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Published June 15th, 2016
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Acalanes, Campolindo and Miramonte End Track Season at State Meet
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| By Karl Buscheck |
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| Julia Lyons Photo Gint Federas |
In her first full season on the Acalanes track team, senior Julia Lyons jumped her way to the largest stage in California.
"Making it to the State meet is the biggest feat - especially for somebody who's doing it for the first time," said head coach John Crain after Lyons competed in the long jump at the 98th CIF State Track and Field Championships on June 3 and 4 in Clovis. "So, for her to finish 16th overall is a huge accomplishment."
Lyons, who will join the track team at Boston College next year thanks to her brilliant spring, soaked in the environment at Veteran's Memorial Stadium at Buchanan High School.
"When I talked to her afterwards, she was very happy to be at the State meet," Crain said. "She was very happy to be there competing and she just enjoyed her time a lot."
Lyons was the only Don to make it to State, but Crain was thrilled with how the season concluded for the entire girls team, which shared the league crown with Miramonte.
"We knew the girls were good," Crain said. "And they even exceeded what we thought [they'd do]. For the most part, most of the girls are coming back. So, we expect to be even better next year."
Crain was also impressed with how the boys team surpassed their preseason expectations.
"The boys had a great season. At the beginning of the year, we didn't have a whole lot of prospects coming back from last year's team," Crain said. "But for them to finish third in league and finish third in the league championship meet, they accomplished almost as much as the girls did."
The coach added: "It's going to be fun for the next two years - or more. [We] hope it continues."
Like Acalanes, Campolindo brought one athlete to Clovis in junior Niki Moore.
"His performance was a good one considering it was his first time at that venue," said head coach Chuck Woolridge after Moore ran in sixth place in the third heat of the 800-meter preliminaries. "He was up against the best competition that he's seen in his career. He stayed very poised and executed his race as best as he could in a very tough field."
The race marked yet another high point in Moore's transformation from young sprinter to middle-distance star. The week before State, Moore won the 800-meter race at the NCS Meet of Champions.
"I think it's a nice progression [for Niki]," Woolridge said. "He came in more as a 200 and 400 [meter] runner and has moved to the 800-meter distance over the last two-and-a-half years. This year, he took the next step in terms of the training he did, and that really paid off for him in the end of the year."
Moore was the only Cougar competing at the meet, but Woolridge was pleased with how the year shook out for the boys and girls teams at large.
"I think things went really well for us. It wasn't the best season in terms of the number of athletes we advanced onto the State meet, but I think our athletes got out of the season what they had hoped to get out of it," Woolridge said. "It was just a really great group of kids to work with."
The Mats had two runners at the State meet, but the races didn't go as planned for senior Christian Gonzales and freshman Cassy Haskell.
"State meet wasn't the greatest for us," admitted head coach Tristan Tool after Gonzales placed in seventh in the first preliminary heat of the 800-meter race and Haskell finished in 11th in her heat of the 1,600.
"[It was] tough to end the season like that," Tool said. "But they both had fantastic breakout seasons as a whole."
Their showings at the State meet don't put a damper on what promises to be bright futures for both runners.
"Cassie Haskell ended the season as the No. 3 ranked freshman in the US in the 1,600 meter," Tool said. "[It was] an impressive season for her."
Meanwhile, Gonzales will continue his running career next spring at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA