26-05-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
De La Salle honors late coach with dominant NCS track and field championship
As day transitioned to Saturday night and the chill developed from a growing Dublin breeze, 12 De La Salle-Concord track and field athletes and seven assistant coaches gathered tightly to celebrate the most dominating of their seven North Coast Section Meet of Champions titles.
The Spartans scored a school-record 93 points — their previous best was 58 — to easily outdistance runner-up El Cerrito (38) and Tamalpais-Mill Valley (28) behind a junior sprinter Jaden Jefferson, who set an NCS record in the 100 meters (10.30 seconds) before taking the 200 as well.
Anthony Dean (triple jump, 47 feet, 11 inches) and sophomore Chase Young (110 hurdles, 14.04) also won titles and seniors Trey Caldwell (9:08.91) and Tadhg Murry (9:09.75) finished one-two in the 3,200.
The team of Ikembuchukwu Udeh, Young, Dominic Kelley and Toa Faavae finished the meet emphatically, with a victory in the 4x400 relay in 3:20.78.
But the celebration along the Dublin High School infield was understandably subdued for the Spartans. Quiet. Hugs were long and hearty, but no jumping for joy. No victory dances. They spent their thoroughly top-to-bottom championship pointing upward.
This was a victory for their head coach John Harvey, who died on April 28 due to a long respiratory illness. He was 56.
'I was running for Coach Harvey,' Faavae said. 'I knew he could do anything with him watching over me. …. Coach Harvey was a man of few words, but when he spoke, he touched our hearts. He was always there for us, always cared for us, always pushed us. He'd say 'never let someone beat you — focus on what you're supposed to do to be successful.'
Best friend and sprints coach Terrell Ward recruited Harvey and brought him to De La Salle nearly 20 years ago from Merrill West-Tracy. Ward had a large, proud grin Saturday, but his eyes were misty when speaking of Harvey, whom he said he talked to nearly every day until his passing.
'It was about six weeks ago these guys knew that John wasn't going to be here coaching any more,' Ward said. 'Once he passed, we mourned, had daily prayer meetings and just last week we had his service. Tonight perhaps we finally started to get a little closure.'
Said Jefferson, a football commit to North Carolina: 'He meant a lot to me. He has been there since my freshman year. He was always hard on me and never told me just what I wanted to hear. He was honest. … When I heard of his passing it was heartbreaking. Every day since he passed I've thought about him. … I bet he would be very proud to see how we did today.'
Said Ward: 'These kids really competed the last two days for John. Really, this was the John Harvey Meet.'
Meet notes: Jefferson's wind-legal 10.30 beat the previous NCS top mark of 10.31 set by El Cierrito's Robert Stitts in 2023. A great start got him out quickly to edge El Cerrito sophomore Chad Works-Wright (10.43), who ran side-by-side with Jefferson in the second leg of the 4x100 relay won by El Cerrito in 41.02 to 41.20 for De La Salle. Jefferson came back to win the 200 in over Works-Wright 21.11 to 21.28. …. Montgomery-Santa Rosa senior and Stanford-bound Hanne Thomsen won the 1,600 (4:47.25) and 3,200 (10:19.56) to give her six MOC titles, along with one state 3,200 title and three cross-country crowns. … Pittsburg senior Khaliq Muhammad won his third MOC pole vault title, setting a meet record at 17-1, edging the 1987 mark of 17-0 by Acalanes-Lafayette's Brent Burns. … Pittsburg junior Amirat Tem Aganju led the Pirates to the girls team title by winning the 100 (11.78), anchoring both victorious relays and taking second in the 300 hurdles (44.36) to Santa Rosa senior Janelle Wanliss (43.74).
CCS championships: St. Ignatius junior Ellie McCuskey-Hay won the 100 (11.78) and 200 (24.06), and finished third in the long jump (18-6). … Los Altos' Daniela Hughes won the 100 hurdles (14.64) and the triple jump (39-0). … Monta Vista-Cupertino junior Ryan Shen took the long jump (with a big personal best 23-7¾) and the high jump (6-6). … St. Ignatius senior Prince Buchango-Babalola won the 110 hurdles (14.32) and placed second in both the 100 (10.78) and 200 (21.43) to Piedmont Hills-San Jose's Jonas Petty (10.75 and 21.36). … Bellarmine won the boys title with 72 points to runner-up St. Ignatius (54), while Mitty (58) edged Los Altos (52) in the girls team competition.
SFS championships: Lowell swept the boys and girls championships, with the boys edging Lincoln 156-137, and the girls breezing to a 240-96 win over runner-up Lincoln. … Lowell's Alicia Choy won the 100 and 200 and anchored the winning 4x100 relay. … Other Lowell girl wins came from Ava Jencek (800), Mirabel Adams (3200), the 4x400 relay team, the 4x800 relay and Alexa Bernard (pole vault). … Lowell boys' champs were Henry Witt (800), Malcolm Barry-Kao (3,200), William Chung (110 hurdles), the 4x400 relay and the 4x800 relay.
