The Metro Conference will have representation at this weekend’s state track and field championship meet at Buchanan High School in Clovis in the guise of three high-profile female student-athletes: Eastlake senior Johnna Noiseaux in the girls triple jump, Olympian senior Ralaina LiDrazzah in the girls 100-meter dash and Castle Park senior Teairah Jackson in the girls shot put.
The trio qualified to compete in this weekend’s elite gathering of high school track and field talent by placing among the top three place-finishers in each of their respective events at last Saturday’s San Diego Section championship meet at Mt. Carmel High School.
Noiseaux recorded the section’s No. 3 state qualifying mark of 38 feet. 1.25 inches to become a return state meet qualifier while Jackson recorded the section’s No. 3 state qualifying mark of 39-11 in the shot put.
LiDrazzah can measure her trip to Clovis by three-thousands of a second after edging Carlsbad senior Summer Mason for third place with an electronic time of 12.175. Mason was incredibly close behind in 12.178.
Noiseaux, who bagged three individual gold medals at last month’s Mesa League championship meet (girls high, long and triple jumps), returns to compete in Clovis after first qualifying as a sophomore.
She jumped to a season best mark in the triple jump at last weekend’s CIF finals to place second among Division I individuals, though it fell short of her career best mark of 38-9 set last year.
The Lady Titan standout placed fourth in the long jump (17-8.25) at last weekend’s section championship meet to miss qualifying for the state meet by six inches. However, a late scratch by a higher-placing athlete allowed Noiseaux to advance to the state meet in a second event.
LiDrazzah won gold medals at this year’s Mesa League finals in both the 100 and 200 dashes. Her state qualifying time was just off her career best time of 12.04 set earlier this year in a dual meet against Eastlake.
LiDrazzah also competed in the 200 dash at the section finals, placing fifth among Division I runners in 25.20. Her season best of 24.94 was at April’s Jaguar Invitational.
Jackson, this year’s South Bay League champion in the shot put and discus throw, placed third among Division II shot-putters at the section finals.
Mt. Miguel junior Laulauga Tausaga finished first after setting a new section record of 48-3.5 while Imperial junior Khiya Mohamed placed second with a put of 40-2.
All three Division II place-winners led the section in state qualifying marks.
Tausaga’s record mark surpassed the previous section record of 46-10.25 set in 2001 by Sweetwater’s Aiga Maria Taumua.
Making the grade
Athletes were grouped by times/marks from both the state qualifying A-heats and non-state qualifying B-heats to fill out the Division I and Division II leaderboards in each event.
Mater Dei Catholic senior Ivan Duran earned the Division II gold medal in the boys shot put with a personal record mark of 48-10.75. He won the Mesa League title two weeks earlier with a put of 47-1.
South Bay League champion Javier Rueda was seventh in the same Division II field with a put of 44-6.25 — well off his 47-7 winning mark at the league finals.
Otay Ranch junior Jacob Lopez placed third among Division I male discus throwers with a personal record mark of 159-4 while Mustang teammate Isaiah Thomas placed fourth in the Division I boys 800-meter run with a personal record time of 1:55.90.
Olympian junior Sydney Barnes placed third among Division I girls triple jumpers with a mark of 36-8.5. Her best of 37-4.75 came a week earlier at the section prelims.
Castle Park senior Sarah Montion placed third among Division II female discus throwers with a season best mark of 114-9 and ninth in the shot put (33.4.75).
Eastlake senior Dwight Brandon (50.68) and Otay Ranch junior John Price (50.74) placed fifth and sixth, respectively, in the Division I boys 400 dash.
Hilltop senior Janeth Moya placed fifth in the Division I girls 300 hurdles in 46.19. She set a season best a week earlier at the section prelims in 45.92.
Mater Dei Catholic senior Dallas Freitas placed sixth among Division II boys 200-meter sprinters in 22.68.
Eastlake freshman Leyla McFarland ended her season of superlatives with the seventh-best time of 5:12.92 in the Division I girls 1600-meter run. Otay Ranch sophomore Eyra Alfaro finished a few ticks back in 10th place in 5:18.55.
McFarland, who ran to gold medals in the 1600, 3200 and 4×400 relay events at the Mesa League finals, set a career best time of 5:01.21 at the section prelims that also served to set a new school record.
Olympian senior Sydney Leverett placed ninth among Division I boys 800 runners in 2:11.77 while Otay Ranch senior Alicia Huerta placed 10th in the Division I girls 3200 run in 11:52.76. Huerta set the school record in the event at 11:21.55 at the Mesa League finals.
Eastlake’s boys 4×400 relay team timed 3:25.54 to place sixth among Division I teams while Eastlake’s girls 4×400 relay team timed 4:07.78 to place ninth among Division I teams.
Fight the future
Chula Vista High Tech frosh Donovan Prince finished second among Division II boys in the 800 run with a time of 1:56.22. while Bruin seniors Grace Fregoso (12.97 in the girls 100 dash) and Nick Hernandez (50.96 in the boys 400 dash) both placed sixth.
CV High Tech’s girls 4×100 relay team posted the sixth best Division II time of 51.23.
Around the section
Valhalla senior Leah Molter and Cathedral Catholic junior Dani Johnson produced one of the most memorable finishes at last weekend’s section championship meet. Both runners finished in a virtual dead heat at the finish line with times of 14.00 in the 100 hurdles.
The tiebreaker was decided by five-thousandths-of-a-second.
Johnson earned the section’s No. 1 state qualifying berth in the event with a time of 13.991 while Molter placed second in 13.996.
Valhalla coach Garrett Ince called the finish the “event of the meet.”
“It was a photo finish,” Ince said. “It was tremendous. They battled down to the wire.”
Johnson and Molter engineered another dramatic one-two finish in the 300 hurdles, with Johnson recording a winning time of 42.14 and Molter timing 42.55 — a difference of 0.41 seconds.
Both times by Molter were personal bests and earned her Division I gold medals in both events. Johnson swept the Division II gold medals.
Notepad
Oceanside won the Division I boys team title, followed by Morse and Steele Canyon, while Rancho Bernardo won the Division I girls team title ahead of runner-up Steele Canyon and third place Torrey Pines.
Del Norte won the Division II boys team title while Cathedral Catholic won the Division II girls team title. Cathedral Catholic and St. Augustine were separated by one-half point in the battle for second place among Division II boys teams while Valley Center finished ahead of Del Norte for second place among Division II girls teams.
The 97th annual state meet starts Friday with preliminary qualifying and ends Saturday with championship finals in each event.
For updated information, visit the website at www.cifstate.org.
