San Mateo boys take second at Firebird Relays

“We’re really good,” San Mateo head coach Osif Rahman said. “I’m not going to lie or sugarcoat it. Our boys’ team is really, really competitive, and I think pretty much in every event we have some top performers.”

Mateo claimed five first-place finishes in individual events, including three relay titles in the field elements. Field events at the Firebird Relays are scored as a team element, with a team’s top three throwers combining for the official placing.

The Bearcats set the meet record in the discus, with their top three throwers combining for a distance of 410 feet, 3 inches. The previous meet record was held by Menlo-Atherton, set in 2016 with a combined distance of 398-4. Senior Emmanuel Fitzgerald led Mateo with the second-best discus throw in the individual element, topping out at 155-1; while senior Cam Palma threw for 127-10; and junior Yianni Fitzgerald for 127-4. Leigh senior Logan Graziano had the best individual throw at 155-11.

The Bearcat trio also took first in shot put with a combined score of 135-2 1/2. Emmanuel Fitzgerald had the second-best individual throw of 47-6; Yianni Fitzgerald ranked fifth with 47.0 1/2; and Palma was 10th at 40-8. St. Francis-Mountain View junior Case Johnson topped the field at 50-5.

Mateo also took first place with the top team scores in the boys’ 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles. The 110 hurdles team was paced by junior Calvin Hutchinson’s 18.34, ninth-place individually. In the 300 hurdles, Hutchinson placed sixth individually with a time of 44.36. In the boys’ 800, scored on an individual basis, San Mateo junior Adwaiy Ambardekar took first place with a time of 2:09.25.

Carlmont senior Sean Chopoff topped the field individually in each the boys’ 110 and 300 hurdles, scoring times of 15.77 and 40.53, respectively.

In the boys’ triple jump, Westmoor junior Benecio Labuguen set a meet record at 45-9. He was one of three triple jumpers to top the previous meet record of 43.4 1/2, set by Christopher’s Kyola Sylva in 2018. Westmoor took second place in the boys’ triple jump, with Monta Vista claiming first with a combined 123-2 1/4, a meet record.

The San Mateo girls claimed two second-place finishes, teaming in the high jump (14-8) and the 100 hurdles (1:01.95). Sophomore Kaitlyn Schuh placed second individually in the high jump at 5-4. In the 100 hurdles, sophomore Bella Fong was the Bearcats’ top individual placed in 19.65, finishing 12th overall. Carlmont junior Kiana Chen recorded the best individual time of the day in 16.20. Chen recorded the second-best individual time in the girls’ 300 hurdles at 47.44.

The San Mateo girls’ team scored 31 points to take ninth in a field of 27 teams. Monta Vista-Cupertino took the girls’ championship with 137 points; Westmoor took fourth with 36 points; and Carlmont was eighth with 31 1/3.