STITTS, GLADS LOOK TO FLY AT STATE

Things are happening quickly – make that with blazing speed — for Chabot track and field star Robert Stitts.
The sophomore sprinter who is being recruited by the likes of UCLA, South Florida, Cal State Northridge, Northern Colorado, and Cal State Fullerton will enter this week's 3C2A State Track and Field Championships at College of San Mateo fresh off a sensational effort at the NorCal meet.
The El Cerrito High graduate blazed to three titles at Butte College, in the 100 meters, 200, and 400 relay. He holds Chabot records in the three races, and has five NorCal titles overall.
Chabot, guided by first-year head coach Dooney Jones, is sending a sprinter-heavy team to the state meet on Friday and Saturday. Blink and you could miss them.
Stitts – the NorCal Track Men's Athlete of the Year — has an ambitious goal to run 10-flat in the 100 at state, which would shatter his school record. He bettered his own school mark with a 10.28 wind-legal time at NorCal, also winning the 200 race (21.20) and helping the relay prevail in 40.84. Other 400 relay members were Jamal Perry, Anthony Jones and Jeremy Craft.
Finishing races strongly will be key to his ambitious 10.0 goal at state, so Stitts has been working with coaches this week on that aspect of his race.
Jones marvels at Stitts' poise, humility and dedication as a strong student-athlete. His talent speaks for itself.
"A good guy," Jones said. "He's a fine young man … 3.50 GPA, real humble, especially with a target on his back all the time and people constantly telling him they're coming after him. He kept his head and his cool all season long."
Jones added that it can "get tough out there with sprinters. It's a bigtime rivalry every time."
Stitts gets a lot of his mental approach in track from Chabot sprints coach Jerry Craft — a key person in Chabot's success overall.
"He doesn't let inside battles within your mind affect you as much as other people," Stitts said. "So that's just the biggest thing for me, is having a strong mental (side) and also going to get it and uplifting teammates at the same time when they feel down or weak and see something like that."
A former football player at El Cerrito, Stitts decided to pursue track after his junior year, following a conversation with his football and track coaches. His commitment to track paid off as a senior, when he lowered his 100 time to 10.5 at the Stanford Invitational, 10.4 at Arcadia, and 10.34 at CIF NorCal and wound up third in the State meet. He says he chose Chabot due a close combined connection with Craft and his sprint coach at El Cerrito.
 "A lot of the training is the same here, so I kind of adapted really well here," Stitts says.
He added the biggest thing for him is to "show up and then you don't have to worry about the 'what-ifs?' or the 'can I's?' or 'maybes'. If you show up then you answer all those questions for yourself."
There's been a lot of good storylines for coach Jones and his staff.
Amartya Poovaiah was the NorCal champion in the men's 800 meters in 1:54.57. When former Chabot head coach Kyle Robinson left the program after the 2024 season, most of the distance runners left too, Jones says, so he was happy to see Poovaiah stick around.
"I was able to give him a good 800 coach, James Harrison. Back in the early 1980s he was an Olympian himself," Jones said. "I got him in (as an assistant) and he really helped Amartya a lot."
Another bright spot was Perry, a freshman who had run about 10.7 in the 100 in high school. He came down to 10.54 at NorCals to earn a spot in the state finals. "He was definitely a surprise," Jones says.
The Chabot women's and men's sprinters successes at NorCals were expected.
Another clutch performer, Nyarah Anderson-Brown, will enter the state meet as the No. 3 women's 100 qualifier, at 11.79 seconds. She also won the NorCal 200 title in 24.05.
"I didn't see that coming … 11.7 is very fast," Jones said. "I'm really glad to see that coming from her; she came on real strong. She was doing well all season, but she peaked right at the end. Nyarah and Robert did the same thing; they got to the NorCal meet and they just showed off."
The only event Chabot will be competing in on Friday is the women's pole vault. Chabot's Shae Wright — the NorCal runner-up — broke the school record this season with a mark of 12-1.5.
Saturday will be a big day for everyone else.
Jones said the whole season "turned out very well for us. Pleasantly surprised. We're definitely sprinter heavy. Shae in the pole vault and Amartya in the 800 definitely added to the team, and they are still going."

Chabot state qualifiers
Men: 4/100m : Chabot (Jamal Perry, Anthony Jones, Jeremy Craft. Robert Stitts), first, 40.84
800m: Amarty Poovaiah, first, 1:54.56
100m: Robert Stitts, first, 10.28
Jamal Perry (PR), fourth, 10.54
200m: Robert Stitts, first, 21.20
Long jump: Jeremy Craft, A Standard.
Women:
4/100 relay: Chabot (Anderson-Brown, Vidal, Alomar, Taylor), 2nd, 46.74
Pole Vault: Shae Wright, second, 3.55m
100m: Nyarah Anderson-Brown, third (PR), 11.79; Niah Alomar (PR), fifth, 12.17
200m: Nyarah Anderson -Brown (PR), 24.05, first
Long Jump: Marissa Meza, 5.10m, T6th
Discus: Azsiyah Sapp-Bieto (PR) fifth, 39.03m
5000m: Medha Gowda, fourth, 18:44.59
4/400 relay: Chabot (Anderson-Brown, Pringle-Hamilton, Vidal, Alomar), second, 3:53.65