3 St. Ignatius jumpers advance
CLOVIS — With arms folded, like a proud papa, St. Ignatius jumps coach Mike Kennedy watched three of his athletes discuss a good day’s work.
Senior high jumper Delaney Peranich (5 feet, 5 inches), senior long jumper Alex Enos (23-7¼) and freshman long jumper Megan Ronan (18-7½) all made it through the first day of the CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High School.
Trials aren’t about performing at your peak, but advancing, and all three have legitimate chances to medal (top six), and in the case of state leaders Enos (25-0) and Peranich (5-9), win.
“Honestly, I just couldn’t be happier for these kids and prouder to help coach them,” Kennedy said. “We’re hopeful it will end the very best way possible tomorrow, but no matter what happens, it’s been an awesome season.”
Of the three, Enos’ emergence might be the most surprising. He didn’t make it out of the Central Coast Section trials last year — his first year running track — but following a growth spurt and a lot of work during the offseason, he busted off a jump of 24-2½ to start the season at the K-Bell Meet in Sacramento.
Then the 6-foot, 170-pounder shattered that by going 25-0 at the CCS Top 8 Meet. He showed well at bigger meets, but competing at state brings a whole new pressure.
Especially coming in as the state leader.
“Guys were coming up to me and saying, ‘Oh, you’re the guy who went 25 feet. You gonna get 26?’’ Enos said. “I’m just thinking I want to win.”
It won’t be easy for Enos, not only because he’s battling his East Bay rival, St. Mary’sBerkeley sophomore Malcolm Clemons, who qualified first at 24-3¼.
Enos has some traveling to do. After Friday’s trials, he drove back to San Francisco to attend the school’s graduation. He’s scheduled to fly out of SFO at 1 p.m., and the finals begin at 5 p.m.
“It’s not ideal, but mom wants him at the graduation,” Kennedy said. “I get it. We’ll make the most of it.”
One other hiccup: “I really don’t like flying,” Enos said with a nervous grin.
That fact made Peranich laugh. She told Enos to toughen up. The 5-9 matched the height she cleared in winning the CCS meet last week. It was a career goal and bettered the winning mark of 5-8½ at the Pac-12 championships last month.
She was one of 12 competitors to clear the qualifying mark of 5-5 on Friday. Peranich, who will play beach volleyball for Cal Poly next year, had just one miss.
“Anything can happen in high jump, we all know that,” she said. “But I’m feeling great. I’m feeling relaxed. To finish on top would be awesome. I just want to do my best.”
Same goes for Ronan, who has a best of 19-6½. “I think 19-3 will definitely medal and I’d really like that,” she said. “I qualified seventh, so I just have to pass one jumper. I just want to make everyone proud.”
Brewer scratches: Two-time defending 800-meter champion Alyssa Brewer’s dream to become the fourth girl to win at least three straight titles in the event came to a close when she scratched because of a sore right foot. The USC-bound runner instead attended her graduation from CaliforniaSan Ramon.
Terrific trio: The threesome of Tierra Robinson-Jones (Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland, 55.05), Alexis Surrell (Newark Memorial, 55.23) and Kirsten Carter (Santa Rosa, 55.12) qualified second, third and fourth, respectively, in the 400 meters and came back to qualify third, sixth and seventh in the 200. Robinson-Jones, looking to be the first Metro Area runner to win the 200 and 400, cruised to win both heats and ran a leg on O’Dowd’s qualifying 400 relay team.
No surprise: Marin CatholicKentfield senior Max Glasser, the top qualifier coming in, had the day’s best 400 in 47.54. The second qualifier, Oakland Tech’s Henry Larkin (47.89) was a surprise. He was seeded 17th and had a personal best by more than a second.
State’s best: Clayton Valley’s boys ran the fastest 1,600 relay of the day in a state-best time this year of 3:13.48. The Eagles have bettered their previous best by more than seven seconds over the past two weeks.