Great Oak's CJ Stevenson is the defending champion in the triple jump. (Jeff George photo)
1. Defending The Gold: Six athletes with seven gold medals from the 2017 CIF-State Track & Field Championships are back to defend their titles and collect more gold. That list begins with:
- LSU-bound senior Ariyonna Augustine (Long Beach Poly), a double-winner as a junior in the 100m and 200m dashes. Defending won't be easy Aaliyah Wilson (Stockdale) leads the state in the 100 (11.49), and juniors Jazmyne Frost (Gardena Serra) and Deanna Nowling (Calabasas) pushed Augustine in both sprints last week at CIF-SS Masters.
UCLA-bound senior Jett Charvet (Brentwood Heritage) is the defending champion in the 800m and two of his top competitors from last June, Alex Scales (Bellarmine) and Moises Medrano (Bakersfield Highland) are no longer in the event. However, senior Sam VanDorpe (Santa Ana Mater Dei) is the current CA leader (1:51.44), CA #3 Bobby Poynter (San Ramon California) was 2nd to Charvet at the North Coast Meet of Champions with a 1:52.46 PR. In the only head-to-head meeting, VanDorpe was 4th at Arcadia (1:54.17) in a race won by Charvet (1:52.60).- UCLA-bound senior Sean Lee (Trabuco Hills) is the defending champion in the high jump and the co-US leader with a best of 7-3. Jake Grimsman (Vista del Lago), who also jumped 7-3 this season and was runner-up to Lee last June, is injured and unable to compete. This competition figures to be between Lee, the bar and the record book.
- Texas A&M-bound senior CJ Stevenson (Great Oak) is the defending champion and CA leader (US #5) with a best of 50-6.75. Stevenson will also compete in the long jump and runs the third leg on the Wolfpack's 4x100 relay that is currently ranked CA #2. Jumping at full strength, the only challenger to Stevenson's crown appears to be Cal-bound Jalyn Jackson (Chula Vista Eastlake), who was runner-up last year and is CA #2 (49-10.25). Both will push each other in both horizontal jumps.
- Michigan-bound senior Maddy Denner (Oak Ridge) is the defending champion in the 1600 and was the runner-up in the 3200. She's CA & US #3 in the 1600 following a 4:44.01 PR last Saturday at the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Meet, a race that was faster among the top three than last year's State final. Denner, whose twin, Notre Dame-bound Elena, is a contender in both distances (4th in the 3200 last year), ranks CA #2 and US #6 in the 3200 (10:08.01). The 1600 field is as stocked as any at this meet, with 14 of the top 20 in the US, most of whom are expected to run at Friday's prelims looking for one of the 12 spots into the Saturday finals. Mariah Castillo (Saugus) was US #1 (4:43.69) until Olivia O'Keeffe (Davis) dropped a 4:42.71 PR to beat Denner at the SJS Masters. O'Keeffe, by the way, was runner-up to Denner in the 1600 last June. Two others qualified here, Rylee Bowen (Sonoma Academy), and McKenna Brown (La Costa Canyon) placed 4th and 5th, respectively.
Dartmouth-bound Abigail Burke (Riverside Poly) is the defending champion in the high jump. She had a coaching change early in the season and got off to a slow start but won at Southern Section Masters and said she cleared a PR height in the practice leading up to Masters. But Burke only has a best of 5-7 so far this spring and CA leader, sophomore Rachel Glenn (Long Beach Wilson) has a best of 5-11. However, Glenn cleared that height in mid-March. She did go 5-10 in early May but just 5-7 at Division Finals and 5-6 at Masters. There are 11 girls who have gone 5-7 or better, including Coronado junior Alysah Hickey, the San Diego Section champion who has cleared 5-10.
Dartmouth-bound 
Sean Lee is the US co-leader in the high jump and the defending State champion. (Scott Padgett photo)