Santa Rosa Press Democrat // News for California's North Bay and Redwood Empire

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DEWEY FORGET
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

BERKELEY - Cardinal Newman's brilliant 1600-meter runner J.K.
Withers has been cruising.
Withers eased through the North Bay League and Redwood Empire meets,
winning both, but waiting for the right moment to unleash his best effort.
That moment came in the North Coast Section meet Saturday at Edwards Field
in Berkeley.
Running on the orange synthetic turf, Withers trailed De LaSalle's Carey 
Mathews by a couple of strides, then with 200 meters left he
began a surge that carried him past Mathews in impressive fashion to win in
4:14.16. Matthews finished in 4:14.89.
Piner's Dawit Tesfasilassie, who led in the early laps, finished third in 4:16.16. 
Montgomery's KC Cody ran a strong last 400 meters to finish
fourth. The top four finishers in
each event advance to the state meet next week in Sacramento.
"I felt like I was breathing hard the whole race," said Withers. "I had my
peanut butter and toast before the race, but today I had more than usual.
It made me sort of gaggy. When I got on his shoulder (Matthews) and we got
into the stretch, I went by him."
Shelby Leland, a Ukiah senior, was one of the top 3200 runners as a
freshman and sophomore, but missed her junior year with a hip injury. Her
2004 season had been uneventful until she surprised everyone by winning the
Redwood Empire meet last week. The win obviously boosted here confidence.
Now, she is the NCS 3200 champ after running down race favorite Lindsay
Allen of College Park in the final 50 meters. Leland's time of 10:38.75 is
her fastest 3200 since her freshman year.
"I felt strong for the first seven laps," Leland said. "I knew Lindsay was
really fast. I had almost convinced myself she would beat me when she went
past me on the last lap. But when I came around the turn she wasn't that
far ahead, so I just went for it."
In the 1600, Montgomery's Kim Conley knocked almost five seconds off her
preliminary time to run 4:52.58 and finish second. 
Her time was a personal-best by four seconds. Allen was the
winner in 4:48.82.
The strength of the girls 1600 created an unusual
circumstance. Instead of four girls advancing, six are going. That was good
news for Ashton LeSieur (Casa Grande) who finished sixth in 4:59.71.
In all, 20 individuals and two relay teams from the Redwood Empire
qualified for state and two athletes qualified in two events.
Melissa Van Paris (Sonoma) won shot and was 4th in discus and
Healdsburg's Eric Gunnink qualified twice by finishing fourth in the
discus and shot.
Maria Carrillo's David Wellman ran 1:55.23 in the boys 800 to break his own
school record. Jason Spaargaren of Analy, was a third-place finisher in the
boys long jump.
Emely Flores, the Empire's top girls pole vaulter, cleared 11 feet, 6
inches, to set a school record and equaled the Empire record. Campolinda's Tiffany Chang
cleared the same height, but was awarded first on fewer misses. Flores came
back to compete for the Panthers after breaking her back last year.
Other qualifiers include: Caroline Templeton (Santa Rosa) was fourth in the
girls long jump (17-6 3/4); Kristen Sanzari, a Maria Carrillo freshman,
was fourth in the 800 (2:14.38); Ashley Perlman (Analy) took fourth in the
400 and Ukiah's Mary Shibata had a personal best 45.46 to qualify fourth in
the 300 hurdles. Whitney Leachman (Elsie Allen), the top girls sprinter in
the area, finished fifth in the 100, but came back to run third in the 200
(25.53) behind winner Angelique Smith, one of the top sprinters in the
nation.
Two Empire relay teams also qualified. Santa Rosa's 400-relay team of
Andrew Hughes, Gordon Jesus, Michael Caruso and A.J. Alcocer ran 43.69 to
finish fourth and Maria Carrillo's girls 1600-relay team of Jessica
Chapman, Jenna Lowder, Jen Irtenkauf and Danielle Sanzari was third.
Powerhouse James Logan captured the boys and girls team titles. Montgomery
boys were 10th. Sonoma was third in the girls team competition.
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