2003 CIF-State Track & Field

Championship Prelims/Finals

Friday-Saturday, June 6-7 @ Cerritos College

Official Souvenir Meet Program Preview Story! - Rich Gonzalez

Please support our sponsors above, who ensure continued coverage at DyeStatCal

 

***State Meet Program Preview Story!***

Photo courtesy of Bill Leung

Long Beach Poly: Could this be the greatest girls sprint collection in prep history?

 

FINEST GIRLS’ FIELD IN PREP STATE-MEET HISTORY SET FOR THIS WEEKEND!
National record assaults headline 85th annual CIF-State Track and Field Championships!

By Richard Gonzalez, www.DyeStatCal.com

NORWALK -- Mix together the fastest female teenager in global history with the fastest collection of female prep relay talent in American history, and you have the makings for a thrilling weekend of sprint action! Add in legitimate national record bids in the girls high jump, pole vault and discus and you have yourself situated to witness the finest girls meet in history! Tack on the finest collection of male distance talent assembled in Golden State confines in the last two decades and what do you have? The 85th Annual CIF-State Track High School Track and Field Championships!

        From start to finish, these extraordinary student-athletes are ready to chase their dreams, glad to excite and entertain hardcore and neophyte track and field fans alike every step of the way! So sit back and relax, throw on some sun-screen, enjoy chips and a nice cool beverage and get ready for what many experts perceive as the finest state meet in the land!

Here’s our detailed preview of this weekend’s can’t-wait-to-get-started action:

        The very best race of the girls’ meet should be the one that is over before you even know it: The 100-meter dash! Los Angeles Baptist's Allyson Felix looks to take down Angela Williams’ national record and Long Beach Poly's Shalonda Solomon looks to take down Allyson Felix! The national standard is 11.11 legal, with Felix scorching a wind-aided 11.12 last month and Solomon at 11.25w, the closest margin between the two all season! Pray for wind-legal conditions and a brisk gust at their back, and we could see history in the making. Barring problems, this should go down as the fastest 1-2 finish anyway! Nearly lost in all this hoopla is possibly the best 1-2 FRESHMEN same-race punch in national history, with Long Beach Poly’s Shana Woods (11.62w) and Louisville’s Elizabeth Olear (11.63w) not backing down from anybody here!

Photo courtesy of Bill Leung

Allyson Felix in 2003: In the United States, in England, in Mexico City... She's everywhere!

        The fastest 200-meter runner IN THE WORLD this year remains Allyson Felix, who stunned the global experts with a 22.11 clocking at altitude that smashed the World Juniors record, just weeks after destroying Marion Jones’ national outdoor prep 200 mark at the Mt. SAC Relays! Don’t look for Felix to touch that 22.11 here (tack on roughly .26 seconds to that altitude-affected mark to equate to sea-level timing), but Marion Jones’ 22.71 state meet record should be in jeopardy! Shalonda Solomon does not like to lose and doesn’t plan on it here either, aiming to welcome that Felix Mystique with a warm smile... and a fierce getaway from the blocks! Olear and Co. Are back for this one as well!

Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee

Long Beach Poly's Jasmine Lee is the last prep to beat Allyson Felix.

        Jasmine Lee, who beat Allyson Felix indoors over 200 meters this past winter, is the favorite in the 400-meter dash, but Sheldon’s Deonna Lawrence ripped a head-turning 53.47 last week, meaning this one could get interesting. Several other top athletes have gone by the wayside here in recent weeks, some a result of shrewd coaching tactical moves in search of points elsewhere and others because of the sheer wear-and-tear caused by the event. In an event where the strongest survive, look for Lee to come out breathing fire and Lawrence looking to extinguish those flames!

        The relay races will rock the place at Cerritos College, for sure! From the meet-opening 4x100 clash, to the wind-down-the-state-meet-and-score-the-champions 4x400 affair, look for Long Beach Poly to possibly chase down two national records! Poly has already set national outdoor relay records in the 4x400 (Penn Relays) and sprint medley (Arcadia Invitational) this spring, and apparently set a third here two weeks ago... But the automatic timing system had Long Beach Poly clocked sooooo fast (44.50, well under the 44.70 national record), that no one believed it could be accurate, so they declared it a timing error and recorded it as ‘no time’! Maybe it was a record!!! With crisp exchanges, the state and national record of 44.70 by St. Bernard (SS) will be under assault again, with Long Beach Wilson right in the mix as well. America’s two finest traditions lock up to open the meet for you! By race’s end, this should be the fastest 1-2 finish in history. The only remaining questions: Who will win and does the national record go down??

