State track finals favor out-of-section talent

It was a great day for South County high school track and field programs as nine area student-athletes lined up to compete in this year’s 98th annual California state championship meet prelims June 3 at Buchanan High School in Clovis. Never mind that the high temperature that day was 103 degrees, and 105 degrees the next day for the finals.

Just making it to the state meet prelims was a big deal for these high school runners, jumpers and throwers, many of whom would be closing out their prep careers at the weekend meet.

But there was no golden moment for South County participants this year, nor were there any gold medals for student-athletes representing all the qualified schools from the San Diego Section. For the first time since 2002, the section was shut out in the gold medal department.

As good as South County and other section student-athletes competed this year, there were others who performed better throughout the state in their respective events.

Much better, as it turned out.

But that’s not to be taken as a failure, as everyone who qualified for the state meet should be lauded for their efforts. It’s difficult to get this far.

None of the nine South County qualifiers advanced to the second day of the two-day meet. That was not necessarily surprising given the high temperatures and the high level of competition from throughout the state. Very few other student-athletes throughout the section managed to accomplish that feat, in fact.

Out of more than 60 event qualifiers in the boys and girls fields from the section, only seven athletes came home with medals, including one athlete with two, for a section total of eight medals.

For those fortunate enough who did snare an elusive state medal, it was a moment to cherish.

Mount Miguel senior Laulauga Tausaga-Collins openly wept with joy after securing the silver medal in the girls shot put. It was a move up from last year’s bronze medal, and she had to be thankful after almost not even making it to the finals with a subpar performance in prelim qualifying.

The silver medal was the prize. It was also the highest medal recorded by a section athlete at this year’s state meet.
“The season as a whole has been disappointing for me,” Tausaga-Collins admitted. “But by the grace of God I was able to compete against the best athletes in the state and win the tie-breaker to get second.

“I didn’t expect to get this far after fouling in the discus throw. It was a surprise for me.”

The San Diego Section record-holder in the girls shot put (48-3.5) and discus throw (167-3), Tausaga-Collins had been chasing the 50-foot mark in the shot put event all season but never quite got there. Though she set a meet record of 166-4 in winning the discus throw at the section finals, she fouled on all three of her attempts at the state prelims.

And she barely qualified for this year’s state shot put finals after placing eighth in the state prelims with a mark of 42-0.

But, when it mattered most, everything fell into place despite not setting any records. The Lady Matador standout recorded a mark of 45-1.5 in the finals to tie San Francisco Lincoln junior Pamela Amaechi.

Valley Christian senior Elena Bruckner, the national leader and state record-holder, won the gold medal with a mark of 49-5.75.

Mount Miguel head coach Chris Conwright credited Tausaga-Collins’ “tremendous desire to compete” as her strength in the ring.

She is headed to the University of Iowa to continue her track and field career. “I’m excited about going to the next level, learning new things and being able to better my throw,” she said.

Also famous
Athletes with the top nine prelim times and those with the top 12 field prelim marks also qualified for the finals. The top six place-finishers in each event in the finals received state medals.

Section honor roll
La Costa Canyon senior Kyle Brown finished in a four-way tie for third place in the boys pole vault at 15-8 while Poway senior Eli Hamson also cleared that height but placed seventh in the event on misses.

In the boys long jump, two section athletes medaled: St. Augustine senior Tanner Battikha placed third (23-11) while Tri City Christian junior Matthew DeRoos placed fifth (23-3.75). DeRoos also placed eighth in the triple jump (46-6.5) while Battikha was ninth (44-8.5) in the same event.

Three section athletes competed in the boys shot put finals. Oceanside senior Charles Lenford secured a third-place medal with a mark of 58-5 while Poway senior Colton Clark placed ninth (55-6.75) and El Camino senior Tanner Miller placed 10th (53-5).

Other standout performances included those by Rancho Buena Vista senior Devon Alvarado and Del Norte senior Michelle Altice.

Alvarado placed fourth in the boys 110-meter high hurdles (14.10) and eighth in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles (38.42). He also was part of a foursome with junior Marco Huerta Smith and seniors Zachary Kleppe and Jacob Milnes that placed seventh in the boys 4×400-meter relay (3:20.33).

Altice placed fourth in the girls shot put (45-1.25) and fifth in the discus throw (146-5).

Rancho Bernardo senior Jackie Patterson finished seventh in the 200-meter dash (24.06) and eighth in the girls 100-meter dash (11.85).

Also of note: 
•Steele Canyon senior Tajanique Bell placed seventh in the girls 300-meter hurdles (42.89) — after timing 42.51 in the preceding prelims (fourth best overall).

•Mt. Carmel senior Rashid Shaheed placed eighth in the boys 200-meter dash (21.87).

•University City senior Allen Siegler finished eighth in the boys 1600-meter run (4:09.26).

•Calvin Christian senior Olivia Nash placed eighth in the girls triple jump (38-2).

•Ramona senior Holly Stallman placed 10th in the girls long jump (18-2.5).

•Poway junior Jarett Chinn finished 11th in the boys 800-meter run (2:00.47) after clocking the fourth-best prelim time of 1:53.46.

•Rancho Bernardo senior Nia Atkins finished 12th in the girls 800-meter run (2:13.60).

In the individual distance races:

Mt. Carmel junior Laura Moran (11:02.83) finished 20th in the girls 3200-meter run, followed by Canyon Crest Academy junior Kira Loren (22nd, 11:06.86) and Westview junior Erica Barrett (24th, 11:13.13).

Barrett had posted the top time of 10:44.34 at the section finals.

