The 97th California state high school track and field championship meet took place June 5-6 at Buchanan High School in Clovis. It is annually regarded as the best high school track and field event in the nation, and with good reason.
This year’s meet featured one national record, one new state record and four new national leaders among the 864 student-athletes who participated in the two-day meet.
According to longtime observers, this year’s state meet ranked among the top 10, and possibly the top five, in meet history in terms of excitement level and dizzying performances. Certainly, the 16,115 fans filling War Memorial Stadium for the two days of competition got their money’s worth.
With top-flight NCAA recruits and future Olympians on parade in nearly every event, the competition can be crushing. Not everyone can medal, but just qualifying to compete in the prestigious event marks a major personal milestone.
“It’s great here,” Eastlake High School senior Johnna Noiseaux offered in an understatement.
“This was way different,” Castle Park High School senior shot-putter Teairah Jackson added.
Noiseaux and Jackson were two of three qualifiers representing the Metro Conference at this year’s state championship meet. None advanced past the first day of preliminary qualifying, but each one had the experience of a lifetime.
The level of competition is above and beyond whatever else there is throughout the state at the prep level. A total of 31 new top-10 national marks were set at this year’s state meet. Not only is it an honor to be there, but an invaluable learning experience.
But that isn’t to say that everyone does their best. The awe factor can swallow up many competitors, especially first-time state qualifiers.
Noiseaux competed in her second state track meet in the girls triple jump, a badge of honor in itself. She received a bonus this year of competing in another event after a late scratch at the preceding San Diego Section finals opened up a spot for her in the girls long jump.
Olympian High School senior Ralaina LiDrazzah (girls 100-meter dash) rounded out the Metro’s trio of 2015 state meet qualifiers.
Noiseaux, who won three events at this year’s Mesa League championship met, finished 24th in a field of 31 competitors in preliminary qualifying last Friday. Her mark of 36-1.75 was well below her personal record of 38-9 set last year. It was also behind her Mesa League finals winning mark of 36-10.75 and the season best mark of 38-1.25 in which she turned in at the ensuing San Diego Section finals to qualify for the state meet.
It was a rough season in hindsight for Noiseaux, who had set a goal of matching her personal record in the event but which eluded her.
“I feel I did well, it’s great to be here,” she said. “This season, I’ve just been working to get my PRs again. You’ve got to stay focused, know your own strengths and weaknesses and have fun.”
Aside from the stress of competition, especially in such a loaded field at the state meet, having fun is what it ultimately came down to.
“I thought she did great,” EHS girls track coach Francine Koopman explained.
The Lady Titan standout jumper, who will continue her track career at Cal State San Marcos, finished fourth at the section finals in the long jump but received a call-up to the state meet in that event as well when a competitor who had placed higher elected not to attend the state meet.
The top three place-finishers in each event at the section finals received automatic bids to attend the state meet.
Noiseaux turned in a long jump mark of 17-8.25 at the section finals and jumped 16-8.75 at the ensuing state prelims.
Noiseaux won this year’s Mesa League title in the event with a mark of 16-11.
“I focus mainly on the triple jump but I also focus on the long jump,” she said. “Competing in two events (at the state meet) was more fun.”
Noiseaux closes out her senior season as one of the most highly decorated student-athletes in the Eastlake program. She earned honors as this year’s Mesa League Track Athlete of the Year after winning gold medals in the high jump, long jump and triple jump. She also earned distinction as the Lady Titans’ co-MVP of the 2015 season with teammate Leyla McFarland, this year’s Mesa League Track Athlete of the Year who also won three gold medals (1600 and 3200 runs and 4×400 relay).
“We have a lot of talented people on the Eastlake team but those were easy picks for that award,” EHS boys coach David Koopman explained. “They were the MVPs of the team and the MVPs of the league.”
LiDrazzah won individual gold medals in the 100 and 200 dashes at the Mesa League Finals and went on to place third in her state qualifying heat at the section finals. The Lady Eagle speedster clocked 12.25 at the state prelims to place 17th out of 27 entrants.
She advanced to compete at the state meet with a time of 12.18.
Jackson, the South Bay League’s reigning queen in the shot put and discus throw, qualified for the state meet as the section’s No. 3 placer with a season best mark of 39-11. She turned in a mark of 34-7.5 at the state prelims to place 25th among 27 entrants.
Athletes with the top nine marks from the state prelims advanced to the state finals in running events and 12 in field events.
Jackson noted it was the first time she won both the shot put and discus throw at the league finals. It was her first time qualifying for the state meet.
“It was surprising,” she said. “I’m glad I did it. I knew it was somewhere inside me. My coach told me it had been 17 years since the last person from Castle Park had qualified for state.”
