Girls’ Track and Field:
The girls’ track and field team won the MCAL championship on Saturday, May 16 at Redwood, with a total of 150 team points, easily surpassing the other competitors.
Sophomore Glennis Murphy finished the 1,600 meter with a personal-best time of four minutes and 58.03 seconds, and she won the 3,200 meters with a time of 11:05.64.
“The girls dedicated themselves to really difficult practices and conditioning this season and it definitely paid off,” said junior and co-captain Audrey Smith.
Following MCALs, Redwood competed in the North Coast Section Redwood Empire Meet in Santa Rosa, where the girl’s team pulled away with the NCS pennant.
According to Smith, 12 girls were able to qualify and move on to the North Coast Section Meet of Champions (MOC) in Berkeley.
Team members who attended the finals on the second day of the MOC included Murphy (4th) and junior Rachel Bordes (11th) in the 1600 meter run, and freshman Gillian Wagner (3rd) and junior Lucie Semone (10) in the 800 meter dash, as well as senior Mary Monda Oewel (6th) and freshman Annie Fogarty (23rd) in the 3200 meter run. More so, the girl’s 4×400 meter relay team, which consists of juniors Smith and Bordes and freshmen McWhorter and Wagner, placed eighth.
Other contributors to the Giant’s effort include freshman Vanessa Clare (16th) on the high jump and senior Tamara Frangoul (23rd) in the girl’s discus throw.
Both Murphy (1,600m) and Wagner (800m) qualified and will be attending the State meet on June 5-6 at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
Varsity Baseball:
The league leading baseball team finished both of their MCAL playoff games with their offense.
Aaron Dorfler’s walk-off single against Branson advanced Redwood to the MCAL Championship game against MC where they clinched the MCAL pennant on another walk-off hit by Adam Hussain.
Redwood earned the top seed in the NCS playoffs, an honor that came with its own set of challenges, according to valuable senior pitcher Tyler Peck.
“Going in as the one seed, you know that everyone wants you to lose,” Peck said. “You have to come in with the same power and cutthroat attitude that we’ve had all year.”
Peck has contributed to the strong defense of the team from the mound. The defense has been key in holding together a number of one run games throughout the season.
“My goal is just to give my team a chance,” Peck said. “With our defense, my goal is just to not walk anyone. Regardless of how hard or how far they hit [the ball], our guys are going to run it down.”
Peck’s dominant pitching performance in Redwood’s first round game against 16-seed Northgate High School led the Giants to a 1-0 shutout. In round two against Arroyo High School, a breakout four-run sixth inning and strong outing from Zach Cohen led the Giants to a 5-1 victory.
After a 7-2 win against the 12-seed Pinole Valley in the NCS semifinals, the Giants will look to earn a second pennant in the NCS Championship on Friday at Albert Park.
Varsity Swimming:
The boys’ and girls’ varsity swim teams topped off their undefeated regular season with two first-place finishes at the MCAL finals meet in mid-May.
This marked the first time since 1988 that both teams brought home the MCAL pennant.
The boys’ team maintained their dominance after winning the meet last year, and the girls regained their spot in first after a 2014 loss to Marin Catholic.
For the majority of the meet, the boys trailed Tamalpais High School by just a few points. Toward the end of the meet, they pulled ahead, crushing the 400 freestyle relay to give the Giants a 20-point lead. The Redwood boys finished out the meet strong scoring 450 points, out performing Tamalpais High School’s second place finish with 421 points. Redwood girls won with 459 points, beating out Terra Linda, who finished with 345.
The girls’ side, looking for a win against the competitive Marin Catholic team, extended their lead with first place finishes in the 500 yard freestyle by senior Emma McCarthy and in the 200 yard individual medley by junior Monica Sears.
Redwood was undefeated during the regular season, earning 8-0 records on both sides.
The swim season didn’t end at the MCAL meet, however. At the NCS meet, the girls’ team finished ninth and the boys’ team finished eleventh. Additionally, four members of the girls’ team traveled to Clovis for the first-ever CIF state meet, where their relays finished sixth and eighth in California.
