San Francisco Section Track & Field Season Preview

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Lowell 's Zachary Parker placed second in the 1600 and 3200 at the 2019 All-City Finals. (DeAnna Turner)

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There are 12 returning San Francisco Section All-City Championships individual event winners, six boys and six girls. However, three of those girls titles were claimed by just one athlete: Lowell sophomore Jenna Statovsky. 

The then-freshman won the 800 meters, 1600 meters and 3200 meters at the May 18 All-City Finals, beating Lowell teammates and returning athletes at each distance. In the 800, now-senior Michelle Won was second and junior Paloma Suarez-Davila was third. 

At both 1600 and 3200, fellow 2022 classmate Elizabeth Holcombe was second. 

Lowell's distance dominance in the SFS is well documented and that should again be evident this spring with both the girls and the boys. 

While Lowell distance standout Noah Battaglia has graduated, now-senior Zachary Parker, as obvious during the cross country season, has stepped up to fill the void. Parker ran second to Battaglia in both the 1600 and 3200 at the All-City Finals last May and is the section's top returner in the distances. 

BOYS

While Lowell has the distances on indefinite lockdown, it is Lincoln with a strong roster of returning section champions and top placers in seniors Mustapha Bhonopha in the 400, Elias Marcelino in the 800, Joshua Lee in the 110 hurdles (he was runner-up in the 200m), and Leo Gallegos in the shot put (he was second in the discus). 

Galileo senior Benjamin Wu is a two-time champion in the long jump. Lowell's only returning champion is  junior Toby Judge in the pole vault.

Other top boys include from Lincoln, seniors Martin Koulikov (long jump) and Sam Piechota (pole vault), and from Lowell, senior Norton Choy (800). 

Washington senior Haolong Cheng was runner-up to Gallegos in the triple jump.

GIRLS

The other three returning All-City Finals champions are Washington senior Kiara Neely in the 200, Lowell junior Brianna Grissom in the 400 and Lincoln senior Jael Bryant in the shot put. Neely was second to Grissom in the quarter with Lincoln senior Elen Zhu third. Neely's classmate Lisa Stangl was second to Bryant in the shot with Lincoln sophomore Leina Hutcherson third.

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