Los Altos splits first track and field meet Los Altos splits first track and field meet (March 19, 2004)

New all-weather track is tested

By Arcia Dorosti

The Los Altos High School track and field team unveiled its new all-weather track on March 11 with mixed results. The boys and girls teams squared off against their traditional SCVAL rivals, the Gunn Titans, in their first meet of the year.

The boys defeated the Titans 83-43 while the girls lost 72-50.

The Eagle boys earned points from their wins from their 4x100 relay team and their 4x400 relay team. Others posting solo wins in their events were James Nicholson in the 400 meters, Enrique Mendoza in the 800 meters, Andrew Van Straaten in the high jump, Jeff Clark in the long jump, Sione Umufuke in the shot put and Eddie Del Rio in the discus.

Mendoza was particularly impressive in his event, finishing the 800 meters in 2:04.4, four seconds faster than his previous personal best.

With his recent performance, Umufuke, a transfer from St. Francis High School, looked like he is going to be a major contributor in both the shot put and the discus this season.

The Eagle girls were paced by senior star Allie Miller. She took first place in three events: the 110-meter high hurdles, the 300-meter hurdles and the high jump. Also winning their events for the girls were Daphne Owen in the 400 meters, Amy Tong in the discus and Catherine Watanabe in the triple jump.

Miller, who finished third in the high jump at the state meet last year, appeared poised to return to the competition. She is planning on competing for the track team at UCLA next year.

"All of our hurdlers were impressive against Gunn," said Los Altos head coach Julia Widstrand, who extended her praise to Miller and her teammates.

Both the boys' and the girls' teams will be in the hunt for the SCVAL De Anza Division championship this season, added Widstrand.

Upcoming challenges for the girls include meets against Palo Alto, Los Gatos and Milpitas. Despite their loss to Gunn, the Los Altos girls are expected to be in the mix for the league title.

With the Los Altos boys back in the more competitive De Anza division of SCVAL, Widstrand said they really need to be prepared for their meet against Palo Alto and that Milpitas will also be a challenge.

Except for one meet against Los Gatos, Los Altos will be hosting all of its league meets this year. Its next home meet will be against Lynbrook on Apr. 8 at 3 p.m.

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