ON THE TRACK: The circumstances surrounding Faith Makau's medal-earning sixth-place finish in the State 800- meter finals (she was seeded 11th) almost double the weight of her achievement. For starters, she did not scratch from the 800 — her second-best event behind her 1,600 — only because of the unpredictability of the longer race. Sure enough, Makau got caught in traffic at the trials and missed a finals berth in the 1,600 by three-tenths of a second. But only two hours later, she overcame her disappointment, ran aggressively in the 800 and squeezed into the finals. The next night in Clovis, her foresight paid off in a big way. She built for that moment for four years. To get there, Makau became the first female in nine years to double in the 800 and 1,600 at the Section Masters. Her personal bests in both events — 4 minutes, 54.4 seconds in the 1,600 and 2:11.01 in the 800 — are stunning five-second improvements from a year ago. She will leave Enochs with three Masters titles, three appearances at State, a State medal and an Outstanding Athlete Award Athlete-of-the-Year honor. Check out her progression the last three seasons in the Section Masters 1,600 — second, first and first. In the 800, she was fifth as a junior before winning it this year. In cross country, she became the first athlete in the area since 1999 to win a Section Division I title. Simply, it means she can't be replaced. "The State 800 was the best thing I did because I lowered my PR by two seconds in just that race," Makau said. "I worked hard to get better in that event. And not scratching was the smartest decision I've made."

The only thing Downey High graduate Aaron Zwahlen didn't do for the football team last fall was placekick. We found out he could placekick, too, Saturday night. All he did was boot a 35-yard field goal as time expired, giving the South a 17-14 win over the North in a thoroughly entertaining 40th Lions All-Star Football Game.