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With quality athletes in virtually every event, the St. Mary’s boys and girls track and field teams have the ideal mix of talent and depth needed to compete with the best in big meets outside their league. At last weekend’s North Coast Section Bayshore Championships at Chabot College, however, the Panthers didn’t look as good on the track as they did on paper. They looked better. 

Besides winning eight of 16 events to claim the inevitable boys’ championship, St. Mary’s set a blazing pace on the girls’ side, placing in enough events to garner the considerably less-expected girls’ title. When all was said and done, the Panther boys had rolled to a 138-86 win over second-place Mission San Jose, and the girls had pulled out a 96-80 triumph over James Logan. 

“Logan has a great team on the girls’ side. Going in, I wasn’t sure we could beat them,” said St. Mary’s head coach Jay Lawson, whose girls had already claimed a victory over Logan High in a regular-season dual meet. “I think we’re running very well. Everyone’s feeling good, and our speed training has kicked in – the legs are starting to feel fast.” 

The girls’ win seemed destined from the first event, when Tiffany Johnson and Quiana Plump pulled huge jumps seemingly out of nowhere, taking second and third in the triple jump – an event in which neither was expected to medal. Johnson’s best jump of 37-1 marked a personal best by more than two inches. 

“We built up some momentum early – the triple jump ended up being a surprise event for us,” Lawson said. “We’ve got lots of quality girls, in the top three or four (in NCS), but it’s the rest of the team that decides these meets.” 

Distance star Bridget Duffy picked up two of the Panthers’ three top finishes, taking first in both the 1600m and 3200m by comfortable margins. Parras Vega grabbed the only other St. Mary’s event championship, winning the 800m by a second over Irvington’s Stacie Lopes. In the field events, thrower Kamaiya Warren displayed her usual dominance, taking second to Bishop O’Dowd phenom Michelle Daggs in both the shotput and discus. St. Mary’s registered two more runner-up finishes on the girls’ side, as Johnson and Danielle Stokes placed second in the 200m and 100m hurdles, respectively. 

“We knew if we went into the 2-mile with the lead, Bridget would win the 2-mile and ice the meet,” Lawson said. “I’m extremely happy with our performance (at NCS).” 

The Panther boys had an easier time claiming their crown, winning in all expected events, and then some. Solomon Welch paced the squad with an impressive three event championships, in the 110 hurdles, long jump and triple jump. Halihl Guy completed the hurdles sweep for St. Mary’s, taking the 300m title with a 38.66 mark, while sprinter Denye Versher and jumper Ebon Glenn won the 400m and high jump events, respectively. The Panthers also garnered firsts in both relays. 

“We went in expecting to win. The guys have been running so well, and this team is so strong and deep,” the head coach said. “We said we wanted to focus on ourselves (at NCS), and we did.” 

Having locked up the team titles, St. Mary’s enters this weekend’s NCS individual championship meet with plenty of confidence. While Lawson admits his deep squad is less suited for such individual competition, he still expects to send a healthy contingent of Panthers to the CIF state meet in two weeks.  

“We think we can qualify between 14 and 18 athletes,” the coach said about this weekend’s goals. “We have athletes who are going to qualify, and a number of athletes kind of on the bubble. We’re hoping they can run well enough to qualify.” 

The NCS championship meet begins this Friday morning at 11 a.m. at Cal’s Edwards Stadium.