St. Mary’s senior goes distance in the long jump
CLOVIS, Fresno County — The mark was 24 feet, 3¾ inches, but the distance for new California state long jump champion Sanjay Kettels was much further.
The St. Mary’s-Berkeley senior welled up after his final jump Saturday at jam-packed Buchanan High School overtook Tri-City-San Diego senior Matthew DeRoos, who had led at 24-2¼ most of the competition.
“I knew I had it in me,” Kettels said. “I just had to dig deep. I’d come too far.”
Last year he sat in the blazing Buchanan stands watching the long jumpers after he scratched three jumps at the North Coast Section Meet of Champions trials.
“I remember watching last season. … it was really hard,” he said. “I knew it would take a lot of work to get back and be out here on the field. This feels a whole lot better.”
But the road back wasn’t easy. He partially tore his hamstring late in the winter and watched invitationals at Stanford and Arcadia before finally jumping at full strength in April. Right before the North Coast Section Meet of Champions, he tweaked his hamstring and dropped the triple jump. “That turned out to be a blessing,” Kettles said. “I could focus just on the long jump.”
After struggling in Friday’s trials, he was in fourth heading into his fourth jump. He scratched twice, setting up one last try. He made the most of it. “I just thought, ‘This is it,’ ” Kettles said. “I just gave a little extra. This feels amazing.”
Kettles’ performance personified a gritty and clutch day for Bay Area champions, California-San Ramon junior Alyssa Brewer (800 meters), HeritageBrentwood junior Jett Charvet (800) and Pittsburg senior Iffy Joyner (discus).
Brewer, the defending champion, took it out fast from the start to win in 2:07.07, holding off Del Oro-Loomis junior Cathilyn McIntosh (2:07.62) and Etiwanda senior Jacquelyn Hill (2:08.29).
Hill was on Brewer’s shoulder during a quick 62-second first lap and was still there at 600 meters (1:34). But Brewer stayed strong and crossed first.
“There was definitely pressure all year to repeat, and to be honest, that just fired me up,” Brewer said. “Down the stretch, I just remember all the work I had put in. I just went for it.”
Charvet was something of an afterthought heading into the finals, the NCS runner-up, but he pulled away with 300 meters to go and fought off a big kick from the runner-up and state leader, Bellarmine junior Alex Scales, to win 1:51.07 to 1:51.56.
It was the first state title ever for Charvet, whose first name is short for Jettiene. He thanked his distance coach Jennifer Derego for laying out a perfect plan in a highly physical and close race.
The top 11 finishes were within 3.5 seconds.
Joyner was sitting in third going into his fifth of sixth throws, when he unleashed his first-ever throw over 200 feet to win in 203-8, to edge Oak Park senior Robbie Otai (202-0).
“I knew I could get over 200 feet,” Joyner said. “It was a gigantic adrenaline rush. It was crazy.”
The meet, in front of more than 11,000 fans, featured numerous record-breaking performances, headlined by Agoura senior Tara Davis, who ran the fastest 100 hurdles race under any conditions, a windaided 12.83 seconds, and broke Marion Jones’ 24-year statemeet mark in the long jump, winning in 22-1¼. She also won the triple jump.
Upland senior Joseph Anderson also broke the statemeet record in the 110 hurdles (13.33) and backed it up with the nation’s top 300 hurdles time of year in 36.02.
El Cerrito senior Kaylah Robinson came off the track with tears in her eyes, even though she ran a scintillating 12.98-time in the 100 hurdles, the second fastest time ever under any conditions.
She and Davis were aided with a 3.3-meters-per-second wind.
“My start wasn’t great and (Davis) got out,” Robinson said. “You’re not going to catch her. But I gave it my all. … I just have to keep in mind, this is not the end for my career but just the beginning.”
Defending discus champion Pamela Amaechi, a senior from Lincoln, just missed out at repeating even though she set her second personal best in two days. Los Osos junior Ashley Anumba unleashed a throw of 177-8 on her final attempt to win.