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Pumas' Lowder runs into the track spotlight Maria Carrillo sophomore wins three individual events May 8, 2004 By DEWEY FORGET THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Jenna Lowder certainly knows how to seize the moment. While several of the city’s top runners opted not to participate in multiple events, the Maria Carrillo sophomore grabbed the spotlight, winning three individual events in the Santa Rosa All-city track meet Friday night at Santa Rosa JC. Lowder, who was named the top female athlete of the meet, captured the 100-meter, 200-meter and the 400-meter sprints in impressive fashion. In the 100-meter she out-sprinted Santa Rosa’s Caroline Templeton in a creditable 12.2 seconds. In the 200-meter event Lowder ran 26.2 to easily defeat several good sprinters, including Montgomery’s Stacy Strong and Emily Pinow of Ursuline. Then in the 400, Lowder went out fast, opened up a 10-meter advantage at 200 meters and then held off a late charge by Kristin Jellison to win in 60.1. "I didn’t think I could catch her, but then in the stretch I closed on her and then ran out of gas," Jellison said. To top off her performance, Lowder ran a leg in the 4x400 relay won by Maria Carrillo. "I think the 400 is my best event," Lowder said. "The first 100 meters is power, I like to get out fast and strong. The next 100 I try to relax, stride out and then in the last 200 meters I just go as fast as I can." Lowder finished fifth last year at the Meet of Champions in the 400 and said she wants to get back to the North Coast Section this year. "And I want to make it to state by the time I’m a senior," she said. Maria Carrillo coach Danny Aldridge, who has had several great runners under his tutelage, including his daughter Jenny, said Lowder’s biggest asset is her strong competitive nature. "She’s a natural sprinter," he said. "Really she doesn’t look like the typical 400-meter runner, long and lanky, but she has great range to run in the 100, 200 and 400." Santa Rosa’s Marshall Olin captured the boys long jump (20-9) and the triple jump (41-8 1/2). He finished second in the 110HH and third in the 300H. He was voted the male athlete of the meet. Santa Rosa won the boys team competition for the second consecutive year with 161 points. Cardinal Newman was second with 83 and Carrillo third with 76. Maria Carrillo took the girls team title with 206 points to Santa Rosa’s 136. Montgomery was third with 115. There were several other outstanding performances: Piner’s Dawit Tesfasilassie ran 4:15.9 to set a meet record in the 1600-meters. His 800-split was a very fast 2:05. "When I found out J.K. (Withers) wasn’t going to run in the 800, I decided to take it out fast and try to run my splits in the low 60s," Tesfasilassie said. "I’ve been running good lately. In my last two races I’ve set personal bests, so I knew I was ready to run a fast one." Cardinal Newman’s Withers, one of the top middle-distance runners in the state, didn’t run in the 1600-meter race, his best event. His 4:10.84 is an Empire-best and the second fastest time in the state this year. Withers opted to participate in the 400 and the 3200. He won both. Ryan House ran an Empire best 10.9 in the 100 meters to beat Michael Caruso (Santa Rosa) and Marcus Ezeff of Montgomery. House’s mark was just 2/10th of a second off the meet record of 10.7 set in 1994 by Jared Wilson of Montgomery. Kim Conley, Montgomery’s top distance runner, has the Empire’s best times in the 1600 and the 3200 meters, but choose to run only in the 800. She set a new Empire-best of 2:16.4 to beat Kristin Sanzari (2:22.8) and Kristin Fladseth (2:22.9), both from Maria Carrillo. "I feel the 1600 is my strongest event," Conley said. "I was third in NCS last year and broke 5:00 for the first time. My goal this year is to go under 4:55. "I’m waiting to peak at the right time ... like at NCS." Meanwhile, Sanzari, whose best distance is the 800-meters, captured the 1600 in 5:19. Christy Sweaney (Montgomery) was second (5:20) and Leanne Fogg (Maria Carrillo) was third. Fogg also took home the first place medal in the girls 3200-meters. Other winners: Mark Codagnone (Cardinal Newman) with a time of 22.9 in the boys 200-meter sprint; Lance Prange (Maria Carrillo) in the high-jump with a leap of 6-0 and Kaitlin Sather (Maria Carrillo) in the girls triple jump (30-9). Caroline Templeton won the girls long jump with a leap of 17-5 1/2 . Ben Elias (Montgomery) ran 15.1 to take first in the boys 110-hurdle and Ashley Hauser (Santa Rosa) out-sprinted her teammate Lily Sorentino to win the 300-hurdles.
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