A spectacular double win for O’Dowd runner
CIF STATE TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
CLOVIS, Fresno County — Down the final stretch at Buchanan High School, Tierra Robinson-Jones could hear the crowd roaring.
Out of the corner of her eye, the Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland senior could see El Toro’s Maliyah Medley gaining.
“I told myself, ‘Just go faster and faster,’ ” Robinson-Jones said. “‘Hurry up and get to the line. You have 10 meters left.’ … And then I crossed. I saw my time. I was happy.”
Robinson-Jones was thrilled to finally break through and win her first state 400-meter title in 52.37 seconds, a personal best and the second-fastest time in the country.
But the Texas A&M-bound runner was just getting started. Ninety minutes later, she made a gallant comeback from 10 meters down in the final stretch to win the 200 in a personal best of 23.66, edging Long Beach Poly’s Ariyonna Augustine (23.70) at the line.
In the 100th running of the CIF State Championships before more than 10,000 fans, Robinson-Jones became just the fourth girl and first from the Metro Area to win the grueling 200-400 double.
The last to do it: future Olympian Monique Henderson (Morse-San Diego) in 2000.
“My coach ( Jamal Cooks) said before the season, ‘Why not? Why can’t you win both races?’ ” Robinson-Jones said. “And here we are. … I’m so ecstatic. I almost started crying on the track again.
“I don’t know. I’m speechless. Thankful. Blessed. I won the 400, the 200 and tomorrow I’m going to graduate from high school.”
It was just about a perfect meet for the strong and vivacious 5-foot-8 athlete who talked before the meet about aspiring to be one the greats, like Sanya Richards, Allyson Felix and Natasha Hastings.
Robinson-Jones’ efforts highlighted a stellar day for Metro athletes, who grabbed six gold medals.
For the first time in meet history, two Marin County athletes captured first place in the same meet.
Top-seeded Max Glasser of Marin CatholicKentfield competed a nearly flawless senior year by winning the 400 in 46.97. That came about 45 minutes after Redwood-Larkspur senior Liam Anderson won the 1,600 in a California season best of 4:09.31.
Glasser, who owned the area’s best 100 and 200 times most of the year, geared his entire season for this moment. Last year at the same meet, a hamstring injury led him to finish next to last in the trials.
Saturday, he was strong throughout while recording his personal best, holding off Clayton Valley-Concord junior Cameron Reynolds (47.27) and Vista Murrieta’s Parris Samaniego (47.40) at the line.
“I walked away from prelims here last year pretty distraught,” Glasser said. “Now it feels awesome.”
Glasser said a 47.31 performance at the Stanford Invitational in March told him he could win state.
“I wanted to come back strong and come back better than last year,” he said. “I worked hard and worked with one of the best coaches out there. …. This is what the whole season has been pointing toward. It feels great. It was great for our school, our league, our county. What Liam did tonight, too. Pretty incredible.”
Anderson broke through a tight pack with about 200 meters to go and had a 10-meter edge down the stretch before holding on to win over High Tech-San Diego’s Jaden Rosenthal (4:09.63).
Anderson came back and tried to double in the 3,200, where he held the state lead. He gave a gallant effort but finished fifth at 9:00.60, well back of winner Matt Strangio, a sophomore from Jesuit-Carmichael, who finished at 8:56.18.
Another sophomore, St. Mary’s-Berkeley’s Malcolm Clemons, was also a champion, taking the long jump with a wind-aided 25 foot, 1 inch effort. Though the 2.5-meters-per-second wind helped him over the magical 25-foot barrier, his mark was no fluke.
Clemons dominated the competition with six jumps over 24 feet, a remarkable feat. He beat St. Ignatius senior, state-leader and runner-up Alex Enos (24-0½) by more than a foot.
“Nobody was going to beat Malcolm today,” Enos said. “He was amazing.”
The UCLA-bound Enos, who has a windlegal mark of 25-0, was pretty good himself. Especially after driving back to San Francisco on Friday night to make the school’s graduation Saturday morning.
Enos flew back in the afternoon and made the 5 p.m. start.
“I felt pretty good,” Enos said. “It was a great season. I’m very happy with a second-place medal.”
Especially because his teammates Megan Ronan, a freshman long jumper, and Delaney Peranich, a senior high jumper, also medaled with fifth- and sixth-place finishes.
“The fact we all medaled was pretty cool,” said Peranich, who cleared 5-8, one inch below her season best. “It’s been a great season.”