A year ago, Piedmont High School freshman standout Sebastien Swain had a chance to advance to the California Interscholastic Federation championships. He ended up running while ill and couldn’t get it done.
Now, Swain has sealed the deal. Finishing second in a tight finish in the 800 meters at the North Coast Section Meet of Champions on May 24 at Dublin High School, Swain punched his ticket for the state meet.
“I was really excited to be able to perform at this meet,” Swain said. “Being sick last year was a bit rough.”
Caeden Gardner of Tamalpais edged Swain for first place in one minute, 54.62 seconds. Swain was next in 1:54.67 with Amador Valley’s Thomas Heckl in third in 1:54.74. The top three finishers in each event, plus those who hit certain qualifying marks, advanced to the CIF championships, to be held May 30-31 at Memorial Stadium in Clovis.
Swain said his strategy was to stay near the front.
“Going in, I knew that I was right at the top 800 guys,” Swain said. “I knew I was going to be in the range to go in the top three. I know that I’m very capable of putting it out there in the last 200 meters.”
He added that he wasn’t worried that somebody would sprint out to the lead.
“Nobody is running a 52 and just holding it,” he said. “I’m just going to follow whoever was one and two.”
California’s Aidan Dube led after one lap in 56.02. Swain was second in 56.45. The entire 12-man field was spread out less than two seconds.
“There was a bit of movement,” Swain said. “There were about five guys in position where they could have made it. Realistically, I didn’t move very much, I just stayed in a relatively comfortable position.”
The sprint to the finish was close but clean.
“It was definitely a close one,” Swain said. “Caeden got me at the line. It was definitely very, very close. Shoulder to shoulder.”
Although Swain didn’t have to fight through illness this year, he hasn’t had an easy sophomore season. He has been dealing with a condition that some times limits the blood flow to his legs when he is running. He also had a strained muscle at one point.
“It has been a bit of a rough season with a couple of things that are hampering my performance,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter because it’s state.”
Swain is seeded in the middle of the pack for the state meet with 15 of 29 runners with better times from their section meets. He has run in the state cross country finals in each of the past two years but the CIF track and field championships draw several thousand spectators. He does have someone to draw information on the event from: His mother Becky Spies was a two-time champion in the 1,600 meters in 1990-91 and also finished third in the 800 in 1989.
Piedmont had a couple of other scorers at the meet. Senior Miguel Long finished fifth in the triple jump on May 23 with a wind-aided 45 feet, one inch. He was scheduled to compete in the long jump on Saturday, coming off of a personal-best 22-3 ¾ to win the NCS Bayshore championships the week before. But he was disqualified for the rest of the meet because officials alleged he complained about an incident involving the Highlanders 400 relay team during its preliminary heat around the same time as the awards ceremony for the triple jump.
The relay team finished sixth in its heat and did not advance to the finals.
Senior Nia Kim finished sixth in the girls 100 hurdles in a personal-best of 15.19.
“This year the whole point with Nia was to prepare her for college,” Highlanders coach Pouyan Assadi said. “She’s now going to be a hurdler or maybe a heptathlete at UC Santa Cruz. It’s an honor to be the person who introduced her to track.”
Piedmont lost out on one more podium finish when Sam Shelby was disqualified for running out of his lane during the boys 400. Assadi said Shelby was originally placed fifth before the disqualification. He had run a 49.64 in qualifying.
The boys 1,600 relay team of Maddox Ma, Eric Venner, Swain and Shelby finished ninth in the finals in 3:30.57. They had qualified with the third-best time of 3:27.66.
The boys team finished with 10 points, tied for 18th with Benicia. De La Salle won the boys team scoring with an impressive 93 points. Pittsburg won the girls with 40. Kim’s point in the hurdles tied the Highlanders for 36th.
Piedmont’s girls 400 relay team of Kim, Ella Yasar, Kyla Williams and Claire Aubrecht had the 17th-best time in qualifying on May 23 with a 50.18 (the top eight times made the finals). The boys team of Rehan Mumtaz, Shelby, Ma and Venner had the ninth-best time of 42.89. That broke the school record of 43.2 (hand-time and 440 yards, 43.09 converted) set at the 1970 Meet of Champions when the Highlanders finished fourth.
Leighton Mand was 16th in qualifying for the girls 1,600 in 5:23.46. Caroline Taylor was 22nd in 5:32.76.
The girls 1,600 relay team of Kim, Aubrecht, Daniela Lucaccini and Yasar was 13th in qualifying in 4:09.06. The girls 3,200 relay team of Nikita Gorelik, Skylar Best, Taylor and Mand was 12th in 10:07.73.
Saniyah Johnson was 12th in the girls shot put at 33-5, a new PR. She also was 21st in the discus at 93-3. Meg Foster was 19th in the boys pole vault at 11-0. Shayna Chau no-heighted in the girls pole vault.
Photo credits: Becky Spies