"Eleven to Watch at
Arcadia"
Proving Yourself Against the Best!!

We will be watching the affair closely and
combing those results to see how the below
folks responded to the big weekend!!

   

 

Eleven to Watch at Arcadia -
Athletes “on the rise” or “the bubble” ready to break through to the Elite National Level with a big performance this weekend!!

*** = frosh 2006-2007, ** = soph 2006-2007, * = jr 2006-2007, - = sr 2006-2007

**John Byrd (Arlington, Riverside) - Young jumper out of the inland empire has had some fine jumps at the local level over the last two seasons, including a recent 24-01 Long Jump.  It is great to watch athletes mature and come into their own with the swirling of a top competition around them, often times a bewildering experience to a frosh star who makes it to Sectional or top Invitational competition. After a number of good local efforts, it is hoped the young Riverside County star can make his “jump” into the big-time in relaxed style.

*Kelly Collins (Santa Margarita, Rancho SM) - Latest of the Collins family that is usually all over the facility taking part in the hurdles, jumps, and relays, Kelly has raced to 14.59 and 45.03 Hurdle clockings through the last weekend. She will face very talented fields in both contests at Arcadia this weekend, with this one of those tests up through the Section and State competitions so valuable in development. The results will be interesting to see with significant break-throughs very possible

photo by Joe Hartman

*Laurynne Chetelat (Davis) - Fine soccer player who has found real success as a runner also! Has romped away from Northern California packs during a couple of really fine races up there, winning the 3k at Stanford last weekend at 9:55.94 by six seconds, and a 10:45.06 3200 at the King-Gilbert Meet in early March where she won by nearly a minute! She is stepping down in distance at Arcadia and will face a very strong 1600 meter field. With a good pack to stroll along with it will be interesting to see how much she can lower her personal best in that event.

**Anna Jelmini (Shafter) - The Central Section school had a super group of weight athletes in the early 1980's, with the Central Section Championship roster from 1980 through 1984 strewn with the names of the Bender family (John (65-09 SP 1984) and Paul (200-07 DT 1980), with Kevin Richardson (197-6 in 1984) a champion from that school during the early 80's era. Super soph Anna Jelmini has emerged this season from the town party way between the 99 and 5 Highways as one heads up the Central Valley to re-establish the tradition. She had a fine 141-00 last year as a frosh, but did not make it past the Section competition to State. This year she has come out charging, already with the nation’s #3 throw this spring at 149-08, with a chance to go “heads-up” against a State Finals quality field here as she continues development.

photo by Rich Gonzalez

*James Kostelnik (Loyola, LA) - Latest fine distance runner from the Loyola HS program, Kostelnik was a very comfortable 3k winner at last week’s Pasadena Games, racing 8:44.90 while winning by 100 meters. He is entered in the Seeded 3200 at Arcadia, but look for him to join a number of others making significant drops in this portion of the “Rich Gonzalez distance carnival within a meet,” which has been won in below 9:10 in the past.

photo by Andrew McClanahan

-Dondre McDonald (Inglewood) - Dondre has come out charging after a good junior year that had Dondre place second in both the Southern Section Division III 100 and 200, but miss out on the State Qualfying meet with the rigid qualifying formula there that limits the contest to the top nine marks from the previous Divisional Meet. The last two weekends have been capped with great meets at Mt. Carmel (San Diego), where he was a 10.68-21.44 double dash winner, then last weekend at the Pasadena Games he focused on the 200 and blasted a 21.22 National Leader for the half-lap distance. Dondre meets this weekend Northern California’s best, Jahvid Best from Salesian of Richmond, and the one of the nation’s top returnees on the clock in the 100 and 200 in Brandon Saine (Piqua, Ohio), at 10.36 and 20.74w from 2006. Will be interesting to see how it all comes out---------------

photo by Doug Speck

*Lyndsay Pearson (San Marcos, Santa Barbara) - Pearson has had some fine hurdle and jumping efforts in the greater Santa Barbara area this spring, with a 39-03.5 Triple Jump dual meet effort a couple of weeks back. In prep history’s probably most competitive mid-season group ever gathered, it will certainly be a test of Pearson’s mettle, as well as a chance for her to be inspired by a field where 40 foot jumps should be a dime a dozen. We look forward to her passing this week’s test–less than 20 athletes in the entire nation jumped a wind-legal 40 feet last year.

-Moira Robinson (Mt. Whitney, Visalia) - one of our favorite statewide athletes is Moira, from the Central Section, where she ranks high in the High Jump, Pole Vault, Long Jump, and Triple Jump, with her meets quite a site as she hustles from event to event across the field. Here, the 5-08 High Jumper and 38-11.5 Triple Jumper has only those two events to worry about. They are schedule quite close together during the evening, but we look for something good to happen as she has half the typical meet load!!

***Ashley Smith (Millikan, Long Beach) - Wow, a pleasant and well-rounded surpise from the Long Beach area has been the emergence of frosh star Ashley Smith, with anything possible here for the frosh 5-08 High Jump star. On the date of her 5-08 personal best at the Jim Arquilla Long Beach Relays she also ran on the 4x100 relay, 4x200 relay, and 4x400 relay, and needed a wheelbarrow to cart home the medals. Here, she will focus on the High Jump in an interesting test against the state’s best.

photo by Joe Hartman

***Jacque Taylor (Casa Grande, Petaluma) - Super frosh led the state’s first year runners in cross-country, with a fifth in State Division II at 17:57 at Woodward Park. She was also a National Age-Group cross-country champion in Junior Olympic competition in December. She has some fine performances already this Spring in Track and Field, with an especially nice 10:52.2 at the Mustang Relays in the Bay area after some earlier running in that meet. This past week she was second in the Stanford 3000m to Laurynne Chetelat (Davis) at 10:01.40. We are looking for that 10:52 to take quite a drop a she joins a super pack over 8 laps in the Arcadia Meet, as the youngster continues to show her ability to compete far beyond her years!

photo by Kirby Lee

**Turquoise Thompson (Poly, Long Beach) - Fifth in the State Meet last June in the 400 flat event, Thompson was the top frosh 300 hurdler in the nation last year and among the top twenty returnees in the nation though she did not compete at the state meet in that event. She has a fine 60.86 in the 400 meter hurdles from last summer in age-group action and will try to make the US World Youth (under 18) team this summer in Czechoslovakia. She had super winter, with the fastest prep 400 run in the nation indoors at 53.78, and was second in the National Scholastic Indoor 400. Here she is involved with the usual dynamite Jackrabbit relay action, but we would not be surprised if it was not “break-through”time in the long hurdles against a dynamite field. Some people have been in the shadow for a while.