        Get on your feet, let out a yell and watch as electricity fills the air during the fastest 4x400 race in history! Look for Long beach Poly and Long Beach to erase a two-month-old national record, with only the final victor and the new record time to be determined. Poly has 52-point anchor wiz Shalonda Solomon closing the show, with Wilson’s Ashley Freeman aiming to put a national audience into a frenzy as well. For anyone else who brings anything close to their A-game to the line, look for a slew of school records to come crumbling down!

        MacKenzie Hill looks to score a sweep in the girls’ hurdle races, but it appears she has quite a tall order to fill in getting across those barriers first! Senior Ashlee Brown of national hurdling factory JW North (Riverside-SS) and back-from-the-ashes flyer Ashlee Lodree of El Cerrito can sizzle at national-class pace, as one of California’s stronger events should go a long way into rewriting the season countrywide lists before all is said and done. Look for Brown to get out solid from the start, with all contenders aiming to hold on for a rocketing finish!

Photo courtesy of Bill Leung

MacKenzie Hill powers home for the win!

        In the long hurdles, Hill is the favorite, sliding into that role after a monstrous 41.72 win at the Southern Section Masters Meet. Brown and teammate Lili Calhoun are her biggest challengers, with North no doubt needing major points here if they are to seal up one of those team plaques! Two underclassmen to keep an eye on are Dana Hills (SS) sophomore Genelle Ives, the best Orange County hurdler in ages, and frosh studette Shana Woods (43.26) of Long Beach Poly.

        Long Beach Wilson, a school known more for its sprint and hurdling prowess over the years, has been carving quite an impressive niche at the 800-meter race distance in recent annals, with 2003 state leader Ashley Freeman (2:08.49, #4 in the U.S) being the latest star here. Freeman, who loves to match strength with her peers before downright overpowering them to victory, should get her biggest challenge from La Costa Canyon’s Kelly McCann, a 2:10.45 sophomore talent ready for the national stage (she’s listed 11th in America this week)! This race will be a dandy, within many in the running for trips to the awards podium! Long Beach Poly’s Shantae McKinney, Silver Creek’s Cherie McPherson and Los Gatos frosh phenom Christine Jones are other notable picks to place!

        The 1600-meter run should be quite interesting, with a well-rested Alison Costello of Esperanza (SS) getting a fairly good look as the dangerous state-meet title darkhorse, with College Park’s Lindsay Allen (NCS) and Saratoga’s Alicia Follmar (CCS) then deciding to kick it into high gear for their section finals, making Costello’s task all-the-more difficult. Now the trio appears ready to battle with San Jose Valley Christian’s Amanda Thornberry (although we are hearing she is fighting injuries) for the prized spot! Although not boasting a slew of super-fast times this spring, it appears the Golden State is once again primed to take its place on the national stage this weekend!

Photo courtesy of Chuck Woolridge

College Park's Lindsay Allen (second from right) captured the coveted NCS title!

        The girls’ 3200 could be quite a treat! Look for big-race ace Ruth Graham (Gunn-CCS, and coming on very well lately) and Laguna Creek star Rachel Bryan (nice to see her back after a long layoff) to renew their national-class battles, with headlining names like San Pasqual's Claire Rethemeier, Sacred Heart Cathedral’s Michelle Gallagher, Presentation’s Melissa Grelli and Rancho Cotate’s Phyllis Blanchard among those on the front line. Some people snickered in mid-season that the Golden State appeared a bit down in this distance this year. Well, snicker no more - these ladies have come to run fast for that title, with a long parade at sub-10:45 expected!

         The high jump apron will be center stage for much of the afternoon, thanks to Costa Mesa’s (SS) Sharon Day. With household name Amy Acuff holding the all-time national outdoor performance best of 6-4 and Clovis Latrese Johnson having the top all-time mark for a Californian (6-2.75), Day’s nation-leading best of 6-2 this spring will have scribes reaching for the all-time lists! Although Day is the heavy favorite, it should do nothing to overshadow what has to be the best freshmen crop of flyers in state history! National-class talents Desirae Gonder of Stockdale (CE) and Mindi Wiley of Sonoma Valley rank 2-3 in the state, respectively, with Gonder’s 5-10.5 clearance ranking as the best ever for a freshman in Golden State annals. Wiley, a 5-10 frosh, is right there, too! Another super talent here is junior Allie Miller of Los Altos (CCS), a 5-9.25 jumper who also recently won a prestigious multi-events title!

Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee

San Joaquin Memorial's Kira Costa goes after the 13-8 national pole vault record!

        Just when it appeared it might be Kira Costa versus the pole vault record books this weekend, along came ANOTHER Atascadero vaulter to make it intriguing. Costa, who vaulted to a national indoor record 13-4.5 this past winter, is the state outdoor leader after her recent 13-3 clearance at the Central Section Finals, but Monica Pacas of Atascadero (home to 2002 California vault champ Chelsea Johnson, now at UCLA) skied 13-0 to win the Southern Section Masters Meet recently, setting the stage for a nice showdown and a pursuit of the 13-8 national outdoor mark! Orange County checks in with two of its all-time best aerialists, with Marina senior Cara Walker and Mater Dei junior Elizabeth Woepse each clearing 12-4 in their sectional state qualifier! Kirsten Lofton of Aptos, who gained a touch of fame when her league finals-winning mark was HIGHER than that of her male league counterparts, in another superb entry here!

Photo courtesy of Bill Leung

Arroyo Grande's Bille-Jo Grant is the national DT leader!

        Billie-Jo Grant came into the season in search of the national record. She comes to Cerritos in search of a state title. How sweet it would be if she could now achieve both! The Arroyo Grande spinning phenom already boasts the nation-leading mark in the disc (183-6) and recently broke new ground in the shot put, so she arrives her in good spirits, with Southland rival Kate Hutchinson (San Clemente) and Bakersfield Centennial’s Melissa Faubus out to 175-foot-plus and 160-feet-plus, respectively! The throwers compete outside the main stadium, but it is sure worth your time to make the trip to the adjacent field to see these fine national-class ladies in action!

        The shot put scene has taken clearer form in recent weeks thanks to the fine efforts from Laguna Creek (SJS) senior Jessica Pressley, whose 50-foot-plus launches have tabbed her as the title favorite. Pressley’s best effort came in her last outing, a 50-11.5-inch tape-measure lob that moved her into fifth-place on the all-time state performers list! Pressley will surely be kept honest here, with Arroyo Grande’s (SS) tandem of Billie-Jo Grant (a lifetime-best 48-11.5 last week) and Megan Howard (48-7) on the radar screen. Another one to watch is junior Melissa Faubus of Bakersfield Centennial (CE) who popped a two-foot lifetime improvement (47-6.5) in her last meet!

Photo courtesy of Adam Hall

Brittany Daniels is the #2 sophomore TJer in prep history, behind the meet co-favorite!

        Brittany Daniels (Merrill West-SJS) arrives to Cerritos as the #2 sophomore triple jumper in U.S history. To win the state title, however, she’ll have to beat the national sophomore recordholder. Michelle Sanford of Woodbridge (SS, and yes, daughter of legendary sprinter James Sanford of USC fame) bounded a stunning lifetime-best 43-4.5 two years ago, but injuries have prevented her from reaching that rarefied air ever since. Still, the USC-bound Sanford popped a huge seasonal best two weeks ago (41-6.75) to close in on state leader Daniels (42-0 legal, 42-7 wind-aided). Now these two clash for the first time this season, with San Diego area’s Sparkle Anderson (Serra) and Mt. Pleasant teammates Galina Becker (CCS) and Jade Myles also in the mix!

        Daniels will also have quite a battle on her hands in the long jump, where multi-events talent Gayle Hunter and Skyline (Oakland) senior Renee Williams will be lurking in those same sand pits! Hunter’s wind-aided 20-6.75 effort at the mid-season Mt. Carmel Invitational is just a shade farther than Williams’ 20-6.5 effort last month, with the sophomore Daniels checking in at 19-7, the exact same lifetime best mark as for frosh phenoms DeAna Carson of Vista Del Lago (SS) and Shana Woods of Long Beach Poly (SS)!

