Samiyah Brooks admitted she was nervous at the Pittsburg Relays on Saturday. After all, the freshman was making her debut in a high school meet.
"The environment, coaches, new faces," Brooks said. "If you're a freshman on varsity, you're running against older people. When you run AAU, you're running against people who are the same age."
Maybe she was nervous, but Brooks was still outstanding. She ran a leg on Pittsburg High School's winning 400-meter relay team, ran a leg on Pittsburg's victorious sprint medley relay team and won the open 100 in a personal-best 12.93 seconds.
The Pirates already had several excellent sprinters. Adding Brooks just makes them better.
The 400 relay team finished in 51.27. Brooks ran the third leg setting up anchor Trinity Bolden, who actually went down and still was able to win the race.
Brooks ran second on the SMR, which won in 1:52.82 -- more than four seconds ahead of second place Armijo.
Then, Brooks won the 100, finishing 0.45 ahead of second place.
"I wanted to PR in the 100," Brooks said. Mission Accomplished. Now, she said her goal is to get down to 12.5.
Her coaches see even better times in her future.
"I'm hoping she'll run a 12.3," Pittsburg sprints coach Josh Tezeno said. He added that the staff has been working on her mechanics. "That's the thing that she really picked up. She's really mechanically sound right now."
Pirates head coach Aaron Alatorre said, "She's used to running hard. It's always a pleasure to see those times drop when they get to high school. Having a freshman on the varsity is going to give her that much more experience. With her coming out and already starting the season at 12.93 is a great, great start. So we're excited."
Alatorre said Pittsburg has great youth feeder programs that prepare athletes like Brooks for high school.
Brooks said she played basketball, volleyball and did gymnastics growing up. She is concentrating on track now although she still plays volleyball for fun with her friends. Her goal is a college scholarship and to one day run in the Olympics.
It was a windy day at Pirate stadium for a meet that served as a season opener for many of the schools. Only a handful of individual events were held, in favor of relays.
Oakley Freedom (NC) swept the 1,600s, with Kylee Denver winning the girls in 5:25.01 and Joesiah Kriston winning the boys in 4:40.77. Pittsburg's Jonzi Smith won the boys 100 in 11.38.
Nicholas Moseley of Pittsburg won the boys 300 hurdles in 42.49. Antioch's Zoe Davis-Watkins won the girls 300 hurdles in 54.19.
Antioch's Jailen Weaver won the boys shot put at 49 feet, four inches and took second in the discus at 159-9. Freedom's Jacob Hawkins won the discus at 170-3 and took third in the shot put at 46-10.50. Marcus Gelpi of Dixon cleared 6-6 to win the boys high jump. Will Holden-Wingate of Mill Valley Tamalpais won the boys triple jump at 44-5.
Marin Catholic's Hannah Matcham won the girls long jump at 17-6.50.
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