Central Section
Event Summaries
Mike Kennedy
Madera HS - Wednesday, May 16th, 2007

Central Section

CENTRAL SECTION “VALLEY” MEET
At Madera High

Boys

FINAL TEAM SCORES—1. Clovis East, 73; 2. Clovis, 46; 3. Edison (Fresno), 45; 4. Buchanan (Clovis), 37; 5. Foothill (Bakersfield), 28; 6. tie among Roosevelt (Fresno), Central (Fresno) and Reedley., 20; 9. Bullard (Fresno), 18 1/3; 10. Liberty (Bakersfield), 17.

100 METERS—Kyle Alston of Roosevelt (Fresno), running with a slightly upright style, did not let that hinder him as he had a five meter lead at 40 meters and finished strongly in a wind legal 10.60. In a rarity the second and third fastest finishers in the meet came out of the first heat, which is made of the tenth through 18th fastest runners from last weeks four Area meets. In this case it was Lamford Mark of Buchanan (Clovis) with the second fastest time at 11.00 and Delano Henry of El Diamante (Visalia) with the third fastest time at 11.01. Alston’s race was with a wind of +0.7 and the Mark/Williamson race was added by a +2.7 over the allowable wind.

200 METERS—Looking very relaxed from start to finish, Kyle Alston of Roosevelt (Fresno), took his second individual gold medal of the meet with a 21.28 to move into sixth on the all-time “Valley” list. Jason Ward of South Bakersfield was an excellent second in 21.70 considering he had earlier run 47.68 to finish second in the 400. Terrence Green of Edison (Fresno) was third in 21.77.

400 METERS—Jason Ward of South Bakersfield almost stole the race. Running in lane seven, Ward opened up a large lead down the back straight, cruised the second turn and entered the final straight with an eight-meter lead. Meanwhile in lane 5 defending champion Remington Blair of Reedley was biding his time before striking with 100 meters remaining and reeling in Ward just before the finish, 47.45 to 47.68, for the No. 4 and No. 5 times in the state. Anthony Clark of Edison (Fresno) was the final state qualifier in 49.07.

800 METERS—Rocky Richardson of Madera did not waste any time in establishing a comfortable led as he passed 400 meters in a quick 53.0. After that he was running for time which in this case ended up being a 1:52.93. The battle for the remaining two qualifying spots was a bit more interesting. Seth Defonseca of Clovis East entered the final straight with a slight lead only to see Spencer Rotan of Reedley move from fourth to second in the last 30 meters to gain second in 1:5.73 and Isaiah Tomkins of Bullard (Fresno) just edged Defonseca for the final qualifying, 1:57.12 to 1:57.31.

1,600 METERS—Jonathan Peterson of Clovis took the field out in 61.0 and 2:05.5 for the first half of the race that saw only Mikel Thomas of Clovis Jonathan Sanchez of Buchanan (Clovis) and Eric Battles of Clovis West (Fresno) able to keep up. At 1,000 meters, Peterson used a burst of speed to quickly open up a 25-meter lead by 1,200 meters, passed in 3:11.0. Although the field did close the margin by some they were never able to seriously challenge Peterson, who won in 4:15.92. Thomas moved passed Sanchez to in the final 10 meters to grab second, 4:17.56 to 4:18.07.

3,200 METERS—Chris Schwartz of Foothill (Bakersfield) did most of the work but it was Erick Garcia of Parlier who profited most in the end. The two battled for the lead for most of the race but it was Schwartz who did much of the leading before Erick Garcia of Parlier took the lead with 500 meters remaining. Schultz retook the lead with 300 meters remaining before took over for good with just over 100 meters left and went on to win, 9:09.69 to 9:13.34. Garcia, who came into the meet with a best of just 9:28.5 finished off the race with at 64.6 final lap. Schwartz’s time was just off his personal best of 9:08.30. Mikel Thomas of Clovis, who is nursing a hamstring injury, was third at 9:15.53.

110-METER HIGH HURDLES—Kendrick Young of Clovis East got out well and was on his way to a very fast time but clipped the tenth hurdle, which slowed his momentum and threw him off stride. Still he ran a fine 14.55 with a maximum legal wind of 2.0 meters per second. Anthony Puentes of Selma and Ethan Dejongh of Mt. Whitney (Visalia) were the remaining qualifiers, at 15.05 and 15.10 respectively, with William Bethia of Golden Valley (Visalia) just missing at 15.13.