BOYS EVENTS

        The boys events offer up intriguing storylines as well, marked by unprecedented levels of depth and highly anticipated showdowns in the distance races! The field assembled for the 3200-meter run showcases the depth, with a stunning 15 runners courting lifetime-best sub-9:09.99 credentials, the best lineup in at least a decade! Two former state champions are featured here, with 2001 title-winner and former World Cross Country Juniors qualifier Yong-Sung Leal (Arroyo, NCS) returning to high-level action after a injury maladies and 2002 state victor Kyle Alcorn (Buchanan, CE) joining him among those in the fold. Add in Southern California talents Manuel Ruiz (Monroe, LA) and Mohamed Trafeh (Duarte, SS), who both join Leal in loving to employ front-running tactics at a frenetic pace, and the expected 4:24 split times through 1600 should carry a large finishing throng under 9:00 here! Southern Section multi-lap wunderkind Phillip Reid (Rio Mesa) has had as impressive a distance season as any in recent years, nearly running the table against statewide and national competition this spring! Keep an eye on sophomores Yosef Ghebray (Logan, NCS) and Mark Matusak (Loyola, SS), the nation’s two finest underclassmen at this distance! A huge mistake would be to overlook highly decorated and University of Wisconsin-bound senior Tim Nelson (Liberty Christian, NO), a veteran achiever against elite competition on the national stage. His degree of championship experience is unmatched!

        The boys 1600-meter run promises to be another doozy, with Rio Mesa’s Reid looking to cap an unbeaten season at this distance, although fellow Southern Section speed whiz Brandon Babiracki (41.8 for the last 300m in one standout showing already this year) is a prime challenger. Reid won their first “match race” last weekend, with Babiracki’s late flurry extinguished by Reid’s own homestretch surge in the closing stages An excellent emerging talent here is Jacob Evans (Aptos, CCS), an 800-meter specialist electing to ‘move up’ in distance in tackling the miler types! Evans stunned many in the state by toppling rival Alex Dunn (San Lorenzo Valley, CCS) last weekend in a seasonal-best 4:11.09 performance. Interesting darkhorse picks here would be Loyola’s aforementioned Matusak and teammate David Torrence. Matusak, despite being hampered by a strep throat condition in recent outings, boasts sensational 4:11 and 9:04 personal bests in the distance races - stunning for a sophomore - and Torrence has been stapled right on his shoulder in almost every race this season!

Photo courtesy of Rich Gonzalez

This year's unbeaten vs. last year's state champ: Duane Solomon and Michael Haddan!

        The ‘distance sprint’ (800 meters) should be equally entertaining, with defending state champion Michael Haddan (Woodbridge, SS - 1:51.02 in 2002) having to play the role of mild underdog as lanky and imposing senior standout Duane Solomon of Cabrillo (SS) won a match race between the two last weekend, with Solomon rolling through in a lifetime-best and state-leading 1:50.99 the week before! The Southern Section surprisingly dominates the state lists in this event, with Long Beach Poly’s Eddie Giles startling many over the final 100 meters to win the Division I crown two weeks back, with Rosemead’s Mario Cobian and also having the strength to hammer out a 4:14 for four laps in mid-season. Darkhorses litter the field here, with Enterprise’s Kenny Frank (NO) coming on huge at this time of year last spring, San Clemente’s (SS) fast-improving junior Matt Stollenwerk, and fellow junior Bryan Rodie of Royal (SS), who has survived through ’the rounds’ in recent weeks despite nursing a fractured ankle, also being highly dangerous qualifiers! The two-lap types not only love lactic acid, the endear themselves to all sorts of pain!

        Sprint action on the boys’ side should yield many new names and faces, with the seasonal state-bests lists undergoing massive realignment in recent weeks! Part of the reason is the unfortunate injury to Long Beach Poly star Derrick Jones (state-leading 10.44), opening the floodgates for his one-time pursuers now eyeing the prospects of being champion! Northern California gets the slight nod here, with Foothill of Pleasanton’s DJ Smith and Skyline’s Kenny O’Neal being tabbed by the sprint gods in recent weeks. O’Neal beat Smith head-on earlier in the season, but Smith boasts a legal 10.49 to his credit and holds an intrinsically superior mark into the wind as well. Look for possible 10.20s for Smith and O'Neal if they find ideal conditions this weekend! Three great challengers for that top spot include Stockton Edison’s Chris Henry, Yosemite’s Fred Worstein (CE) and Dominguez’s Lionel Larry (SS). Henry punched out a 10.51 in his last outing, with Worstein stunning the crowd in a last-to-first hard-closing 10.57 performance at the Central Section Finals and Larry sweeping the Southern Section dash crowns! All-world football talent Reggie Bush (Helix, SD) and Los Alamitos’ Brian Woods (SS) are others in a blow-your-doors-off-with-depth 100m dash field!