Mt. Miguel junior Laulauga Tausaga carried the torch for the section in the girls shot put finals with a third-place mark of 47-11.5. Tausaga set a new section record of 48-3.5 at the section finals to lead the section in qualifying. Though she didn’t match that record mark at the state championships, she did score a breakthrough with a coveted state medal.
“I didn’t break the record but we came to place and we placed,” an obviously elated Tausaga noted. “Next year, I’ll try wining it.”
The Vista Murrieta Broncos captured the boys team title at this year’s state meet while the Oaks Christian Lions won the girls team title. Vista Murrieta tallied 37 points to runner-up Chaminade’s 28 points.
Vista Murrieta junior Michael Norman tied a national record by winning the boys 400-meter dash in 45.19. He also set a state record in winning the 200 dash in 20.30.
Roosevelt senior Jasmyne Graham turned in a national-leading time of 13.17 in winning the girls 100 hurdles. She did the same by winning the 300 hurdles in 40.73.
Other national-leading marks were turned in by Tesoro (Rancho Santa Margarita) junior Amanda Gehrich in the girls 1600 run (4:39.33) and Great Oak senior Destiny Collins in the girls 3200 run (9:53.79). Collins’ time in the 3200 ranks fourth-best in state history.
The boys shot put finals included St. John Bosco senior Matt Katnik, the national leader in the event. He won this year’s state title with a mark of 72-0 — a season best.
The girls 100 hurdles proved to be the event of the evening as Graham edged defending champion Mecca McGlaston of Dublin 13.17 to 13.18 to win in a photo finish. McGlaston won the event in 13.54 last year; her runner-up time this year was a personal record.
The girls 300 hurdles was another showcase event that produced three of the nation’s top six times this year.
The girls 100 and 200 dashes produced the second- and third-fastest times in the nation this year. In the 100 sprint, Rio Mesa (Oxnard) junior Zaria Francis (11.31) out-dueled Oaks Christian sophomore Lauren Rain Williams (11.39). In the 200 sprint, Francis (23.09) edged Williams (23.16) again.
The girls triple jump produced three of the top eight marks in the nation this year. Castro Valley senior Kennedy Jones won the event with the third-best national mark of 42-5.25, followed by Agoura sophomore Tara Davis (41-6.75) and Carondelet (Concord) senior Christina Chenault (41-0.5).
The boys 4×400 relay produced a dramatic finish when the handoff on the final exchange was botched by Vista Murrieta, which held a commanding lead in the race. The baton lay on the track and Chaminade’s T.J Brock, who would later win the 100 dash, had to hurdle it in order to continue on to the victory. Chaminade’s 40.75 time was the 10th best in the nation this year. Norman was the lead runner for Vista Murrieta.
Two disqualifications occurred in the girls 800 final, which reduced the field of 12 to 10. Among the runners DQ’d was two-time defending champion Mikaela Smith of hometown Clovis. In a rarity, all 12 prelims qualifiers had come in under 2:10. However, the race of the year did not materialize.
Around the section
San Diego Section athletes combined to collect 12 medals at last weekend’s state meet. Oceanside junior Charles Lenford led the region’s medal parade by finishing first in the boys discus throw (195-4). The mark was sixth-best all-time in the section record book. Lenford also placed fourth in the boys shot put (61-6.25).
Bronze medalists included Mt. Miguel’s Tausaga and Oceanside senior Jordan Miller in the boys long jump (23-2.5). Miller also placed sixth in the boys triple jump (47-4).
The top six place-finishers in each event received state medals.
Cathedral Catholic junior Dani Johnson finished third in the girls 300-meter hurdles while Valhalla senior Leah Molter finished sixth in the same race. Johnson and Molter finished first and second, respectively, at the section finals. Johnson clocked 41.30, a new section record, at the state finals while Molter posted a personal best time of 42.32 (good for fourth-best in the section all-time).
Johnson also placed ninth in the girls 100-meter hurdles (14.00). (At the prelims the night before, Johnson set section records in both the 100 hurdles (13.86) and 300 hurdles (41.34), though she did not duplicate them in the finals the next day.)
Patrick Henry senior Tristan Zawadzki tied for fourth in the boys vault by clearing 15-3 while Coronado senior Erik Armes finished fifth in the boys 1600-meter run in 4:10.09. Armes’ time tied the section’s 11th-best in the record book.
Carlsbad sophomore Kiley McCarthy (2:08.85) and Rancho Bernardo junior Nia Akins (2:08.91) finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the girls 800-meter run. McCarthy’s time was fourth-best in the section all-time.
Carlsbad senior Nathan Williams (9:06.63) and Westview senior Trevor Siniscalchi (9:06.90) finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the boys 3200-meter run.
