Gunn’s boys’ and girls’ varsity track teams fell short to Palo Alto High School (Paly) at last Thursday’s meet.

Both teams entered the dual meet with similar records. Both Paly and Gunn’s varsity boys were 3-1, however Paly’s girls are also 3-1 while Gunn’s girls have won just one dual competition. “Our mile runners are strong,” Titan long distance coach Matt Tomkins said. “But we need to improve in all the jump events.”

Paly long distance coach Golden Krishna was optimistic about the meet. “Our distance running is good and our girls are also a little deeper than our guys,” he said. “This is considered the city championship and we’ll probably beat Gunn.”

Competitors on Gunn remained positive going into the meet. “Frosh-soph is probably going to win the meet, but I’m not sure about varsity,” sophomore Brian Hand said.

Gunn started off strong by winning the boys’ 4x100 relay, anchored by senior Chris Yu, followed by freshman Allie Mayer leading the pack to win the 1600 meter. However, Paly stayed strong with senior Scott Himmelberger placing first in the boys’ 1600 meter. “I was pretty confident that I was going to win,” Himmelberger said.

Adam Dohner won the 400 meter while junior Curtis Liang won the 300 meter hurdles. “The next meet will be a lot harder for me to win in because we’re playing Los Altos,” Liang said. “They have a guy who placed first in C.C.S.”

Gunn made a strong competitor in part because of Yu, who won all four of his events. He also narrowly beat sophomore Dezmon Hunter in the 200 meter. Hunter was gone for several past events, and his return was helpful for the Titans.

“I was surprised how close Dezmon came because it was a new personal record for him,” Yu said.

Despite many Titan wins in the different individual events, Gunn could not manage to gain enough points to overcome the Vikings. “The Paly varsity girls’ were actually the favorites, but the varsity boys’ came down to a couple of points,” Head Coach Ernie Lee said. “The competition brought out the best in both schools.”