Two of the highest fliers in the area went head to head Tuesday in a track and field rivalry that is likely to continue into the postseason.

Tam High senior Will Freas and Redwood senior Antonio Bayon went back and forth at the pole vault in a contest of “whatever you do, I can do better.” Both cleared 15 feet, but Freas was just a little bit better in the end for the win. They were both 4 feet better than the third-place finisher, Nolan Marsh of Archie Williams.

“Antonio and I have been going at it with the pole vault for a couple of years now,” Freas said. “It’s great to have someone to compete against at such a high level.”

Tam athletes enjoyed success all day during Tuesday’s regular-season finale with Redwood and host Archie Williams in a meeting of the league’s three undefeated teams. The Peregrine Falcons, however, edged Tam, 72-69, and Redwood, 74-67, for the regular-season boys championship. Tam outscored Redwood, 71-66.

The meet was the final warmup for most of the athletes before the MCALs start May 8 at San Marin High. Bayon was a triple-winner to lead a strong effort by the Giants, and he might have been at his best in his duel in the pole vault. Freas and Bayon are the top-two ranked athletes in the pole vault in the North Coast Section Redwood Empire.

“MCAL is fun competition, but the exciting bit is after MCAL, with Redwood Empire and NCS,” Freas said. “Antonio and I can both do well at NCS. I always strive to do as well as I can on the big poles ahead of NCS.”

Red-tailed Hawks senior Nate Wanger won the 200 meter in 22.39 seconds to edge Archie Williams sophomore Devin Singh and Redwood junior Marco Cleary, both of whom ran personal-best times.

Senior Caeden Gardner ran a time of 1:57.47 to win the 800, a split-second ahead of teammate Cooper Hatch, who ran a personal-best 1:57.69.

Tam junior Dexter Burnett won the 400 (52.58) to best five Archie Williams runners. Burnett and Wanger helped Tam win both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays.

Tam’s Gilby Filat and Archie Williams’ Will Mulliken battled in the distance events, with Filat (9:42.12) 2 seconds faster than Mulliken in the 3200. Mulliken (4:18.93) won the 1600, with Filat, Redwood’s Nick Kemsley and the Peregrine Falcons’ Ian Sharp finishing in pack, second through fourth, respectively, all within 3 seconds of the winning time.

Cleary won the 100 (11.14), ahead of the Falcons’ Singh and Mani Mosher, with the Giants’ Nate Beltran a close fourth.

Archie Williams’ Sean Chamberlin, Reid Cross, Ryan Seeley and Marsh won the 4×800 relay ahead of Redwood.

Just before heading to the pole vault, Bayon set a PR of 14.96 seconds to win the 110 hurdles ahead of Tam senior Shea Sorcher and Archie Williams junior Nick Ferguson. Sorcher (41.04) won the 300 hurdles, ahead of Ferguson.

Bayon’s assault on the pole vault was halted temporarily when a windstorm sent tents and metal chairs hurtling across the football field and toward athletes near the vaulting area.

“Will Freas is a real good athlete. He’s great competition,” said Bayon, who at one point tried to clear a career-best 16 feet, the highest the standard goes at Archie Williams, but just barely knocked the bar off its perch.

Bayon borrowed one of Freas’ longer poles for an attempt, but it seemed to throw him off, saying he just wasn’t used to it.

“I’m feeling confident in my ability. State is the real goal,” said Bayon, who qualified for State in the pole vault last year.

Bayon went on to win the long jump and high jump Tuesday as Redwood dominated most of the field events. Bayon on the long jump at 20’11.5”, ahead of Beltran. Bayon set a PR of 6’4” in the high jump to beat teammates Harry White and Ben Braff, who finished second and third, respectively.

Senior Holden Turner won the shot put with a powerful throw of 42 feet, 5 inches to best teammates Max Hewlette and Nicolas Schluessel as the Giants had the top three placers.

Archie Williams had the top three marks in the triple jump, led by senior Kris Hillesheim’s PR of 41’1.25”.