Other section place-winners included Canyon Crest Academy junior Kelly Bernd (seventh in the girls 1600-meter run, 4:51.39), Rancho Buena Vista junior Devon Alvarado (seventh in the boys 110 high hurdles, 14.37), Rancho Bernardo junior Jackie Robinson (eighth in the girls 100 dash, 11.82), Morse senior John Kendrick III (eighth in the boys 100 dash, 10.82), Carlsbad sophomore Alana Snow (10th in the girls high jump, 5-1) and Hoover senior Esther Nofodji (10th in the girls discus throw, 133-0).
Bernd’s time was 12th-best in the section all-time.
Cathedral Catholic finished eighth in the girls 4×400 relay (3:49.88).
In the girls 3200 race, Torrey Pines senior Jacqueline Garner finished 20th in the field of 28 runners in 10:57.64, followed by Rancho Bernardo senior Bryanna Fuller (22nd, 10:58.97) and El Capitan senior Kayden Carpenter (25th, 11:21.59).
In the boys 3200 race, Del Norte senior Evan Jameson finished 14th in the field of 30 runners in 9:15.09.
Up, up, away
Zawadzki, a three-time Eastern League champion, posted the top state qualifying mark of 15-3 at the section finals on May 30. He said his goal this season was just to “clear the bar, whatever the height.”
He cleared three heights at the state finals – 14-3, 14-9 and 15-3 – before fbowing out. Oak Ridge senior Austin Laut won the state title by clearing 15-9.
“It was great,” Zawadzki said of earning his first state medal. “This was the best field in which I’ve ever competed, so it was nice. I don’t get beat too often.”
Zawadzki received a confidence boost when he posted the second-best state prelim qualifying mark of 15-2 the previous day. His personal best remains 15-7.
He will continue his track career at the University of Sioux Falls in South Dakota.
Orange Nation
Molter qualified in two events after winning Division I titles at the section finals in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles. She advanced to the state finals race in the 300 hurdles but failed to advance to the second day of competition at the state meet in the 100 hurdles.
Valhalla coach Garrett Ince was beaming after the 300 hurdles race, the last of Molter’s high school career.
“To come in here to the California state championships and finish her career on the awards podium is just special,” he said.
Molter was one of two San Diego Section runners to medal in the 300 hurdles event. Cathedral Catholic junior Dani Johnson was third in 41.30.
Johnson and Molter finished in that order at the preceding section finals.
Molter was ecstatic after earning the state medal.
“This meet ended in the best way possible,” the VHS hurdler said. “To get the experience of running against the best girls in the state, setting a PR and getting a medal – to get all three was just amazing.”
Johnson and Molter competed in an exceptionally fast field – race winner Jasmyne Graham of Roosevelt recorded the top time in the nation this year at 40.73. Graham’s time was the eighth-fastest time ever in California and the ninth fastest time ever in U.S. history.
Athletes with the top nine prelim running times advanced to the state finals.
Molter placed eighth in prelim qualifying in the 300 hurdles with a time of 42.54.
Molter clipped two barriers in the 100 prelims — one at the start and one at the end — to slow her by nearly a second-and-a-half in the race. “I think my mind wasn’t operating as fast as my body,” Molter explained. “I caught myself and got back in step after I hit it the first time. But the second time I hit it, I had to do everything not to fall.”
“The second hit greatly interfered with her steps,” Ince said.
Molter said the disappointing finish in the 100 hurdles prelim race — she timed almost one-and-a-half seconds slower than her time at the section finals — served as extra motivation to do well in the 300 hurdles finals.
“I wanted to show that I was better than what I did in the 100s,” Molter said.
Consider that mission accomplished.
Parting shot
West Hills senior Melissa (Missy) Mongiovi became a four-time state meet qualifier when she competed in the girls 400 dash. Her prelim time of 56.45 wasn’t good enough to advance her to this year’s finals, though she finished her career with two state medals (fifth as a sophomore and sixth as a junior) in the four trips to Clovis.
Mongiovi posted the section’s top state-qualifying time of 55.85. Her best remains the 54.70 she timed as a sophomore at the state meet in 2013.
“It’s been exciting each time,” Mongiovi said in regard to her four successive trips to the state meet. “I just wanted to go out and do my best. It’s been a great learning experience whenever you can compete against the best in the state.”
The West Hills graduate is headed to Stanford in the fall.
For complete results, visit the website at www.cifstate.org.
MULTI-EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP:
This year’s event is scheduled Saturday and Sunday, June 13-14, at Steele Canyon High School and features a seven-event high school girls heptathlon and 10-event high school boys decathlon. The event is open to all high school athletes. Registration will be accepted Saturday morning from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Competition starts at 9 a.m. both days. For more information, call meet director Lyle Barton at (619) 201-3811.
