Who will fly the farthest in the boys long jump or girls triple jump or catapult themselves the highest in the girls pole vault, run the fastest in the boys 100-meter dash or the girls 3200-meter run?
Who will qualify for this year’s state championship meet?
All questions will be answered at Saturday’s San Diego Section track and field finals at Mt. Carmel High School when the section’s top student-athletes gather to compete against each other — and themselves — in an effort to climb highest on the award stand, and ultimately represent their schools at the state finals.
Field events are scheduled to start at 10 a.m., with the first running events scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m.
The Metro Conference qualified a large number of athletes for this weekend’s section finals. Besides contending for state qualifying berths (the top three place-finishers in each event, plus those athletes who meet a pre-determined standard), athletes will also be racking up points for their respective teams in the race for Division I and Division II team titles.
Medals will be awarded to athletes based on division finish; state qualifying berths will be awarded to those athletes qualified to compete in the premier A-heat events.
This weekend’s meet is thus an all-in-one event to determine both division champions and state qualifiers.
The state championship meet is scheduled June 3-4 at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
Fleet feet
There will be an obvious emphasis for athletes to put their best foot forward at Saturday’s section finals, just as was the case at last Saturday’s preliminary qualifying meet that also took place at Mt. Carmel High School.
Eastlake sophomore Jeffrey Page ran a personal record time of 1:54.70 to finish first in qualifying in the boys 800-meter dash at last weekend’s prelim meet. The numbers keep dropping for the young Titan runner who posted a PR time of 1:55.65 at the preceding week’s Mesa League finals.
Will he make a bold leap to qualify for this year’s state meet as a sophomore?
How about Bonita Vista junior Keenan Ellis, who ran to personal record times in posting the second-fastest qualifying time in the boys 400-meter dash (49.20) and third fastest qualifying time in the 200 dash (21.79)?
Ellis earned honors as the Mesa League track runner of the year. He won three gold medals at this year’s league finals, taking firsts in the 100, 200 and 400 dashes.
Stay tuned in both cases.
Other top qualifiers from the Metro Conference included Olympian junior Betsabe Ornelas, who qualified second in the girls 400-meter dash (57.20), as well as senior teammate Sydney Barnes, who qualified second in the girls triple jump (37-7.5) and seventh in the girls long jump (17-9.25).
Barnes’ mark in the long jump was a personal record; her best this season in the triple jump is 38-3, which ranks second in the section.
Will Barnes or Ornelas make the jump to the state meet?
How about Olympian senior Antonio Riggins, who recorded the second-best qualifying mark in the boys triple jump (46-6.75)? His best on the season is the 46-11.50 he turned in while winning the event at the league finals. The mark ranks second in the section.
Where there’s a will, there’s always a way. Stay tuned again.
There are a large number of state meet hopefuls among area runners and jumpers.
Olympian turned in the fastest qualifying time in the girls 4×400 relay (3:57.90) while Eastlake finished eighth fastest (4:05.88) in the same event.
In other relay events, Eastlake notched the seventh-fastest qualifying time (3:26.44) in the boys 4×400 relay while Olympian was ninth (3;27.05).
Top Metro individual qualifiers also included Sweetwater senior Mario Licudine, who qualified for the boys pole vault with a PR clearance of 13-6, and Mater Dei Catholic junior C.J. Verdell, whose PR mark of 22-8.5 placed him fifth overall in qualifying in the boys long jump.
That list also includes:
•Castle Park senior Tionna Jackson (fifth in the girls shot put, 38-7).
•Olympian senior Fernando Harris (seventh in the boys 100 dash, 10.97, a PR).
•Bonita Vista sophomore Isaiah Labra (eighth in the boys 3200 run, 9:31.42).
•Otay Ranch sophomore Faufano Autele (ninth in the boys discus throw, 142-7).
•Olympian freshman Adaeze Noble (ninth in the girls 400 dash, 59.16).
•Eastlake sophomore Leyla McFarland (ninth in the girls 1600 run, 5:14.10).
•Olympian freshman Mariana Beltran-Picos (10th in the girls 3200 run, 11:26.79).
Six finals events feature more than one South County qualifier.
There are three South County finals qualifiers to watch in the boys 800 run and three more in the boys triple jump.
High Tech High Chula Vista sophomore Donovan Prince finished second with a PR time of 1:55.45 at last weekend’s prelim meet, while Otay Ranch junior Harold Thomas was eighth in 1:58.20.
Eastlake’s Page ranks second in the section while Prince has the sixth-fastest time on the season. Thomas ran a PR 1:57.46 at the league finals.
Eastlake sophomore Jayln Jackson recorded the seventh-best triple jump of 43-11 while Otay Ranch senior Tyshawn Cook had the ninth-best triple jump of 43-2.25. They join Olympian’s Riggins as a potent trio in the event.
Eastlake resident Nick Sexton, a senior at Christian High School, finished eighth in qualifying in the boys 200 dash (22.16).
The focal point for each of this weekend’s finals qualifiers will be to perform to their best ability; if they can do that, the road could lead to Buchanan High School.
The state meet.