300-METER INTERMEDIATE HURDLES—Kendrick Young of Clovis East ran a very evenly paced race to got his second win of the afternoon with an easy 38.63. Edward Morrow of East Bakersfield just held off Anthony Clark of Edison (Fresno), 39.40 to 39.44. Pepe Gomez of Shafter was fourth in 39.44.

400-METER RELAY—The race was over right from the start as Edison (Fresno) got out to a big lead and never was never challenged in its 42.66 win. Bakersfield was second in 43.17 and Bullard (Fresno) was third.

1,600-METER RELAY—Edison (Fresno), with all four runners splitting between 48.3 and 51.0, was an easy winner at 3:18.74. Liberty (Bakersfield) was second at 3:20.42 and Buchanan (Clovis) was third at 3:21.22.

HIGH JUMP—Junior Kenny Phillips of Central (Fresno) was the winner at 6-8, with Travis Smith of Buchanan (Clovis) second at 6-6 and Nick Stern of El Diamante (Visalia) was third at 6-4.

POLE VAULT—Jacob Mersino of Clovis East won with a seasonal best of 15-6, Anthony Puentes of Selma was second at 14-6 and Justin Falkenberry of Centennial (Bakersfield) was third at `14-0.

LONG JUMP—Kenny Phillips of Central got his second win of the day with a 22-6 effort, Danny Golden of Clovis East was second at 22-4 ¾ and Kevin Gardener of Hoover (Fresno) was third at 21-7 ½. All jumps were into the wind.

TRIPLE JUMP—David Charleston of West Bakersfield and Chris Kelly of Ridgeview (Bakersfield), finished one-two at 45-05 ¾ and 45-2 ½, respectively, as the jumpers had to battle noticeable head winds the entire afternoon. Ethan Dejongh of Mt. Whitney (Visalia) was third at 44-3.

SHOT PUT—The question was not who was going to win but by how much. Junior
Dajan Ragans of Foothill (Bakersfield) was never really challenged, winning by three feet over Collin Ellis of Bakersfield, 58-10 to 55-9 ¾. Christian Millard of Clovis West was third at 53-5 ½.

DISCUS—Dajan Ragans of Foothill (Bakersfield) was the winner at 190-1 just three feet off his personal best. Alex Cabatic of Clovis East was second in a seasonal best of 160-8 and Nico Gomes of Clovis was third at 158-6.

Girls

FINAL TEAM SCORES (subject to 100-meter runoff)—1. Stockdale (Bakersfield), 52; 2. Buchanan (Clovis), 48; 3. Edison (Fresno), 45 ½; 4. Centennial (Bakersfield), 45; 5. Mt. Whitney (Visalia), 28; 6. Ridgeview (Bakersfield), 27; 7. Clovis, 20 ½; 8. Clovis East, 19 ½; 9. tie between Shafter and Clovis West), 19.

100 METERS—Dominique Lauderdale of Ridgeview (Bakersfield) established a there-meter advantage and 40 meters and had little trouble winning in a wind aided 11.75. Romesha Anderson of Stockdale (Bakersfield) was a fairly close second in 11.89 but never appeared to be a real threat. Cashmir Whittle of Buchanan (Clovis), Arianna Johnson of Clovis East and Ashley Collier of Bullard (Fresno) all tied for third at 12.33. There will be a run-off for the final state qualifying spot.

200 METERS—Repeating the 100 meter race, Dominique Lauderdale of Ridgeview (Bakersfield) was a convincing winner over Romesha Anderson of Stockdale (Bakersfield), 24.37 to 24.73 in a wind-aided race. Cashmir Whittle of Buchanan (Clovis was third in 24.93.

400 METERS—Ashley Thomas of Centennial (Bakersfield), who last year finished fourth in the 800 at the state while running for Bakersfield, waited a long time but the wait was worth it as the junior came from a far back third to defeat freshman Kayleigh Hendricks , 56.67 to 56.69. Lasasha Aldredge of Central (Fresno), who had led coming into the stretch was first passed by Hendricks and then Thomas, was third at 57.20. Thomas and Hendricks rank No. 9 and No. 10 on the all “Valley” list.

