GILROY — The smile on her face said it all.
Ear to ear. Wide and proud. The look of a champion.
“This is so satisfying,” said Aptos High’s Marea Zlatunich, still wearing the trace of her glowing grin. “This means so much.”
After coming up empty at the Central Coast Section Track & Field Championships each of the last three years, Zlatunich exorcised her demons in her final go-around. The Mariners’ senior distance runner stunned the 1,600-meter field at Gilroy High on Friday night to win her first-ever section title.
Zlatunich held off longtime Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League rival Mari Friedman, of Santa Cruz High, with a time of 4 minutes, 57.62 seconds. Friedman, who edged Zlatunich for the league title three weeks ago, took second in the four-lap race in 4:59.03.
“Marea’s tough, she’s so resilient and she’s a big-race runner,” said Aptos distance coach Dan Gruber. “I don’t know how else to say it…I’m happy for her. She deserves it.”
Over the last three seasons, the CCS finals had been a sore subject of conversation for the future Cal Berkeley Golden Bear. She missed the cut for state by two hundredths of a second as a freshman, took fifth as a sophomore and missed CCS all together last season because of a knee injury.
She didn’t allow her past to affect the present.
“Marea’s strength in her character is her resiliency,” Gruber said. “She just stayed with it. She believed and I believed.”
Heading down the final 300 meters, Friedman hit another gear, passed Zlatunich and Homestead High’s Rebecca Hasser and looked to be cruising to an easy victory. But with 200 to go, Zlatunich kicked, took over the lead spot and held on for the victory.
She ran her race from start to finish.
“I felt really good,” Zlatunich said, “I felt like I could win.”
She did.
And now she’ll make her first appearance at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium in Clovis for the CIF State Track & Field Championships on June 1-2.
Zlatunich, who missed the cut in the 3,200 after a fourth-place finish (11:00.19), was the lone local athlete who earned a spot at the state meet.
Aptos had four other athletes compete on Friday night. Senior Sofia Natividad finished ninth in the 3,200 (11:24.52). Sophomore Brynn Mitchell placed 12th in the long jump and 11th in the triple jump with leaps of 16 feet, 4 1/4 inches and 35-6, respectively. Sophomore Natalia Ackerman took seventh in the high jump (5-0).
Senior Alex Austen was the lone local male athlete on hand, but the star two-sport athlete scratched all three of his throws in the shot put.
Watsonville High senior Daniela Salazar came close to earning a top-three finish in the 800, but couldn’t hold on to an early lead and finished fifth in 2:14.85. She reset her school record in the event once again, but was not able to extend her final season by another week.
“I still feel really happy with it, honestly,” Salazar said. “At the beginning of the season, my goal was a 2:15. I’m happy. I’m satisfied.”
Her teammate, freshman Layla Ruiz, placed seventh in the 3,200 by reseting her school record in the event (11:09.4).
Together, Salazar and Ruiz led the Watsonville girls to their first league championship since 1990, won multiple individual league titles and broke records that had previously stood for decades. Salazar, who plans to run track in college but is still mulling over her options, said she took pride in leading a running renaissance with the Wildcatz over the last four seasons.
“I worked my way up and put Watsonville out there,” Salazar said. “I know Layla is going to continue that. Hopefully there’s more girls that run cross country and track, and hopefully Layla makes it to state in the future. I’m really proud of what we started.”
Still basking in her win, Zlatunich had not given much thought to the state meet. A three-time top-six finisher at the state cross country meet, she said racing against the best the state has to offer is a reward in its own.
“I’m just really excited to be there,” she said.
