Greyhound track and field athletes made a good showing at the North Coast Section’s Redwood Area meet, held over the weekend at Santa Rosa Junior College. Some 30 high schools participated from throughout the North Bay, resulting in several local student-athletes making the cut for the NCS Meet of Champions (MOC) next weekend.
The high point of Healdsburg’s success was literally that, a personal best and new school record high jump of 6 feet 8 inches by sophomore Teague Jasper. The sophomore has been winning this event all spring, usually with jumps of 6 feet 6 inches, though he set his previous best on April 11 at the Arcadia Invitational with a 6-foot-7-inch jump.
His efforts to reach 6 feet 8 inches finally paid off on May 11 at SRJC. Video of the jump, available on the Athletic.net website, shows him taking an easy, then faster lope to the bar, making a graceful backflip over it, with self-congratulatory fist pumps when he clears it.
The mark is significant in Healdsburg history, too. In the northeast corner of the Plaza, a monument to the town’s Olympic athletes includes a plaque for Healdsburg’s Edward L. Beeson. In 1914, while a student at UCB, he set a world high-jump record of 6 feet 7 and 5/16 inches that stood until 1924.
Racing the Clock
Other local athletes who placed well enough at the NCS area championships to earn a pass to next weekend’s NCS meet were freshman Phoenix De Maria Nall in the boys 800m run, where he came in second, and senior Jake McWilliams finishing fourth in the same race.
Track coach Kate Guthrie, who just last November saw several of her cross country runners make it to the CIF state championship, endorses the idea of returning this spring for track. She singled out a couple runners who have caught her attention in the last few weeks.
“Phoenix De Maria Nall’s 800m performance was truly exceptional. His time currently ranks him as the fastest freshman in California in the 800m this season, and the third-fastest freshman in the nation. For such a young athlete to compete with that level of composure and execution in a championship setting is incredibly exciting for our program.”
Two sophomores, runners Lucas Welty in third place (9:33.07) and Domenico Cornilson in fifth (9:42.04), advanced to the MOC in the Boys 3200m. Again, Guthrie added context to the results that Cornilson has shown.
“Domenico has made major breakthroughs this postseason and continues to shine in championship competition with huge PR performances to advance through qualifying rounds,” she said.
“To put his improvement into perspective, last year he ran 10:52.77 in the 3200m, and last weekend he ran 9:42.04—an improvement of more than 70 seconds in one year. That performance put him in position to qualify for the NCS Meet of Champions and represents an extraordinary amount of dedication and development.”
The boys 4x400m relay team of De Maria Nall, Jack Beckman, Cayson Hagen and McWilliams finished seventh with a time of 3:30.62, which could earn them a trip to the MOC too. “They actually ran their best performance of the season,” pointed out Guthrie. “They are still in contention for one of the next three at-large qualifying spots based on times from the other area meets feeding into MOC. We should know within the next few days whether they will advance.”
The MOC for the northern part of the state will take place May 22-23 at Dublin High School. The following weekend, May 30-31, the state CIF State Track championship will be held in Clovis, in Fresno County.
See additional high school sports news online at healdsburgtribune.com/sports.
