Menlo News May 07, 2022

WBAL: Boys’ track & field league champs;10 athletes CCS bound

Menlo track and field took the West Bay Athletic league Championship Finals by storm Friday night, setting league final records, winning back-to-back boys’ league titles, and sending 10 athletes in 12 events to CCS.
The top two finishers in each event are headed to Saturday’s CCS trials in Gilroy: Angelica Chou (200, 300 hurdles), Alex Boesch (4x400), Aiden Deffner (800, 4x400), Robby Enright (high jump, long jump), William Floyd (pole vault), Will Hauser (4x400), Alli McKenney (discus), Justin Pretre (1600, 3200, 4x400), Landon Pretre (3200), Vikram Seshadri (110 & 300 hurdles). Both Floyd (pole vault) and Pretre (1600) set WBAL Championship meet records.
Justin Pretre did the remarkable - qualifying for CCS in all four events - starting off with a gold in the 1600 in a WBAL Championship meet record 4:18.54. He also ran a leg on the 4x400 with Aiden Deffner, Alex Boesch and Will Hauser which took second. Justin Pretre took second in the 800 (1:54.20) and 3200 (9:28.00).
How was Justin Pretre feeling after racing four grueling events at such a high level?
“My legs hurt.”
Pretre knows the WBAL is one of the most competitive for distance in CCS. He topped the previous league final mark set in 2018 by Menlo legend and Yale senior Robert Miranda (4:23.19).
“Having this opportunity to race against so many talented runners on such a local scale is great,” he said, “Even across teams the track and cross country community is very tightly knit and it’s such a fun environment to race in. I’m honored that I had that opportunity to race against all of my competitors.”
The Menlo boys scored 123 points, Harker was second with 103 and The King’s Academy with 98. The girls team - with six competitors - took sixth.
The boys relay team had a dropped baton at the start of the meet, but rebounded with a vengeance.
“After a slow start, the boys just kept getting the ball rolling from there. Emotions were high and positive that we ended the meet winning by 20 points,” Coach Jorge Chen said.
Landon Pretre, a freshman, won the 3200 in 9:24.21. Seshadri won the 300 hurdles in 48, more than 3 seconds faser than his closest competitor, and took second in the 110 hurdles in a school-record 15.80. In the boys’ field events, Floyd got the boys’ team off to a 10-point lead after topping his own league-record with a mark of 14-3 Thursday,  and placed fifth in the 400. Three-sport athlete Robby Enright took three top-three finishes. He was in a thrilling jump-off in high jump with Crystal Springs’ Ryan Goldberg, and cleared 5-6 for second and an automatic CCS bid. He also qualified in the long jump with a second-place finish in 19-3, and took third in triple jump with another PR of 38-1
In the girls’ events, freshman Angelica Chou won the 300 hurdles in 48.00 and took second in the 200 in 25.86. Senior Alli McKenney took second in the discus with a throw of 87-9 and finished fourth in the shot put.
Emily Gruber, a junior, finished sixth in the 100 in 13.12. Hauser was fifth in the 3200 in 10:18.92. William Edwards took fourth in high jump with a mark of 5-2 and fifth in triple jump with a 35-2.
“This season represents a new generation of Menlo track and field. Not only because of the many freshmen on both the boys and girls side that have done phenomenally this year, but also because this season was really the first opportunity we had to expand our team without the impact of COVID, and I think that our athletes of all age groups stepped up their training and really dedicated themselves on a larger scale than I have seen during my time at Menlo. Everybody, from the jumps to the throws to the sprints to the distance put in the work this season and our results at league shows that,” Justin Pretre said. “With the squad that we had this season, I hope this streak can continue years into the future.”

 

League champions
Angelica Chou (300 hurdles)
William Floyd (pole vault)
Justin Pretre (1600)
Landon Pretre (3200)
Vikram Seshadri (110 hurdles)


CCS qualifiers
Angelica Chou (200, 300 hurdles)
Alex Boesch (4x400)
Aiden Deffner (800, 4x400)
Robby Enright (HJ, LJ)
William Floyd (pole vault, 4x400)
Will Hauser (4x400)
Alli McKenney (discus)
Justin Pretre (1600, 3200, 4x400)
Landon Pretre (3200)
Vikram Seshadri (110  and 300 hurdles)