The Red-tailed Hawks were cheering from the sideline as Tam High senior Nate Wanger took the baton and, with Marin Catholic’s Jarred Geissberger on his heels, kicked into overdrive for a split-second win in the 4×100 meter relay as the Hawks clocked in at 43.59 seconds.

That was the start to a thrilling day for the Hawks, who beat Redwood for the MCAL Championship meet crown Saturday at San Marin High. Tam scored 155 points to Redwood’s second-place 120 points. San Marin was third with 94 points. Archie Williams won the regular-season title in the final meet of the schedule.

“We had a plan to leave fast and to not give up,” Wanger said. “We needed a strong finish today. I knew (Geissberger) was right there and I just had to run harder. I know how fast he is.”

Wanger, with sophomore Streeter Holt, junior Dexter Burnett, and senior Tomas Bartram, edged Marin Catholic by 0.07 seconds to win the 4×100.

“With me, Streeter and Tom, we just wanted to get off to a strong start for Nate to finish,” Burnett said.

Wanger recovered to win the 200 (22.91) and 400 (49.72). He ran the anchor leg in the final event of the day, the 4×400, to seal Tam’s pennant win. The Hawks — with Burnett and seniors Cooper Hatch, Caeden Gardner, and Wanger — won the event in 3:27.51, less than a second ahead of the quartet from Archie Williams.

Saturday’s top placers and qualifiers advance to next week’s North Coast Section Redwood Empire Meet in Fortuna. With the long drive, Archie Williams, Tam and Redwood are already planning to commute up the coast together the day before the meet in Fortuna.

Gardner won the 800 (1:56.25) by nearly a full second, despite personal bests from Hatch and the Peregrine Falcons’ Archer Diehl, who finished second and third, respectively. Gardner was third in the 400 (51.27), behind Wanger and Archie Williams’ Devin Singh, who placed second with a PR of 49.95 seconds.

Archie Williams runners won both the individual distance events. Falcons senior Will Mulliken took first place in the 1,600 (4:16.81), ahead of Tam senior Gilby Fillat (4:17.41) and Redwood senior Nick Kemsley (4:20.57), both of whom posted PRs. Falcons senior Ian Sharp won the 3,200 (9:34.75), ahead of Giants junior Sean Niemi, who ran a PR of 9:52.43, and Tam’s Marco Zink (9:55.39).

“It was a long run,” Sharp said. “But I was happy with my time. I’m going into these races focused on just one meet at a time and trying to drop my times.”

The Falcons also won the 4×800 in 8:31.75, with the foursome of Sean Chamberlin, Leo Berberich, Reid Cross and Diehl, followed by Tam and San Marin.

San Marin’s Leo Mattiuzzo wasn’t going to be overlooked at his home track Saturday. Running into a stiff wind, the Mustangs junior edged the Giants’ Marco Cleary in a photo finish. Mattiuzzo was clocked at 11.19 seconds, just 0.01 seconds ahead of Cleary.

“I’ve battled with Marco Cleary all season it seems,” Mattiuzzo said. “This wasn’t my best finish [his PR is 10.99 seconds], but it feels good. This is a great atmosphere at the championships.”

Mattiuzzo took second in the 200 (23.01), just 0.1 seconds behind Wanger, and 0.15 seconds ahead of third-place Reece Barrett of Marin Catholic.

Tam senior Shea Sorcher nearly collapsed leaping over the final gate to win the 300 hurdles (40.33) with his best time of the season to finish ahead of Novato senior Benjamin DePalma with a PR of 41.85, and Falcons junior Nick Ferguson (42.08).

Redwood senior Antonio Bayon led a record-setting day in the 110 hurdles with a personal-best time of 14.95 seconds. Tam seniors Sorcher (15.73) and Kiernan Connolly (16.00) finished second and third. Sorcher was one of four runners in the event with a PR, while Connolly ran his best time of the season.

“There are a lot of ups and downs in the hurdles,” Bayon said with a deadpan expression. “It was nice to get a PR heading into the Redwood Empire meet. I wanted to get below 15 seconds today. I had to attack the hurdles more, instead of just jumping up and over them.”

Bayon won the high jump with a personal-best leap of 6 feet, 6 inches, ahead of San Marin’s Cody Urban (6’4”) and Marin Catholic’s Kyree Marshall (6’3”). Bayon was also second in the pole vault (15 feet) and fourth in the discus (139’8.5”).

The finals of the field events, which started Thursday, got off to an energetic start Saturday morning at the pole vault, where Bayon and William Freas of Tam went head-to-head.

“It feels like I’m flying when I’m up there, honestly,” Freas said.

They pushed the bar higher and higher, and Freas soared high above everyone with the best mark of his career. After clearing the bar at 15 feet, 6 inches, Freas set the bar at 16 feet. With everyone looking skyward, he flew well over the bar, although the height was officially registered at 15’11”.

“When I got up there, it felt really, really great,” Freas said. “So I was thinking today’s the day. I went up there with my biggest pole, pushed it up, cleared 15’11” and then I wanted to push it to the very top.”

Freas was already celebrating as he plunged into the pads then stood up and, filled with exuberance, shouted “One more inch!” The standard could go only as high as 16’1”. He took three attempts at the maximum height and nearly made it over, but each time hit the bar.

“Last season around this time I was jumping around 12 feet — much, much lower — and I ‘no-heighted’ at the Redwood Empire Meet. It was hard. I was supposed to move on, but I failed. So I’ve worked a tremendous amount in the offseason, all summer, to get to now.”

San Marin’s Trenton Jepma took home a pair of gold medals and a silver in the field events. Redwood’s Holden Turner won the shot put (46’2”), ahead of Jepma’s PR of 45’6” and Terra Linda’s Tristan Collins (43’1.5”). Jepma (156’4.5”) got the better of second-place Turner (141’11”) in the discus, with San Marin’s Liam McMann third (140’2”). Jepma also won the triple jump with a PR of 42’3.5”, to finish ahead of Marshall and Tam’s Colby Creedman-Ho.

San Marin junior Jack Golan showed his hops with a win in the long jump (21’0.75”), ahead of Redwood’s Nate Beltran (20’8.25”) and Urban (19’11.25”).