State Meet, Day 1: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

CIF State Championships
Jeff George

The Ugly




Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned during any championship meet. On Friday, a few top-flight athletes and teams saw their hopes of competing for championships Saturday get derailed.  It's always heartbreaking when nerves, injury, or just old-fashioned bad luck causes an athlete to fall short of a major goal, but it's also a part of the reality of our sport.  These unfortunate events served to reshape the picture for day 2 of the championship, and in their way they are as important in the story of the overall meet as the eye-opening performances we've seen.

A rough senior year for defending 100 Hurdles champion Mecca McGlaston ended with a 10th-place finish in the prelims, just one spot away from qualifying for the final. Koty Burton, the favorite in both hurdle races coming into the meet, committed a false start in his 110H heat, making the path to a title for either Anderson or Lightfoot-Shelton easier. The same was true for Holmes, the only negative in his otherwise strong first day.  The hurdles also claimed a physical victim, as Breann Bernard-Joseph took a spill during her 100H heat, although she was able to get up and finish. Connor Edwards struggled to a 17th-place performance in the 400 trials, ending his season far too early for someone who had run under 48 three times this spring.

Vacaville's chances of staying in the top 3 of the girls' team competition took a big hit when their 4x4 failed to advance to the final; that struggle seemed to also affect fellow SJS team St. Francis, although the latter squeaked by with a 9th-place performance.  The same thing happened to Notre Dame Sherman Oaks in the boys' 4x4, as they were disqualified due to a lane violation.  CA #6 Vanden also failed to advance in that race, while 3rd-ranked Cathedral got by with a 7th-place finish in the trials.

Field events can be particularly fickle, as you only have three attempts to get everything right and perform well enough to advance.  Three 5' 7" or better high jumpers failed to make it out of the girls' prelims, including CA #1 Ellie Earle-Rouse.  The same thing happened to two 12' 8" vaulters (and one 12' 7" as well), all of them ranked in the top 10 in the state this season.  

Laulauga Tausaga-Collins did not throw well (for her) in the shot put, her 42' mark putting her in 8th going to the finals. Unfortunately, the discus was even worse - the #2 thrower in California fouled all three of her attempts, and consequently she will have to settle for one event on Saturday. Her San Diego Section counterpart, Charles Lenford, had almost the exact same result: 9th in the shot put, but he bowed out in his better event, the discus. Darius Thomas experienced a similarly heartbreaking end to his high jump career, failing to clear the opening height after finishing 6th here last spring.  Likewise for Anthony Cable, who entered the day with the 2nd-best wind-legal long jump mark in the state, but left as the first man out in that event.


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