Serra Top 7 Article

            
Mills' Laurent tops Top Seven in long 
            jump
By Jelani Harper, STAFF WRITER
SAN MATEO -- Jason Laurent nearly leaped 
            out of the long jump pit on his first attempt at Serra's Top Seven 
            Invitational track meet Saturday afternoon. 
            
"I hit the wood (at the end of the pit)," the Mills High junior 
            said. "As soon as I jumped that first time, I knew it would be a 
            good day." 
            
Unfortunately, the soaring jump meant that Laurent would also 
            have to take off from a different point and re-configure his steps, 
            the most critical part to long-jumping, to maximize his leap. 
            
"I had to move back another 8 feet, so I had to restructure my 
            steps," Laurent said. "I had the wind behind me, so I felt a lot 
            better, but I kept scratching." 
            
Not for long. Laurent qualified for the finals with his leap of 
            20 feet, 5 inches, the first time around, and jumped a personal 
            record 21 feet in the finals to win the competition. 
            
The winning mark eclipsed Laurent's former PR by 6 inches. 


                        

            
The victory helped to make up for a subpar performance in the 
            high jump (for which the junior was ranked as high as third in the 
            Central Coast Section with a best mark of 6-2) in which Laurent 
            failed to place on Saturday. 
            
"I actually like the high jump better than the long jump, it's 
            more fun to me," Laurent said. "But I wasn't feeling it today. I 
            think I can get a lot better in both events. I just need to work on 
            my landings, get my steps better and get better form." 
            
Serra's Angelo Fobbs-Valentino had a similar experience to 
            Laurent. The Serra junior, who normally runs the 200 and 400 meters, 
            was set to run anchor in the Padres 400 relay team before Serra was 
            disqualified for a bad handoff between the first and second legs. 
            
Fobbs-Valentino made up for it, however, by edging Hillsdale's 
            Chris Rochester in the 100. 
            
"I didn't really know what to expect," Fobbs-Valentino said. "I 
            was just trying something new and hoping to win something." 
            
Despite getting out to a slow start, the Serra sprinter was able 
            to overtake Rochester in the final 50 meters. 
            
"I got out of the blocks slow because the wind was blowing and I 
            kind of stumbled out," Fobbs-Valentino said. "But then I caught 
            myself." 
            
Sequoia's Mercedes Marchbanks has a bright future on the 
            Cherokees track team. The multiple-event contestant, who's only a 
            sophomore, took second in the 400 meters before coming back to win 
            the triple jump with a mark of 33-10. 
            
"I didn't get to do any run-throughs because I had just finished 
            the 400, so I was kind of off in the beginning," Marchbanks said. 
            "My coach tells me to put my feet out and have my butt hit the sand 
            so I can go further, and I was trying to do that." 
            
Marchbanks actually jumped her winning mark on her third attempt 
            in the preliminaries, but the mark carried over to give her the win 
            in the finals. 
            
Marchbanks, who projects she'll be leaping 36 or 37 feet by the 
            time she's a senior, also ran on the Cherokees 1,600 and 400 relays. 
            With the speedy sophomore running anchor, Sequoia finished fourth in 
            the 400. 
            
"We had to switch some legs around and use a substitute since one 
            of our runners was missing," Marchbanks said. "We could have done 
            better."