Among boys track and field athletes in Santa Cruz County, Reece Stratford stands out. As the defending winner of the Bob Enzweiler Outstanding Athlete Award, which goes to the athlete who tallies the most individual points at the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League championship, the Scotts Valley High senior should.
Still, it takes a rare kind of athlete to be able to leap into the upper tier of the Central Coast Section leaderboard on a whim. And that’s essentially what Stratford did last week when he high jumped 6 feet, 4 inches while attempting — not competing, attempting — that event for the first time this season. His mark is tied for the third-best in the CCS this season, just two inches behind the section leaders.
“He starts the season a little late because of basketball, and he only can jump Mondays and Tuesdays when we’re at SLV,” said Scotts Valley first-year coach Gretchen Schmitt, noting sprint and field athletes practice part of the week at San Lorenzo Valley because the Falcons have a dirt track. “But it seemed like every time he was there, there was rain or issues and he has been working at hurdles. He didn’t get any practice.”
In a wide-open SCCAL, it will be those kind of performances that carry one school to the boys team title.
“Now everyone seems to be very good,” said Santa Cruz coach Don Roberts, who has been with the Cardinals for nearly 40 years. “Aptos’ depth is really hard to overcome. San Lorenzo Valley is looking really strong and Soquel has stepped up this year. The kids apparently trained really hard. It’s going to be a battle. It depends on who stays healthy and who performs.”
That’s what gives Scotts Valley some hope. The Falcons’ squad, which finished fourth at the 2017 league championships, isn’t as numerous as several in the league, but they do have performers.
Schmitt noted that freshman Silas Erickson leapt a personal-best 5-10, the third-best height in the SCCAL, at that same league tri-meet that Stratford won. Senior Philip Liberty also shined at that April 19 meet, posting the second-best time in the SCCAL this season in the 100 and sixth-best 200 time.
Sophomore Davin Kiesby holds the No. 2 and 3 spots in the discus and shot put, respectively, and junior Rishi Chandiramani is positioned No. 3 in the 3,200 meters.
“He’ll be physically ready and mentally he’s really strong right now and has a lot of confidence,” Schmitt said of Chandiramani.
Then there’s Stratford. Last year, he won the high jump, long jump and triple jump and placed second in the 110 hurdles at the SCCAL championship. This year, he’s well on his way repeat in the high jump and win the hurdles, where he holds the fifth-fastest time in the CCS. He’s still untested in the long jump and triple jump, though Schmitt said he may attempt those in the Falcons’ final dual meet Thursday at Santa Cruz.
She said the Enzweiler award is on the senior’s mind.
“That’s on his radar,” she said. “He’s like, ‘I want to do that again this year.’ It’s sort of his goal.”
Only a few athletes look capable of taking that title from him, most of them two-event standouts.
Among them are Hunter Matys, a junior sprinter and jumper, and Alex Austen, a senior thrower, for Aptos, the team that won the SCCAL team championship last year by nearly doubling the score of runner-up Santa Cruz.
Austen hasn’t lost a rotation since finishing eighth at CCS in the discus last year. He currently leads the league in that event and the shot put. Matys, meanwhile, has made great strides since last year’s championship, where his best finish was fifth place in the 100. He leads the league in that event and the long jump, where he has the 10th best distance in CCS. Right behind him in long jump is senior Jordan Kadlecek, who will be Stratford’s toughest challenger in the high jump and leads the SCCAL in the triple jump.
The Mariners have the bulkiest team in the league — more than 100 boys and girls regularly attend practice — and thus are considered the favorite. Not only can they can fill out the events, they can do it with talent like distance runners Jorge Benitez and Jackson Schenone, hurdler Owen Mastropietro and thrower Nathan Arellano.
Santa Cruz will lean on sprinter Rory Hatcher to help it reel in Aptos. The junior leads a young team, including a slew of 200-meter standouts like Cooper Desmond and Alex Rosas. Hatcher also excels in the 400, where on Saturday he put down the league’s best mark of the season. He ousted senior Hugh Chomentowski from the top spot, but Chomentowski is still top dog in the 800, where senior Jake Gill is also in the mix.
