The Palo Alto High School track and field team dominated the De Anza League finals meet today at the Los Altos track. The boys’ placed first overall with a total of 193 points; the girls’ placed second with 79 points. Nine meet records were broken between the girls’ and boys’ team.

The boys’ 4×100 meter relay previewed what the meet would become: Jayshawn Gates-Mouton (‘13), Tremaine Kirkman (‘12), Morris Gates-Mouton (‘12), and EJ Floreal (‘13) each ran a leg of the race, pulling through with a strong first place lead in a time of 42.42 seconds.

In the first distance event of the meet, Nikolai Solgaard (‘12) finished third place in the 1600 meter race with a time of 4:28.65 minutes, earning six points for the Vikings.  Solgaard also competed in the 800 meter race, taking first place in a time of 2:01.41 minutes.

In the 110 meter hurdles race, Michael Johnson (‘13) finished first in a time of 15.31 seconds. Johnson proceeded to take third place in the 300 meter hurdles race in a time of 41.64 seconds, adding a total of 16 points to the score.

In the 400 meter race, Paly placed first and third. Jonathan Alee (‘13) finished with a time of 51.32 seconds, and Morris Gates-Mouton finished with a time of 51.76 seconds.

The boys’ swept the 100 meter dash, racking in 24 points overall. Floreal finished in a time of 10.7 seconds, Kirkman came in with a time of 11.08 seconds, and Jayshawn Gates-Mouton finished in a time of 11.24 seconds.  Floreal’s record time in this event, 10.52 seconds, is ranked first in the state of California.

The boys’ proceeded to sweep the 200 meter dash as well. Floreal took first place in a time of 21.16 seconds, placing him second in the nation and first in the state. Following him was Alee with a time of 22.27 seconds and Kirkman with a time of 22.85 seconds.

Floreal’s ground-breaking performances caused widespread excitement amongst the Vikings.

“I’m completely shocked,” Floreal said of his races. “I’m just as shocked as everyone else is.  I didn’t think I was going to break the 100 [meter] record, and I didn’t think I was going to break the 200 [meter] record.”

The boys’ left the track with a close race in the 4×400 meter relay. The team placed second, trailing behind first by just under one second.

The meet was undoubtedly a victory for the boys’ team.  With various runners breaking meet records and one rising to first in the state, the performances from today offer insight to the team’s future.  According to head coach Jason Fung, the boys’ team, currently placed third overall in the Central Coast Section (CCS), is hoping to dominate overall and win the meet for the first time in Paly history.

Floreal is confident of the teams’ ability.

“We are raw. We are really, really raw,” Floreal said. “The class of 2013 is really stepping up, we’re all stepping up.”

The girls’ team refused to be shadowed by a dominating boys’ team, and took a hard-earned second place in the meet. The girls started off with a bold win in the 4×100 meter relay good for a time of 49.5 seconds. The team consisted of Torie Nielsen (‘12), Pippa Raffel (‘14), Lydia Guo (‘12) and Anna Dukovic (‘15).

The strong performance was followed up by Katie Foug (‘15), who took fourth place in the mile in a personal record time of 5:19.67

The Lady Vikes next points came in the 400 meter race were Guo and Vivian Laurence (‘14) ran third in a time of 1:01.49 and fourth in a time of 1:01.61, respectively. At this point the girls were in second to Mountain View and would maintain this position for the remainder of the meet.

The Vikes sprinters would continue to score points in the 100 meter race, where Nielsen took second place in 12.73 seconds.

Later in the meet the girls distance team began to pull in more points with a sixth place finish by Audrey DeBruine (‘14) in the 800 meter race, finishing in a time of 2:30.00.  Chika Kasahara (‘13) also took third place third in the 3200 meter race in a time of 12:00.74.

The Vikes second place finish can be largely credited to the field team as well. In the long jump Raffel jumped 17-10.5 for a personal record, taking first place in the meet and a third place ranking in CCS. Nielsen jumped a personal record of 16-0.00 for third place giving the Lady Vikes six more points.

School record holder Lindsey Black (‘12) threw the shotput 36-04.0 for third place. She went on to take fourth in the high jump with a jump of 4-10.0. Dukovic also jumped 4-10.0 receiving fifth place due to number of jumps.

In the discus Charlotte Alipate (’14) threw 94-04 for fourth place.

To wrap up the meet and seal second place the Paly girls 4×400 meter relay team consisting of Guo, Laurence, Dukovic and Foug, placed fourth with a time of 4:15.08. leaving them seven points ahead of rival Gunn High School.

The girls’ team were pleased with their results.

“We exceeded my expectations for today,” co-captain Nielsen said.  “We did really well.”

Those who placed in the top 16 will continue on to the SCVAL meet next Friday 11, and can attempt to qualify for the CCS trials meet.