The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.
Liam Laughlin completed a sweep of three Coast Conference throwing championships Saturday at College of San Mateo, adding the discus and javelin throws to the shot put title he had won on Wednesday.
The Bulldogs also had a pair of double victors on the track. Sarelis Villalobos-Martinez took the women’s 400 meters in 59.53 seconds and the 200 in 25.51, improving upon her season Coast leads. “Those were two strong wins and personal bests,” said CSM coach Kajari Burns.
Hillsdale High grad Donovan Garcia and Justin Gauthier (Terra Nova) gave CSM a 1-2 finish in both men’s hurdles races, running 15.77 and 16.57, respectively, in the 110; then 55.88 and 58.28 in the 400. Brevan Rohde (Westmoor) made it a Bulldogs sweep with his third place in the 110 race (16.58). He also scored in the 400 hurdles in 1:00.51 (fifth). Garcia ranks No. 7 in the state in both hurdle events (14.90 and 54.60).
Aragon grad Laughlin won the discus throw by a full three meters (nearly 10 feet), hitting 46.10 (151 feet, 3 inches) on his fourth toss — going wire-to-wire for the win. It was the only event that he came into the championships not leading the Coast.
Laughlin led a 1-2 CSM finish in the javelin throw, reaching 173-11, with teammate Milo Greenwood (Terra Nova) throwing a personal best 168-11 to rank No. 8 in the state. Laughlin already was the NorCal leader and No. 2 state thrower at 181-8.
Arguably the state’s top all-around thrower, Laughlin ranks No. 3 in the shot put (at 51-2 1/4, just inches off the state lead) and No. 8 in the discus throw.
“Liam’s triple was a highlight for us,” said Burns, “especially the PR in the discus.”
After winning the Coast long jump title on Wednesday, Evelyn Contreras (San Mateo) placed fourth in the triple jump (33-5 3/4) on Saturday.
Johnny Goode (Hillsdale) was second in the men’s 400 meters in 49.67. He ranks fifth in the state in the 400 with a best of 48.11. Goode also placed fifth in the 200 meters (22.13) — in addition to running on both high scoring Bulldog relay teams. Evan Forsman (Riordan), Goode, Connor Chan (Oceana), and Garcia finished a close second in the 4 x 400 relay in 3:24.15, won by DeAnza College (3:23.07). CSM has the state’s No. 3 time this season, 3:17.72.
The 4 x 100 quartet of Jered St. Onge (Westmoor), Nathaniel Mata (Hillsdale), Deon McCauley (San Mateo), and Goode ran third in 42.68, with Chabot College the winner in 41.50, fourth best in the state this season.
The Bulldogs team had set a school record of 41.71 earlier this season to rank No. 5 in the state and will advance to Friday’s Northern California trials at Chabot College.
Forsman placed fourth in the men’s 800 meters (2:02.72). Mata was CSM’s top finisher in the 100 meters, eighth in 11.33 (into the wind).
San Mateo finished third in both team championships. De Anza won the women’s title and Hartnell the men’s competition.
MALEPEAI POY; TOP SEED CSM HOSTS SOFTBALL REGIONAL FRIDAY
Coast Conference player of the year Lafu Malepeai leads top seed College of San Mateo into the California Community College Athletic Association softball regionals Friday and Saturday at College Heights.
CSM, 38-2 and with a 27-game winning streak, will host Bay Valley Conference champion and 16-seed Solano College (16-22) in the two-day best of three series. First pitch is 2 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday, with an if-necessary game Sunday.
Malepeai, a South San Francisco High School graduate, led the Coast Conference in batting with a .520 average. The outfielder leads Northern California and ranks No. 2 in the state in both home runs (13) and slugging percentage (1.020). She has 39 RBIs.
San Mateo dominated the All-Coast team with nine first team selections and had five more on the second team. Bulldogs coach Nicole Quigley-Borg was named coach of the year.
Other first team CSM selections included:
Sarah Giles, 1b (San Lorenzo) .495; Logan Bonetti, 3b (Carlmont) .432; Celeste Casillas, 2b (Arroyo) .361; Grace Rofii, c (Capuchino) .333; Bubbah Fa’aita, of (James Logan) .478; Jada Walker, of (San Mateo) .304.
Pitchers: Chloe Moffitt (Half Moon Bay) .328; pitching record 18-0,1.60 ERA.
Kealani Cardona (Hillsdale) . 435; pitching record 17-2, 0.54 ERA (led Coast).