Davis senior Fiona O’Keeffe won the state title in 10:12.02.

Mt. Carmel sophomore Samuel Boone (9:33.69) finished 28th in the boys 3200-meter run, followed by Torrey Pines senior Charlie Pope (29th, 9:55.14) and Sage Creek junior Beau Prince (30th, 9:56.55). The three section runners brought up the rear among the 30 place-finishers in the race.

Pope had posted the top time of 9:16.13 at the section finals.

Meanwhile, it was a dramatic sprint to the finish for St. Joseph’s Cooper Teare and Great Oak senior Cole Spencer as they tied for the lead with times of 8:51.85. Teare was later awarded first place in the photo finish by 0.002 second.

On a disappointing note:

•Carlsbad junior Alana Snow failed to make opening height in the girls high jump finals.

•St. Augustine senior Nick Heid recorded the top mark in the boys high jump (6-7) at the section finals but failed to make the opening height in the state prelims.

Fast and furious

•Alvarado’s prelim time (37.44) in the 300 hurdles was the sixth best all-time in the section while his prelim time in the high hurdles (14.06) was the 13th fastest in section history.

Hot wheels
Para-athletes competed for the first time at this year’s state championship meet, including two from the San Diego Section: Escondido Charter’s Michael Seo and Southwest El Centro’s Mauricio Pena.

Seo, who won three gold medals at the section finals, competed in three events at the state meet. He finished third in the para-boys 100-meter dash (21.12), seventh in the mixed 200-meter dash (39.91) and fifth in the mixed 400-meter dash (1:20.08).

Pena finished fourth in the para-boys 100 dash (25.58), ninth  in the mixed 200 dash (1:02.73) and seventh in the mixed 400 dash (1:52.84).

Seo and Pena both compete in wheelchairs.

Above and beyond

Vista Murrieta senior Michael Norman won four gold medals at this year’s state finals. He repeated as the individual champion in the 200-meter dash (20.42) and 400-meter dash (45.77) while also running legs on the Broncos’ victorious 4×100-meter relay team (40.32) and 4×400-meter relay team (3:14.97).

Not surprisingly, Vista Murrieta won the boys team title.

Carson won the girls team championship.

South County athletes had the will to compete in triple-digit temperatures, but marks were missing

They tried — all nine of them who represented South County San Diego schools at this year’s state track and field championship meet June 3-4 in Clovis. While the will to compete was there; the marks just weren’t.

None of the nine South County qualifiers advanced past the first day of competition; they simply joined the majority of the San Diego Section qualifiers on the sideline, trying to find some shade from the unrelenting sun.

Of course, there were some bright spots.

High Tech High Chula Vista’s Donovan Prince and Eastlake’s Jeffrey Page, both sophomores, competed in separate heats of the boys 800-meter run in Clovis after finishing second and third, respectively, at the preceding section finals.

It was a record-setting season-ending finish, in particular, for Prince, who became the school’s first state meet qualifier in track and field. “It was definitely my biggest meet for track,” he said of his trip to compete in the state meet. “It was a little overwhelming competing against all the top athletes in the state, but I felt good.”

Prince handled the butterflies well by timing 1:55.37 for a sixth-place finish in his heat. The time was just off the personal record of 1:54.64 he set at the section finals. Page didn’t do as well with a time of 1:58.08 for a ninth-place finish in his heat. Page set a PR of 1:54.70 at the section prelims.

Prince and Page finished just 0.67 second apart at the section finals.

Prince said too much was made of the triple-digit weather conditions affecting performances (though they likely did). “I wasn’t the only one competing in the hot weather; everyone else had to as well,” he said. “It was the same for everybody.”

But give an edge to the local athletes competing on a regular basis in the sweltering Central Valley and those training in smog-ridden metropolises.

State honor roll

This year’s state track and field honor roll included six student-athlete qualifiers from Olympian High School.

Olympian’s Antonio Riggins recorded the top mark in the boys triple jump at the section championship meet while Lady Eagle Sydney Barnes notched second-place top marks in the girls long jump and triple jump.

Olympian’s 4×400-meter girls relay team included Betsabe Ornelas, Kolumbia Page, Adaeze Noble and Jazzleen Wharry. The foursome finished second at the section finals. Ornelas also qualified to compete in the girls 400-meter run as the third-place finisher at the section finals.

Bonita Vista junior Keenan Ellis (boys 200- and 400-meter dashes) joined the Olympian sextet, as well as Prince and Page, at the section finals.

Olympian’s 4×400 girls relay unit timed 3:55.52 to place sixth in its prelim heat — 17th among the 24 teams. The time was just off the quartet’s school record of 3:55.27 set at the section finals. Wharry called it a great way to end her senior season.

The rest wasn’t so good.

Ornelas finished eighth in her prelim heat in the girls 400 dash (58.16) and was 22nd out of 27 runners. The time was well under her third-place time at the section finals (57.31) and her school record clocking at the Escondido Invitational (56.53).

Barnes recorded a long jump of 17-6 in the prelims to place 19th among 34 entrants and a mark of 37-2.75 in the triple jump to place 17th out of 25 prelim entrants.

The marks did not compare to the school records she set this season. She jumped 18-2 at the section finals in the long jump; her best on the season in the triple jump was 38-3 at the Escondido Invitational.

Riggins set a school record of 47-4 at the section finals but only mustered a mark of 42-3.5 at the state prelims to end his season. He passed on his final jump.

Ellis was charged with a lane violation in both his prelim heats and was disqualified from further competition.

Ellis had placed second in the 200 dash (21.82) and third in the 400 dash (49.03) at the section finals.