| | Published June 5th, 2024
| Rogers and Schnayer finish first at state track meet
| | | By Jon Kingdon |  | | Campolindo Girls team at state meet from left: Nora Lawrence, Angie Tseng, Claire Andrezejek, Shea Volkmer, Pinkie Schnauer, Kate Kabenina, and Kiona McCasland Photo Andy Lindquist |
With exemplary performances by each of the Lamorinda track teams at the NCS Meet of Champions, each school was represented at the state meet in Clovis, California.
Acalanes' Trevor Rogers and Campolindo's Pinkie Schnayer had great capstones to their high school careers when Rogers finished first with a long jump of 24'3.75" and Schnayer won the shot put with a throw of 47'3.75".
In addition to Rogers, representing Acalanes, Paul Kuhner competed in the 100 and the 4x100 relay along with Rogers, Colin Glick, and Matthew Schwarz. Deonte Littlejohn finished in third in the discus and Natalie Lyons finished in ninth place with a long jump of 18'3".
Along with Schnayer, Campolindo's Shea Volkmer finished in eighth in the 3,200 meters and the 4x800 meter team of Kate Kabenina, Claire Andrzejek, Angele Tseng, and Kaitlyn Kinsey competed as well.
For Miramonte, senior Addison Breitberg jumped 5'3" in the high jump, finishing in tenth, and sophomore Milla Ohrbach competed in the shot put.
The Meet of Champions the prior week saw many exemplary performances from the aforementioned athletes and many others despite not qualifying for the state meet.
ACALANES
It all came together for Rogers this year. "Trevor has just been perfect all year in the long jump and he had the supreme confidence that he was going to win," Head Coach Joe Escobar said. "Being a senior and having committed to the University of California, Trevor was able to compete without thinking about anything other than track and all those things contributed to him jumping and just letting it rip."
The boys' 4x100 once again won at the MOC led off by Glick, Kuhner, Schwarz, and anchored by Rogers. "We're very proud of how much Colin's improved," Escobar said. "We put Paul second in the longest leg to use his speed as long as possible to give Trevor a chance, if it was close, to slam the door. Though trailing when he got the hand off from Schwarz, Trevor pulled away in the last twenty meters and he just was not going to lose. There has been a special bond between Paul and Trevor, and it's been really incredible to watch their performances."
Kuhner finished second in the 100 meters, Rogers second in the 200 meters, and Logan Farzan finished sixth in 1,600 meters.
After Littlejohn won the discus at the DAL with a throw of 132 feet, Littlejohn threw it 157 feet at the Meet of Champions. "It's just obscene what Deonte has been able to do," coach Chris Clark said. "He is a fantastically gifted athlete that can do so many things with his speed, balance, and power and as a sophomore, he's just scratching the surface."
Escobar was excited about the the boys team finishing in third overall: "I believe it's our best finish in the modern era and scored the highest among the public schools. If you look at the enrollments of some of the schools we were in there against, it's just absolutely incredible how well our kids did."
Natalie Lyons made it to the state meet for the first time, winning with a long jump of 18'6". "Natalie broke her personal record at the right time," Escobar said.
Other girls who scored points were Haley Chelemedos who high jumped 5'2" to finish in fifth, Olivia Williams, who concluded her illustrious career as a distance runner finishing in sixth in the 1600 meters and fifth in the 3200 meters ,and with a total of 14 points, the Acalanes girls finished in fourteenth.
In the unified events, the highlights were Bethel Imasuem finishing second in the shot put, Emma Cain finishing third in the long jump, and the 4x100 relay team of Alyvia Decredico, Emma Cain, Ainsley Dodge, and Charlotte Sunderland finishing in second and fifth at the state meet with Chloe Boyle substituting for Cain.
CAMPOLINDO
The Cougars were once again led by the girls team, finishing in second led by Schnayer winning the shot and discus.
Schnayer, who also played football for Campolindo, began training immediately after the football season concluded. "My football coaches were very hard on me as they were with everyone, and it gave me the mentality to work really hard wherever possible and I owe them for that because it's stuck with track as well," Schnayer said.
Junior Aislinn Comerford finished seventh in the shot and sixteenth in the discus at the MOC.
The girls 4x800 meter relay of Shea Volkmer, Kate Kabenina, Clare Andrezjek, and Kiona McCasland missed winning by .23 seconds. "This is only the second year that this race has been competed in at a state level event and we set a new school record by 16 seconds," assistant coach Andy Lindquist said.
Volkmer also won the 1,600 meters and finished in second in the 3,200. Kabenina also earned points with a fourth place finish and Rachel Moen finished twelfth in the 3,200.
Two sophomores, Sierra Worster and Malik Li, finished ninth in the girls and boys pole vault, respectively. "Sierra and Malik both improved considerably and for both of them to make it to the Meet of Champions as sophomores was very impressive," Lindquist said.
MIRAMONTE
Sophomore Milla Orbach qualified for the state meet by finishing third in shot put and senior Addison Braitberg finished in third in the high jump, together scoring 13 points for the Miramonte girls' team. Alex McManamon finished fifth in the triple jump and fourth in the high jump, earning 3.75 points for the boys' team.
Orbach and Braitberg are only in their second year in competing in track. "We were very excited about the performance of our athletes," Assistant Coach Joy Braitberg said. "Addison trained really hard and showed an innate ability to take directions from her coach, Bill Owen, and he was able to make the appropriate corrections with each jump that Addison and Alex made."
With natural strength, Ohrbach brought a good work ethic and a desire to get better to the team. "Milla's coach Tyler Howe has been really great at seeing what she did not get just right which allowed her to show a great deal of improvement." |
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA