The 31st Annual K-Bell Invitational will take place Saturday at Los Gatos HS. This is always the first big test for a large contingent of Central Coast Section Track and Field athletes to see where they stand fellow CCS athletes in their events in early March. The meet will also include other talented non-CCS athletes which are noted below. The first running event will take place at 8:00am with the F/S 3200m. taking center stage. The first field events will begin at 9am with the FS High Jump, VG Discus, FS Shot Put, FS High Jump, VB Triple Jump and VB Pole Vault. Here is look at some of the featured events at the meet.
The first varsity event will be the 4 x 100m. relay with Bellarmine fielding their A team first time this season. The Bells are usual contenders for a top 3 and state qualifying spot in the short relay. Over the past 5 years, Bellarmine has finished 2nd in '10, 2nd in '11, DNF in '12, 1st in '13 and 2nd in '14.
In the boys' 110m. Hurdles, the favorite will be Aidan Kirwan of Branham HS who was a CCS finalist last year with a 14.87 personal best and finished in 2nd place in the 55m. Hurdles at the California Indoor State meet. He will be challenged by a crew of Mt. Pleasant hurdlers. 5 total hurdlers have personal bests under 15 seconds.
The varsity girls 3200m. race will feature two of the top distance runners in the section. At last year's CCS final, Lauren Jacob of Los Altos finished in 2nd place in a near PR of 10:46.33 trailing only Sarah Robinson of Gunn. Cate Ratliff of Santa Cruz finished in 6th place with a PR of 10:51.14 in one of the deepest CCS 3200 race in history as 9 girls dipped under the 11 minute mark.
The boys 3200m. race will pit one of the rising stars in CCS, Justin Robison of Lynbrook. He qualified to the CA state meet in the 1600m. as a sophomore and recorded a 4:18.27 PR during the season. Jose Pina of Lincoln, San Jose is one of the most underrated runners in the section and will either win or make someone earn their victory. Michael Bereket of Carlmont, another fearless racer, won't be afraid to hang with the front pack and will challenge here as well.
The boys 800m. race will feature 5 runners with seed times less than 2 minutes. The fastest time belongs to Sir Francis Drake senior runner, Brodie Barkan. His PR dates back to his sophomore season when he ran 1:57.88. He dipped under the 2 minute mark twice last year qualifying for the NCS Meet of Champions and ran 2:02.04 earlier this season in a scrimmage.
The girls 300m. Hurdles race will feature one of the top 800m. runners in the state of California, Notre Dame SJ senior, Juliana Mount. She raced to a 6th place finish at last year's CA state meet with a personal best 2:10.07. Mount started out as a hurdler and ran her best time at the CCS trials (44.42). She finished in 5th place in the final that included eventual state champion, Reonna Collier of Piedmont Hills.
The boys 1600m. will take place before the 4 x 400m. relay at this meet which used to be when it was run before the current state meet format. The leading competitors for the top spot in this event will include Johain Ounadjela of Carlmont, Salem Bouhassoun of Mission (SF), Jordan Kirby of Newark Memorial and Steven Sum of Saratoga. Those four will also have plenty of competition in the usually loaded distance races.
While the track events usually take center stage, there will be plenty of talent in the field events. In the boys Discus, Bellarmine senior, Marshil Godsil comes in with the 3rd furthest throw in CA at 180'6" (also 56'0.25" in the shot put). In the high jump, Mt. Pleasant junior Darius Carbin has already leaped 6'9" at the Cal All-Comers meet earlier this year. Teammate, Kurt Felicitas, one of the most valuable track athletes in the section, will aim at winning the long jump and challenge his personal best of 23'2.25". In the pole vault side, Zachary Nichols of Branham is the leading entrant with a lifetime best 15'9" from 2014 at the CA state meet.
On the girls side, the leading field event athletes includes Julie Zweng of Scotts Valley who jumped 5'6" in the high jump earlier this season. She was also a state meet qualifier last year. Sydney Jaques of Presentation comes in as the top vaulter in the meet at 11'6" which she accomplished last season. Valley Christian SJ will bring their throwers to this meet as well headlined by Elena Bruckner who has the leading throw in California at 49'0". She has also thrown 152'8" in the discus which is one of the top throws in CA as well.
The 31st Annual K-Bell Invitational will take place Saturday at Los Gatos HS. This is always the first big test for a large contingent of Central Coast Section Track and Field athletes to see where they stand fellow CCS athletes in their events in early March. The meet will also include other talented non-CCS athletes which are noted below. The first running event will take place at 8:00am with the F/S 3200m. taking center stage. The first field events will begin at 9am with the FS High Jump, VG Discus, FS Shot Put, FS High Jump, VB Triple Jump and VB Pole Vault. Here is look at some of the featured events at the meet.
The first varsity event will be the 4 x 100m. relay with Bellarmine fielding their A team first time this season. The Bells are usual contenders for a top 3 and state qualifying spot in the short relay. Over the past 5 years, Bellarmine has finished 2nd in '10, 2nd in '11, DNF in '12, 1st in '13 and 2nd in '14.
