Tam High’s Caeden Gardner and Redwood’s Julia Bayon highlighted a strong Marin contingent at the North Coast Section Meet of Champions with winning performances at Dublin High on Saturday.

Gardner and Bayon, along with other top-three finishers at NCS, are qualified for next week’s State Meet at Buchanan High in Clovis.

Gardner picked up his third consecutive postseason victory in the boys 800 meters, having previously won at MCALs and at the NCS Redwood Empire meet. Gardner improved on his time this weekend, finishing in 1 minute, 54.62 seconds.

Bayon won the girls 200 in 24.63 seconds after previously winning at MCALs and Redwood Empire. Bayon also finished third in the girls 100 (11.98) and helped the Giants’ 4×100 relay team to another third-place finish in 48.50. Bayon was joined on the team by Annalise Horn, Jaden Vangorder, and Jenna Beauchamp.

Several other athletes from the county placed inside the top three in their events on Saturday. Branson’s Farah Allen and Archie Williams’ Ani Stieg did it in the same race, placing second (4:50.49) and third (4:51.12) in the girls 1,600, respectively. Stieg later placed fourth in the 3,200 with a time of 10:34.50.

Archie Williams’ Will Mulliken also secured a second-place finish in the boys 1,600, crossing the line in 4:12.20.

Redwood standout Antonio Bayon placed third in the high jump with a mark of 6 feet, 4 inches. Antonio Bayon also placed third in the pole vault on Friday and just missed out on a top-three finish in the 110 hurdles, placing fourth (14.60).

Branson’s Hailey Sellers also had a stellar performance, placing second in the 800 with a time of 2:12.25.

Marin’s other standouts on Saturday included several distance runners as six of the top 10 runners in the girls 1,600 were from MCAL schools. In addition to Allen and Stieg, Archie Williams’ Brooke Lee placed sixth (4:56.00). Redwood’s Sydney Middleton (5:01.47) and Kate Kozubik (5:01.67) were eighth and ninth, respectively. Tam’s Ava McMahon finished 10th with a time of 5:11.11.

Archie Williams’ Alyssa Silverstein placed ninth in the 3,200 in 10:57.34 and Kozubik finished 10th in 11:00.09.

Tam’s Gilby Fillat took seventh in the boys 1,600 with a time of 4:21.25 while San Marin’s Justin Catanach took ninth in 4:30.18.

Tam’s Finn Harrington took seventh in the 3,200 in 9:18.09 and Archie Williams’ Ian Sharp was ninth in 9:26.16.

Other top eight finishers included Tam’s Nate Wanger (fifth in boys 400), Redwood’s Marco Cleary (sixth in boys 100), Tam’s Johanna Friedrichsdorf (eighth in girls 400), and San Domenico’s Omar Williams (eighth in boys 300 hurdles).

CCS track

San Rafael resident Ellie McCuskey-Hay had another stellar performance for St. Ignatius at the Central Coast Section championships in Gilroy on Saturday, highlighted by victories in both of the sprints.

McCuskey-Hay won the girls 100 meters in a time of 11.78 seconds and the 200 in a time of 24.06 to secure her spot at the State Meet in both events.

McCuskey-Hay also placed third in the long jump with a distance of 18’6”. Although the CCS is only given two automatic qualifying spots for State, McCuskey-Hay’s mark is comfortably better than the at-large qualification mark of 18’3.50”.

McCuskey-Hay also helped the 4×100 relay team to a fifth-place finish.

Baseball

Fred Buckson capped a three-hit game with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the San Rafael Pacifics to a 4-3 home victory against the Santa Rosa Scuba Divers on Friday night.

Kyle Guerra began the rally with a two-out walk then stole second for the Pacifics (2-0). San Rafael scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI groundout by Guerra and a single by Buckson to tie the game at 3-3.

Starting pitcher Alex Valasek worked six innings, allowing five hits and three runs (two earned) while walking three and striking out five. John Bicos had two doubles and drove in a run for the Pacifics.