“The team can score a lot of points at league and hopefully surprise some people,” Roberts said. “This year is going to be really competitive all through the league.”
San Lorenzo Valley may actually be Aptos’ biggest threat. The Cougars control the distance events, as usual, behind junior Chris Anderson, the SCCAL cross country champion. He’ll have support over the long run from senior Jared Rembao, who should be able to concentrate on the track once swim season ends, and junior Ross MacMillan.
In a twist for SLV, it also has the top pole vaulter in the league. Jordan Yanowitz cleared 12-6 on Saturday at the CCS Top 8 Classic, two feet above anyone else in the SCCAL.
Youth reigns at Soquel. The Knights’ top three runners are all freshmen middle/distance athletes, including Terrance Herzberg,Gavin Gasparotti, and Eli Ainsworth, who has proven to be a real threat in the 1,600 and 3,200. Junior David Blanke and senior Kyle Quinn add some field event skills as well as experience.
Junior Justin Parker brings speed to St. Francis, a small squad traditionally known mostly for its distance runners. He has earned tri-meet wins in the 100 and 200. Senior James Young and sophomore Paul Kane uphold the Sharks’ rep, though, with talent in the middle distances. Junior Joe Garibay will be one to watch in the jumps.
Harbor junior Earl Givens showed he’s worth watching in the long jump early in the season, when he set a PR of 19-0 1/2 at the Wildcat Relays. He also competes in the triple jump and 100. Coach Jamie Madrigal, who shares duties with David Lee and Kevin Givens, is also high on freshman Angelo Palmer, a distance runner whom he said “has lots of fight.”
The Pirates had 62 kids sign up, but only have about 30 come to practice, so they aren’t expecting to battle for a league title this year. Next year, though, when they mature and a new all-weather track facility is built at the school, watch out.
“We have a lot of fast, young kids who don’t really know how to run yet,” Madrigal said, “but we know they’re talented.”
Mount Madonna will be looking for strong performances from a pair of juniors, distance runner Noah Kaplan and hurdler Sage Turner, as well as from senior Will Murphy, whose specialties are the field events.
MBL Pacific Division
The Wildcatz finished second in the Monterey Bay League’s Pacific Division championships behind Gilroy last year. This time around, their best chance of repeating that performance is if the top three teams in the league — Monterey, Christopher and Gilroy — knock each other out of contention.
“With all this talent, it may offset scoring at league finals and perhaps WHS can sneak in with our distance runners and jumpers,” coach Rob Cornett wrote in an email.
Don’t forget throwers, coach. Right now, senior Rolando Llamas is the Catz’s biggest asset, as he leads the league in both shot put and discus.
Senior Jose Villanueva, who qualified for CCS last year in the triple jump, is currently ranked third in the MBL-P in that event. For distance runners, Watsonville has sophomore Miguel Leon, ranked second in the MBL-P in the 3,200, third in the 1,600 and sixth in the 800. He is closely followed by classmate Damian Rivas and junior Jesus Alvarez. Jesse Mandujano may make some noise in the hurdles, as he has the fourth-best time in both distances.
MVC placed fourth at the league championships and will be hitching its wagon to its 4×100 relay team. Nick Bautista, Andrew Montoya, Dan Brierley and David Wang have the fastest time in the county this season and the third-fastest time in the league. Wang is also currently No. 2 in the 400 and No. 3 in the 800, which is led by Mustangs freshman Andrew Bachman.
Pajaro Valley hopes to vault out of last year’s last-place finish at the league championships behind senior Luis Leonor. Leonor is currently third in pole vault with a school record of 11 feet. Senior Irepan Romero may also bring the Grizzlies points in the discus, where he is sixth, and shot put.
MTAL
Seniors Tai White and Tristan Peterson are the lone Pacific Collegiate athletes with top-10 times in the Mission Trail Athletic League. White is fourth in the pole vault, a Pumas specialty, and Peterson is ninth in the 200.
