Sophomore Marissa Williams broke two long-standing records at the City Section track and field finals last Wednesday, shattering the previous benchmarks in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races at Birmingham High School to help lead Palisades High’s girls team to a championship.
With a 1,600-meter time of 4:56.60 and a 3,200-meter time of 10:37.33, Williams helped guide Pali to a second straight City title and third in four years. The Dolphins toppled Carson, 97-78, and El Camino Real finished third with 71 points.
“I didn’t know what the previous records were, I was just trying to improve,” Williams said. “I was pretty happy. It was really special because it’s never been done before, and I wanted to do it as a thank you [to my team and coaches]. I definitely couldn’t have done it without [distance coach Bob] Macias.”
Williams, who is already drawing interest from schools like UCLA and Columbia, added that she is looking forward to setting more personal records at State finals this weekend at Buchanan High School in Fresno.
And while Williams was carrying the day in the distance events (defending her title in the 1,600-meter run), Kendall Gustafson was capping her senior year in style, qualifying for State finals in all four events – high jump, long jump, 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles.
“We thought we had a good chance going in,” head coach Perry Jones said. “Any time you have athletes like Marissa and Kendall, it really puts you ahead of the competition. When you factor in the great support, there was a really good chance things were going to go right for us, and at the same time some things went wrong for some other schools.”
Gustafson, who will attend Duke University this fall, began the day on a high note by setting a personal best in the long jump at 18’7.5”.
“I’m really happy with that because I’ve come in second three years in a row, so to finally win it is really nice,” Gustafson said. “[Winning City] is definitely more special because my senior year has already been great. I told my team yesterday, ‘We’re really in contention for a City title so I promise I’m going to pick up my end, so you’ve got to pick up yours’.”
Gustafson edged her own teammate in the high jump, as her 5’6” bested the 5’4” posted by junior Doshawn Franks, who also qualified for State. Gustafson ran the 100 hurdles in 14.68 and the 300 hurdles in 46.29, finishing second in each event.
With a second-place finish in the 800-meter run, junior Mackenzie Gray was the fourth Dolphin to qualify for State as she ran 2:17.86, just nine-hundredths of a second out of first.
The Pali boys team qualified two distance runners for State: seniors Jonathon Tewodros and Drake Johnston, who ran 9:40.10 and 9:41.55, respectively, to finish second and third in the 3,200-meter run.
Narrowly missing the cut were senior Michael Sehar (fourth in the 1,600 meters at 4:25.81), sophomore Hannah De Silva (fourth in the 1,600 meters at 5:21.51), and senior Laura Carr, second in the pole vault at 8’6”.
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