800 METERS—Ashley Thomas of Centennial (Bakersfield) appeared to toying with the field. She was out at 65.0 to hold the lead at 400, dropped back to third on the back straight and then roareded home to win in 2:17.15, running down Coleen Rooney of Sanger and Danni Berlin of Exeter. Rooney has been to no Saturday invitataionals because of a commitment to soccer. It will be interesting to see if she qualifies in the State preliminaries next Friday, whether she runs in the final the next day.

1,600 METERS—Senior Lauren Saylor of Buchanan (Clovis) won her third straight 3,200 title but it was not a cakewalk as Chloe Allen of Clovis West (Fresno) pushed her through 1,200 meters, passed in 3:45.0. Saylor pulled away to win in 5:00.93. Sayla Barserian of Clovis made up a lot of ground on the final lap to just edge Allen for second at the tap, 5:05.50 to 5:05.82.

3,200 METERS—Sophomore Jordan Hasay of Mission College Prep (San Luis Obispo) repeated as champion and with a 10:20.86--virtually the same time as she ran last year. Like so many of her races, she was out in 5:02.0 and that was enough to discourage the rest of the field. Lauren Saylor of Buchanan (Clovis) was second in 10:51.81 and Meaghan Marvin of Clovis was third at 10:53.75.

110-METER HIGH HURDLES—Jessica Alanis of Granite Hills (Porterville) did not get out of the blocks well and she was not able to recover at Brittany Williams of Edison (Fresno) that to led from start to finish, winning in a wind-aided 15.18. Alanis did recover for second ahead of Brittany Rogers of Clovis East, 15.23 to15.30.

300-METER INTERMEDIATE HURDLES—Defending champion Jessicca Alanis of Granite Hills (Porterville) did not let her sub-par performance in he 100 hurdles effect her effort here as she ran a strong home straight to win easily in 44.51. Alana Alexander of Centennial (Bakersfield) was second inn 45.68 and Breneisha Herron of Ridgeview (Bakersfield) was third at 45.83.

400-METER RELAY—It’s getting to be a habit and Stockdale (Bakersfield) could not be happier. For the eighth straight year the Mustangs crossed the finish line first. This time they were clocked in 48.42. Bakersfield at 48.53 and Bullard (Fresno) also earned trips to the state meet with times of 48.54 and 48.65, respectively.

1,600-METER RELAY—Stockdale (Bakersfield), better know as “Relay Central” won its seventh straight “Valley” title with a 3:54.26 effort. Centennial (Bakersfield), with Ashley Thomas running 56.8 on anchor, went from four to second in 3:56.84 and Edison (Fresno), was third at 3:57.76.

HIGH JUMP—Moria Robinson of Mt. Whitney (Visalia) equaled her seasonal best with a winning effort of 5-8. Freshman Holly Franks of Sierra (Tollhouse) cleared 5-6, three inches better than her previous best, to finish second and Jeanie Horton of Edison (Fresno) was third at 5-4.

POLE VAULT—Sara Savage of Buchanan (Clovis) set a personal best of 11-10, good enough for the win. Allyson Berryhill of Clovis West (Fresno) was second at 11-0 and Amanda Klinchurch of Liberty (Bakersfield) was third at 10-6.

LONG JUMP—Jumping into a stiff wind, Dana Hill of Edison was the winner at 17-6 ½, Moria Robinson of Mt. Whitney (Visalia) was second at 17-5 ¼ and Taylor Nichols was third at 17-3 ¼. (consider all marks wind legal).

TRIPLE JUMP—Moria Robinson of Mt. Whitney (Visalia) took home her second gold medal with her winning effort of 39-6 ¾ into a gusting wind. Taylor Nichols of Stockdale (Bakersfield), who has been over 40 feet, was second at 38-7 ½ and Dana Hills of Edison (Fresno) was third at 36-6 ¼.

SHOT PUT—Rosario Sanchez of Selma, the national leader at 50-5, won her third section shot put title with a toss of 47-10 ½. Sophomore Amma Jelmini of Shafter was second at 42-4 and Destiny Yarborough of Clovis East was third at 42-3.

DISCUS—Sophomore Anna Jelmini of Shafter’s winning throw was 155-8, which was a personal best of by more than five feet. Jelmini now ranks equal No. 2 in the state and equal No. 8 in the nation, with Lauren Guerrieri of Davis. Hillary Fraser of El Toro (Forest Lake) is the state leader at 158-10. Cathrine White of Garces (Bakersfield) was second at 144-2 and Alesha DeLeon of Centennial (Bakersfield) was third at 132-l.