Six members from M-A’s track & field team raced in the CCS finals in Gilroy on Saturday afternoon. Top finishers from the finals will advance to the State Meet on May 30th and 31st to close out the season.
For the girls, senior Sara Nordlund led the team, taking second in the 300M hurdles and third in the 100M hurdles. Nordlund will return to the State Meet for both events.
“I’m really impressed with how our team performed at CCS,” Nordlund said. “We ended up having a lot more qualifiers for finals than we expected.”
Junior Katie Cueva will also advance to the State Meet after taking third place in pole vault with a 9-inch personal-best of 11 ‘3″. Cueva’s new record makes her the second-highest pole vaulter in M-A history, closely following record-holder Kathryn Mohr who competed at State Meets from 2012 to 2014.
“I’m super proud of Katie in the pole vault,” Nordlund added. “She made a huge personal record, and she’s so deserving of it.”
Taking fourth in the 1600M was freshman Caroline Pflaum, who just narrowly missed advancing to the State Meet. Her performance with a time of 4:57 was a 3-second personal best, and now ranks second all-time at M-A.
On the boys end, sophomore Evan Chopra put up great times, taking seventh place in the 800M. Chopra also anchored the 4x800M team consisting of seniors Lucas Selvik, Thomas Bernadicou, and John Cutler, which finished eleventh.
“We ended up outperforming our seed in the relay, although our final time left a lot to be desired,” Selvik said. “I’m proud of us for stepping up to the task and giving it all we had.”
“I’m most excited to watch all the other athletes compete, but I’m glad there won’t be too much pressure at States and I get to just run and enjoy the meet,” Nordlund said. “I just hope to end the season on a good note and leave track behind with a happy memory.”
The Bears will be sending Nordlund and Cueva to compete in the State Meet this upcoming Friday and Saturday in Clovis.
