Lincoln thrower 2nd at Penn Relays
It definitely wasn’t how Pamela Amaechi planned it, but then again, this was a last-minute trip, anyway.
The Lincoln senior discus thrower overcame some unexpected yips and bad throws in preliminaries to finish second in the high school division at perhaps the most storied track and field event in the country, the Penn Relays, on Thursday afternoon.
Amaechi, the defending state champion in the event, barely qualified for the finals with a “decent” late throw, then uncorked a toss of 163 feet, 6 inches, about 6 feet shorter than winner Fiona Richards (169-5) of Jamaica.
Hosted at Franklin Field on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, the Penn Relays annually attract 15,000 athletes and 100,000 fans over three days.
“By far, it wasn’t my best performance, but I’m still very proud of myself,” Amaechi said by phone. “It was a great experience being here. I learned a lot about myself. This is an amazing event.”
Amaechi entered with the nation’s No. 3 mark, 169-10, only an inch behind national leader Ashley Anumba of Los Osos (San Luis Obispo County). Amaechi won last year’s state meet at 164-1, becoming the first San Francisco public school girl to win a California track and field championship.
On Thursday, she became the first San Francisco Section athlete to place at the oldest and largest track and field competition in the country, located about an hour from Princeton, where Amaechi will attend college in the fall.
A future college coach and teammate greeted Amaechi, who was chaperoned by Lincoln coaches
Kevin Doherty and Collin Luu.
“I’m just so grateful to be here,” Amaechi said. “I love the diversity here and talking with some of the athletes outside of the U.S. I feel like this is the place for me when I get to college.”
As far as the competition: “I felt really good in warm-ups. (Doherty) told me later I threw one 175. But for some reason, I just wasn’t able to execute early. Everything was off. Luckily, I got one good one off to get to the finals and once there, I got one more good one in. It wasn’t great, but I now know what I need to work on.”
Teare (St. Joseph Notre Dame-Alameda, 3,200 meters) and Alyssa
Brewer (California-San Ramon, 800). Teare is the national leader in the 3,200 (8:41.61) — he won state at 8:51.84 — and Brewer ranks third in the 800 (2:07.90) after winning a state title last season in 2:06.86.
Teare is also the national leader in the mile at 4:00.16, and race director
Jerry Colman has set up another mile (normally the event holds a 1,600) just to see if the runner can become just the fifth to break the 4-minute mark in an all-high school race.
Other top local boys to watch on California leader lists include Bellarmine junior Alex Scales (800, 1:50.64, first; 1,600, 4:13.39, second), Pittsburg senior
Adrian Aguirre (110 hurdles, 14.31, seventh), Clayton Valley-Concord senior Jeff Williams (discus, 205-7, second) and College Park-Pleasant Hill senior Noah Hurley (pole vault, 16-0, tied for fourth).
Top girls to watch are El Cerrito senior Kaylah
Robinson (100, 11.77, fifth; 200, 24.34, ninth; 100 hurdles, 13.52, second), Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland junior Tierra RobinsonJones (400, 54.53, fourth), Redwood-Larkspur junior Gillian Wagner (1,600, 4:55.35, fourth; 3,000, 9:58.26, first), Sonoma Academy-Santa Rosa junior Rylee Bowen (mile, 4:48.44, second) and St. Mary’s-Berkeley junior
Kali Hatcher (triple jump, 40-6, fourth).