        The 200-meter dash has Dominguez’s Lionel Larry as the statistical frontrunner after a superb 20.87 clocking his last time out, with the diminutive speed demon only gaining more and more confidence each time out! Foothill of Pleasanton’s DJ Smith has also made considerable improvement here in recent weeks, with Helix’s Deun White (SD) posting a stellar state-qualifying mark despite running in wind-hampering conditions! North Salinas, the school which yielded eventual world-class sprint twins the Harrison Brothers, has another huge dash talent in Ronnie Drummer, who might be a year away from claiming the title but could surprise here!. Pinole Valley’s Wopamo Osaisai (NCS) and Southern Section late developer Dane Endly (Laguna Hills) are other big stars now in the mix for medals!

        Make sure to keep your program handy during the 400m trials and finals, as no other event in the state has undergone as much ‘interchange’ in recent days! Carson’s (LA) Brandon Myles posted the state-leading time last week at his section finals, only to have University City’s DeSean Cunnningham (SD) regain the label after a stunning 47.19 clocking last weekend! As it is, nine athletes posted sub-48.00 efforts in their last race before heading here, a massive shakeup to an event which admittedly generated little excitement early on this spring! UCLA-bound mega-athlete Joe Cowan of St. John Bosco (SS), a sensational wide receiver in football to complement fine hurdling/dashing skills, is another key entrant, with finish-with-a-flourish senior Tony Ramirez of Royal (SS) and sprint power pack Mike Pratt of Woodland Hills Taft (LA) also helping fill out the fields quite admirably!

        Hurdle racing should the exciting once more, with Bakersfield’s Thomas Mack leading the swarm of power men over the barriers in fast times this spring! Mack appears set for sub-14.00 territory after a 14.09 effort under calm but very warm conditions at the Central Section Finals, with Logan’s Kevin Craddock one-upping that (a 14.06 flyer!) In North Coast Section postseason wars! Craddock, a national age-group phenom during his short career, set the national age-15 42-inch high hurdles record earlier this year! Jason Bolden-Anderson (St. Mary’s, NCS) has been the one to keep Craddock honest for much of the season, while the Southland duo of Dominguez’s Craig Woods (SS) and Bryon Barmer (Helix, SD) have set the standard on that end of the state. With some of the top entrants here also landing duty over the intermediate hurdles and relays, looks for these workhorses to play leading roles in the battle for team plaques!

        As is the case virtually every spring, no event is characterized more so by massive late-season time improvements than the long hurdles, with Berkeley’s Stephan Brooks (NCS) temporarily seizing the top run on the statewide best marks ladder after an out-of-nowhere 37.42 title win up north! Craig Woods of Dominguez (SS) could play a vital role in his squad’s overall title chances with some big points here, a distinct possibility after his Southern Section Masters Meet win here last week! Kevin Craddock, the nation’s finest sophomore hurdler and a collector of age-group records these days (see above), has shaved two seconds of his lifetime-best marks at this distance over the last month, positioning himself at a chance for state event titles! Bakersfield’s Thomas Mack, who has arrived here after a gritty season of hurdling/relays duty, aims to dig down defend the title he claimed here a year ago! Oakdale’s Ryan Caris (SJS) and Trabuco Hills’ Bryan Payne (SS) are two fine darkhorse qualifiers here!

        Who will win those crazy sprint relays??? With dropped batons and botched exchange-zone steps already eliminating two of the state’s top three relay teams, it’ll be a nerve-racking time on the stands for coaches and supporters alike! Long Beach Poly, which has already seen much of its team-title hopes torpedoed by a costly injury in recent weeks, aims to salvage a great deal of pride here, looking to a hopefully healthy Derrick Jones to catapult the Jackrabbits first across that line! It gets awfully competitive from there, with seven fine baton-toting teams crunched within a quarter-second time gap! Every step and every reach of the baton gets magnified here, with Brandon Myles (Carson), Thomas Mack (Bakersfield), Lionel Larry (Dominguez), Brian Woods (Los Alamitos), DeSean Cunningham (University City), Chris Henry (Edison, Stockton) and Anton Jamir (Cypress) among the fine dash talents aiming to carry their teams onto the awards podium!

        The long relay (4x400) has all of a sudden garnered more attention in recent weeks, with injuries helping level te playing field somewhat in making the meet-ending event a sure mad dash to the finish line! Long Beach Poly, which rolled to a stunning 3:11.22 clocking at the Penn Relays in April, is done licking its wounds and aims to close out the meet with a flourish as top teams from Dominguez, Santa Margarita and Helix enter the celebrated four-lap dance! Dominguez had Lionel Larry split a 46.2 anchor last weekend, which was needed since UCLA-bound Jeff Jacobs was busy slamming down a 46.8 carry for Santa Margarita in keeping the battle close! Helix has a group(with Deun White and Reggie Bush) that supposedly has an aggregate time of 3:08 when combining the lifetime open and relay best of its four members, but the crew has yet to cash in on those credentials thus far! With DeSean Cunningham running anchor for University City, can a 45-point split be unleashed? Time(s) will tell!

Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee

T.J. Fakehinde cleared 7-2-plus at the Caribbean Games last summer!

        The vertical jumping events will play out in the customarily tense fashion, with steel nerves and laser-like focus needed to thwart off those no-height demons that could play a role in those Top 10 team standings! Defending state champion Cole Herron leads the high jump field, with the lanky and brilliant senior already hitting the seven-foot range for the second consecutive year. He is not alone in those exploits, however, with Bakersfield Garces’ Zach Ryan (CE) and Eastside Christian’s T.J. Fakehinde (SS) also reaching that magical barrier. Fakehinde actually went 7-2 and change last summer at the Caribbean National Championships to boast the leading lifetiem best mark in this field! While most jumpers have struggled to meet their top marks in recent weeks, senior Matt Carter of El Modena (SS) is fresh off a lifetime-best 6-10 effort, tabbing him as a logical upset pick!

        The pole vault is another one of those wide-open affairs, where strategy (which height to come in at? When to pass?) Will play into some of the sportsmanship games here! The favorite could be Billy Matthies of Rancho Bernardo, not so much because he has the state-leading mark of 16-1 this spring, but because the school has a penchant for producing high-end vaulters each year. Matthies is joined by teammate Zack Miller here, while Loyola of Los Angeles (SS) is represented by its own fine aerial tandem of Don Appanaitis and Matt Contreras, who have interchanged their order in recent weeks! One of the great vaulters of the future could be on display here, with Granite Bay (SJS) frosh Ryan Shuler setting an state all-time 9th-grade record with his 15-6 clearance earlier this season, taking down the longstanding mark of former prep/collegiate wiz and current UCLA vault coach Anthony Curran!
Has a freshman ever won the state-meet in this event? The answer is no, but Curran won it as a junior and again as a senior!

        Big horizontal jumps are being unleashed down south these days, with near 25-foot and near 50-foot efforts unfurled in recent days! Rudy Burgess of Desert (on Edwards Air Force Base!) popped a herculean 49-9.5 wind-legal mark last week to win the Southern Section Masters Meet, with Fresno Hoover’s Kevin Robinson uncorking a 49-1.25 win at the Central Section Finals the week before. Derrell Hutsona of La Mesa Helix (SD) stole the show in the statewide long jump wars with his 24-8.75 job at his section’s prelims. The San Diego area actually stakes claim to the Golden State’s two best long jumpers this year, with Morse’s Demetrius Westbrooks also out to 24-6 territory this spring!

Nik Kay aims for a rarity: Two titles on the boys' side!

        Los Gatos ace Nik Kay regained top billing on the throws scene in dramatic fashion last week, with the nation’s top discus thrower heading into this season having picked just the right time to unleash A PAIR of statewide-leading efforts in the throws events heading into the showdown at Cerritos! Kay first launched four efforts over 200 feet at the Central Coast Section Finals last weeks - including a sttae-best 204-10 - before returning to launch a 62-11 bomb in securing the state lead in the shot put! The competition appears mighty fierce in the shot put, however, with Enterprise’s David Nichols (NO), Mission Bay’s Jared Bray (SD), and Fresno Edison’s Jason Rooters all boasting heaves in the 61-foot-plus range this spring! In the discus competition, spinners Chris White of Garces Memorial (CE), Kyle Davis-Hammerquist of Webb (SS) and Robert Jennings of Westmont are others high up on the state lists at the championship phase of the season!

TEAM TITLES
        Long Beach Poly is favored to win the girls crown, courting amazing depth in the sprints. That said, even one minor slip-up opens the door for both J.W. North of Riverside and Long Beach Wilson to move in and snare the championship plaque. Look for these three sensational programs to finish within 15 points of each other!

        On the boys’ side, Dominguez is the latest team to seize the top spot in the rankings (following pre-season pick Helix and mid-season selection Long Beach Poly), with the favored Dons now relying heavily on dasher Lionel Larry, hurdler Chris Woods and their relay units! Bakersfield (relays/hurdles), Long Beach Poly (relays) and Helix (sprints/relays/jumps) remain within striking distance!

Back to DyeStatCal Results

 

 


is published by

Editors: Doug Speck and Rich Gonzalez
Publisher: John Dye

©2002 by DyeStat