RECAP Busy Day for Foothill Senior at Bay Area Relays

Foothill (NC) senior Torre Anderson reacts after a clearance in the high jump at the Bay Area Relays. (Jennifer Koziel photo)

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PLEASANTON -- It was a busy day at the Bay Area Relays for Foothill High School track and field athlete Torre Anderson. The senior competed in the girls long jump, high jump, and the 400- and 800-meter relays on her home track.

The results were a little mixed. In the long jump, she said she got off a 19-foot long jump but fouled by a couple of inches. She took three attempts at a school-record 5-8 in the high jump but came up short.

On the other hand, the two relay teams won in season-bests and the 800 team (4x200) lowered its best by five seconds.

"The long jump unfortunately didn't go as planned," she said. "I PRd with a 19-4 but it didn't count because I scratched by two inches. Which sucks but that's OK. You're going to have those days. The four-by-two I think went really great. I'm really pumped about that."

Anderson finished second in the long jump at 17-11.75. Julia Alexander of St. Mary's (NC) won the event at 18-1.75. In the high jump, Anderson's mark of 5-4 was good enough for the win. With nobody else left in the competition, Anderson had the bar moved up to 5-8 and missed her three attempts.

The Falcons 400 relay team not only set a season-best, it also broke the meet record with a time of 48.91. Emma Lim, Makenna Meyers-McNerney, and Marina Garcia ran the other legs.

Anderson finished her day with the 4x200 relay. She joined with Kayla Galvez, Meyers-McNerney, and Sabrina Nelson in a terrific time of 1:44.86. St. Mary's was second in 1:46.31. Foothill's time ranks CA No. 5 and St. Mary's is No. 9. 

"I feel like the season has been (going) pretty well," Anderson said. "I feel like I've been pretty consistent with long jump. High jump is just getting back into the swing of things again because I don't really do that event as much. Our four-by-one team, we all have great chemistry and we work so well together which is why we do so well."

Anderson said she would like to better her long jump PR of 18-6.50 by the end of the year.

"So I'm hoping to get that (19-4) again," she said.

The school record in the high jump is 5-7, so she'd like to hit that 5-8. In the open 100, she said she'd liked to get a 12.3.

"It would be nice," she said.

It was a sunny but windy day at the Sweeney Athletics Complex in Pleasanton. Officially, all events were relays although individual results were reported in the field events. Teams were almost exclusively from the East Bay region of the North Coast Section.

San Ramon Valley (NC) swept the pole vaults with Elise Doyle setting a personal best of 11-6 to win the girls event and Derek Lo hitting 13-6 to win the boys.

"It was super-fun," sophomore Doyle said. "My PR before today was 10-8. Today I got 11-0 and then I got 11-6 for a double-PR today. I'm hoping to get higher as the season goes on. My goal at the beginning of the season was to get 12-0, but now that I've gotten 11-6 this early, I'm thinking I can get higher."

Foothill's Rachael Bertch was second at 10-0 with Lick Wilmerding's Faith Dyogi taking third in a school-record 8-6. That mark came as Dyogi and teammate Anu Tao started late and without their coach. The other vaulters and coaches helped coach Dyogi through to her new mark.

Lo, a junior, set a PR of 14-0 earlier in the month. Once he dispatched William Floyd of the Menlo School (CC) at 13-6, he had the bar set at 14-3 but couldn't negotiate it.

"I've improved a lot this year," Lo said. "I went up two feet, which I wasn't expecting. My goal was 14-0 by the end of the season."

Floyd finished second at 13-0.

Back on the track, San Ramon Valley's boys 800 relay team of Joshua Johnson, Zach Fernandez, Arjun Kasthuri, and Seane Williams ran a nifty race, edging St. Mary's for first, 1:32.32-1:32.76. Amador Valley's girls 3,200 team of Tessa Jennings, Ella McCarthy, Erika Pettersson, and Taya Small broke the 10-minute barrier, coming home in 9:56.73, 30 seconds ahead of the pack. The Dons boys team of Robert Sitter, Izak Monette, Declan McPherson, and Mason Romant also won the 3200 relay in 8:23.32. After the race, they were asking how to get put on the Milesplit Instagram account.

California's Robinson Williams, Devan Love, Sean Neumann, and Joshua Shavies took the boys sprint medley relay in a meet record 1:35.79.

Alexander came back to win the girls triple jump at 37-9.25.