant Live Oak. Watch out for San Benito senior Marisa Villegas. She has qualified for the state meet before and seems to be rounding into shape at the right time.

The favorite to win the boys' race is Bellarmine junior Alex Scales (Malcolm Slaney photo). He has had one heck of a season with victories at Stanford, Arcadia, CCS Top 8 and Penn Relays. He will look to make his move at the top of the last straightaway and if he is in contact, not too many high school runners will be able to stop the Scales locomotive. One runner who definitely has a fighting chance will be Andrew Hill junior Jorge Estrella. He had the fastest time at the semifinals (4:18.02) and will be looking to record his first section title. The battle for 3rd should be between 2016 state qualifier Roman Munoz (King City), Jason Gomez (Westmont) and Colton Colonna (St. Francis).