CCS track

 As nervous as Kate Riordan was, she reminded herself before stepping into the blocks Friday that this might be her last high school race.

 "I really wasn't thinking about a place or a time," the Notre Dame senior said. "I was just trying to focus on the race itself."

 Riordan gave herself an early graduation gift, running the race of her life in capturing the 300 low hurdles at the Central Coast Section track and field championships at Gilroy.

 "Fresno sounds like a good time," Riordan said.

 Before she takes a senior trip, Riordan will compete next Friday in the State track championships at Buchanan High in Clovis.

 "I feel blessed in the moment," Riordan said. "I'm not thinking to much ahead. I graduate Saturday."

 Joining Riordan at the state meet will include Santa Catalina's Laurel Wong, who defended her CCS title in the pole vault, clearing 13-feet.

 Sophomore Azjani McGill will be the only county athlete going to the state meet in two events for Monterey, taking second in the 200 in 22.07.

 McGill also ran a leg on the Toreadores third place 400 relay team (42.64), which included Jaiden Russell, Eris Hutchins and Jordan Caliz.

 Pacific Grove's Kulaea Tulua is headed to Fresno in the girls long jump (18-1 1/4), as is Alvarez's Vicentejordan Vanderlipe in the pole vault (14-3).

 Riodan, however, stole the spotlight, coming out of lane seven to blister the first five hurdles of the race to put herself in contention.

 "I still stuttered on a few of my hurdles," Riordan said. "But this was definitely my best race. Not just time, but with form and steps."

 When Riordan came around the turn on the sixth hurdle, she was sitting slightly out of the lead, but in contention for one of three state qualifying spot.

 "I felt really strong coming off the turn," Riordan said. "When I passed a girl just after the seventh hurdles, I said I can do this."

 Riordan's time of 44.49 seconds was an improvement by a second and a half, shattering the Notre Dame school record. She came into the race seeded No. 6.

 Wong, who came into the meet as the state leader at 13-feet-3, missed her first two attempts at 12-6 before recovering, clearing the height and then 13-feet.

 The junior, who will be going to the state meet a third straight year, had narrow misses at a school and county record of 13-4..

 Wong has not lost an event this season. Last year she was fifth in the state meet at 12-6. Three years ago, 13-3 won the state title.

 McGill, who missed two weeks of the season with an injury, has come back with a passion, lowering his time in the 200 for the third straight week to finish second.

 "No doubt, he's hitting his stride at the right time," Monterey coach Alex Peterson said. "The 200 seems to be his race. He had a great start. He pulled nearly everyone in the last 40 meters."

 McGill, who was sixth in the 100, blistered his leg in the 400 relay as the Toreadores ran a personal best 42.64.

 "There's nothing but potential with this team," Peterson said. "The fact that they're coming back next year is even more promising. This year was a getting to know you year."

 "I hate missing graduation," added Peterson. "But I love the fact that it's for this."

  Vanderlipe, who broke the frosh-soph Top Eight meet record five weeks ago for Alvarez, is state bound after finishing third, clearing a personal best 14-3.

 Tulua, who will play basketball next year at Occidental College, soared a personal best 18-1 1/4 to finish third in the long jump, shattering the Pacific Grove school record.

 Seaside's De'Antae Williams just missed a spot in the state meet in the 100, finishing fourth in 11.04 into a head wind, with McGill taking sixth in 11.07.

 Marina distance ace Christopher Plascencia took seventh in the 1,600 in 4:23.81, as did Gonzales' Pablo Villasenor in the shot put (48-1/4).

 Carmel's Julian Resendiz soared a personal best 13-3 in the pole vault to finish seventh, as did Tom Phan of Stevenson in the high jump (6-0).

 Foreign exchange student Noora Hautamaki became the first Soledad female athlete to place in the CCS finals, taking fifth in the triple jump with a mark of 37-7 1/2.

 Hautamaki was also seventh in the long jump (17-7) and eighth in the shot put (36-0).