With four Nor Cal golds, CSM set to host state track finals

The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

With four Northern California gold medals in hand, College of San Mateo track and field athletes will return to their home at College Heights for the 3C2A state championships, May 16-17.

CSM led all Coast Conference men's teams with 64 points at last weekend's Northern California CC Championships at Butte College in Oroville, qualifying athletes in a broad spectrum of men's and women's events for the all finals meet at their home field.

College of the Sequoias won the NorCal men's team title with 108.5 points, ahead of Modesto JC (97). CSM placed fifth among the 22 scoring teams.

On the women's side, Modesto JC topped the chart with 157 points, with Clovis second (81). San Mateo was a creditable seventh with 47 points.

Freshman Ericka Dorn won the women's 1,500 meters in 4 minutes, 49.59 seconds and ranks No. 3 in the state this season with her best time of 4:41.40. The Westmoor High grad later took the silver medal in the 800 meters (2:18.80). She ranks No. 2 in the state this season at 2:16.27.

Coast Conference 3000-meter steeplechase champion Deia Kerseg-Forman (Half Moon Bay) took the silver medal in her specialty in 11:44.85.

arly in the race, "She took a hard fall," said CSM coach Kajari Burns, "but bounced back to finish second with a personal best."

The freshman now ranks No. 5 in the state this year.

San Mateo sophomore thrower Jane Taufa won the shot put with a mark of 43 feet, 3 inches. She is the state season shot put leader at 43-9 3/4. Mele Petelo (Hillsdale) placed fifth (38-10 1/2) to also reach the state finals at CSM. The Bulldogs had a state finals qualifier in the javelin with sophomore Jordan Flowers placing fourth (109-3).

Bague scores 28 jump points
Alydan Bague dominated the men's jumping events for CSM. He won the high jump (6-6 3/4) and triple jump (46-11 3/4, and took the silver medal in the long jump (22-9 1/4), scoring 28 points for the Bulldogs.

His freshman teammate Jasque Vasquez (Mills) also reached the state long jump finals with a fifth-place finish (22-3 1/2) and is an alternate in the triple jump, finishing seventh (44-10 1/4). Bague is the state season leader in the triple jump at 48-2 3/4 and ranks No. 2 in the long jump (23-2 3/4) and high jump.

CSM sprint records
CSM had strong performances in the men's sprints, including two school records. Ryan Keyhan took a pair of bronze medals with state finals qualifying performances in the 100 meters (10.51) and 200 (21.31). The sophomore, out of Carlmont High, posted the No. 5 state time in the 100 prelims (10.45), breaking his own CSM record – with a legal aiding wind. He ranks No. 6 in the 200 this season at 21.24.

Coast Conference 400 meter champion Jax Bonney (Capuchino) placed fourth in his specialty in 48.31, the No. 9 state time of the year, which ranks No. 8 on San Mateo's all-time top ten list.

Both athletes ran on San Mateo's second place and school record 4x100 meter relay (41.00) and sixth place 4x400 relay (3:18.27), with Keyhan anchoring. CSM ranks No. 3 in the state in the 400 relay and has the No. 10 time in the 1,600 relay.

Completing the Bulldogs record short relay quartet were leadoff Jared St. Onge (Westmoor) and No. 3 runner Antonio Campbell-Rodrigues, out of Carlmont (who also had a personal best of 10.78 in the 100 meter prelims, which ranks No. 32 in the state this year). St. Onge is No. 38 on the state 200 meter top 50 list with a best of 21.96. All, except Keyhan, are freshmen.

CSM freshman pole vaulter Cal Adasiewicz (Woodside), coming back from an ankle sprain the previous week while warming up at the Coast Conference championships, finished a scoring seventh at NorCals (12-11 1/2). He will join the state finals as the north's No. 6 and final qualifier -- off his Coast pacesetting season best of 14-5 1/4, set during last month's Northern California decathlon championships (where he finished a creditable ninth overall). The sixth place pole vaulter at NorCals does not have a state "A" qualifying mark, which Adasiewicz does and is ranked 11th on the state list. He now has an additional two weeks to recuperate for the state finals.

State finals schedule
State finals competition at CSM begins on Friday, May 16, at 9:30 a.m. Saturday competition begins at 9 a.m.