The St. Francis Invitational is a highlight of every track season–from the unique track with the huge oak tree inside the oval to the great competition on the track itself.
And Monta Vista came with some very scintillating performances, lead by the varsity girls distance medley relay team (1200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m). The DMR is a test of speed, strength and grit and often has a dramatic story line, and the varsity girls’ DMR at St. Francis was no exceptional, as the team of Kelly Bishop, Anella Palacpac, Madeleine Yip and Jenny Xu built a lead, saw the lead shrink under a brave comeback from Los Gatos and Archbishop Mitty, and then ultimately hold off the attack and emerge with victory!
Monta Vista 12:24.04
Los Gatos 12:25.66
Archbishop Mitty 12:26.72
Monta Vista’s time is a new all-time school record, and is one of the top ten times in California this year! For that matter…if these girls were a NCAA college D3 team, this would be one of the top 50 college times so far this year! Congratulations, Kelly, Anella, Maddy and Jenny!
There were many other strong performances. Aarohi Palkar set a new PR by seven feet in the discus, with a 70’8″ toss. Freshman Justin Lin got into the Invitational 800m as an alternate, then made the most of his race with a four second PR, running a 2:10.35; very few freshmen break 2:10 and Justin is knocking on that door! Namrata Subramanian ran a blazing true mile in 5:46.00, besting her 1600m PR by a full 9 seconds! Julia Chang continued her comeback from a nagging injury with a 11:06.83 in the 3000m, good for 6th place and more than 10 seconds faster than last year. Elliot Lubomirsky also PRed with a 13.04 in the 100m.
A great day to be on the track, or to be a track fan–or coach!
Complete results are at the SFHS site.
There are photos on the team Picasa site–though some of the best moments are unphotographed as I was too busy jumping up and down and enjoying the show!
