Girls Seniors-Only SDS Trials Highlights
100 Dash
Eastlake's Kalah Bateman is the only one in the field to have broken 12, which she has now done several times. Couple that with her experience of going to the state meet in 2019, and she is the favorite to win Division 1 and overall next week. Madison Thomas (Mission Hills) leads a group of competitors vying for second place, which also includes Aubree Bell (Scripps Ranch) and Alexis Davis (Lincoln). Neleh Coleman (El Camino) could also sneak into the top three with a good race.
200 Dash
Bateman is also the favorite here, but the competition is closer to her - two other girls have broken 24 this season, setting up a fantastic three-way battle for the section title. Thomas is one of the challengers, and Jillian Hewett (Maranatha Christian) is the other. This event is also much deeper than the 100, as there is a second cluster of sprinters in the low 25's that aren't too far behind the top three. Sarah Mosteller (San Marcos) and Bell are at the top of that group, with Coleman also in there (among others).
400 Dash
Madelynn Worley (Christian) and Hewett finished 5th and 6th in the section final last year, with season bests only 0.3 apart. They have both run several 57's this spring, indicating that they are close to breaking through into the 56's. That's what it will take to stay ahead of the fleet of challengers coming after them, all in the low 58's: Mosteller, Jordan Norman (Mater Dei SD), and Mia Marquez (Helix Charter) all have finals experience and could pose a threat to the top two.
800 Run
Elizabeth Houk (Cathedral Catholic) was already the top returner in this event, clocking 2:16 last spring. Then, she went and dropped significant time during a strong cross country season. This season she has shown the same improvement, pushing under 2:15 and looking very strong up to this point. She still has ground to make up on the top athletes at the state meet, but she will be very hard to beat in this section. If anyone is going to upset Houk, it will almost certainly be one of three evenly-matched challengers: Katherine Taylor (Point Loma), Julia Kiersnowski (Scripps Ranch), and Carolinh Calvert (El Capitan). None of them has broken 2:16 yet, but in the right race that's definitely possible. In the worst case scenario, they end up racing each other for second as Houk pulls away.
1600 Run
Carlie Dorostkar (Canyon Crest) chose to focus on the 3200 last year, and she will almost certainly drop this race again at some point. She has run close to 4:50, though, which is intriguing. Fellow sub-5 runner Skyler Wallace (Sage Creek) may also opt for just the 3200, or she might try to capitalize on the opening here if Dorostkar steps out. If both choose not to contest this event, the race becomes fairly wide open among a bunch of competitors that all made substantial progress during cross country season. Calvert would then be the top returner with Katie Downs (Poway) and Alyssa Ruiz (Serra SD) right on her heels (all three made the 2019 section finals). Eva Rethmeier (Poway) has joined them under 5:10 this spring, putting her right in the mix, as well. Tea Akiaten (Mira Mesa) could be a sleeper in this race.
3200 Run
Dorostkar was already a legit state title contender coming off of a 6th-place finish at the 2019 state meet. That was before she took the next step up, becoming a dominant force and earning an individual state championship during cross country. This spring she has already run a new PR under 10:15, and under the right conditions she has a chance to crack 10:10 at the state meet (she set her previous PR there last year). You can see why she may decide to put all her effort into this race! Skyler Wallace also improved tremendously in the fall, and that has translated into a low 10:20 so far this season. If Dorostkar is off even a little bit, Wallace is fully capable of beating her, here or in Clovis. Those two will certainly run away from the field next week, although it's possible they will not go all-out in an effort to save for the state meet. The next group is headed by Lavanya Pandey (Sage Creek), who has dropped under 11 after her own breakthrough fall season. Amy Brown (Ramona) is also in the 10's, setting up quite a race between them for the third spot. If they open the door at all, Rethmeier may just run right through it and take the spot for herself.
100 Hurdles
Emelliah Vaught (Steele Canyon) and Zoe Nolte (Carlsbad) were only 0.08 seconds apart at last year's SDS finals, but the difference was enormous: Vaught finished third and advanced to the state meet, while Nolte was fifth and her season ended. The two look just as evenly matched now with almost identical progression into the low 14's, but this time both are in position to move on to Clovis. Even if a challenger like Division 2 favorite Simone James (Christian) should elevate her performance and upset one or both, they will almost certainly still be in the top 3. Alexis Davis (Lincoln) has been under 15 once this season, putting her close enough to be a contender, but she may end up the odd one out in this year's final.
300 Hurdles
The low hurdles should also bring us an interesting duel between two highly comparable competitors, but this time it's James and Alexi Allen (San Marcos) that enter the finals as the co-favorites. Each has run consistently in the low- to mid-44's, and we think both are capable of dipping into the 43 second range. Nolte has the slight edge in the battle for third, although Francesca Feidelberg (Del Norte) is right behind her and very capable of claiming that spot. Nicki Gutschow (Rancho Bernardo) has finally broken through after two straight seasons capped in the 47's (except for one 46.61 as a sophomore); now that she has run in the 45's she has a legitimate chance to make the top three.
Shot Put
Alondra Cardona (El Camino) closed out her 2019 season with four straight 40-plus throws, but she just missed advancing to the state meet. Here she is a heavy favorite, as she has improved into the 42's and nobody else in the section has broken 40. Kyrasani Mitchell (San Diego High) has been right on the verge of that accomplishment all season, and all indications are that she can break through before season's end. An interesting duel is shaping up for third: Juliana Vinluan (Mt. Carmel) was stronger in 2019, going to the section final, but Natalia Hiatt (Rancho Buena Vista) has thrown slightly better in 2020. Either could claim the final berth in the state meet.
Discus
If Hiatt doesn't get through to Clovis in the shot, she has an excellent back-up plan: finish in the top 2 in the discus. She has gone back and forth with Mitchell all season at the top of the section rankings, both throwing in the 130-foot range a few times, and your guess is as good as ours as to which will prevail next week. Vinluan is in solid position to grab third, with nobody immediately behind her. Unless someone else really goes out of her mind and knocks one of them out of contention, these three should move on.
Long Jump
Kalani Hardyway's PR would seem to make her a strong favorite, but that lone 19 foot performance as a junior sticks out from the rest of her jumps in 2019, which were in the 17's and low 18's all season. This year she has broken 18 a handful of times, still displaying that consistency, and there is still a chance she will revisit 19 foot territory. She has been joined in the 18's by Sofia Rodgers (Canyon Crest), with Jasmine Rolland (Cathedral Catholic) just behind and on the verge of breaking through. Rolland's teammate Mazzie Harris is also a consistent upper-17's jumper with a chance to go 18, and if all four of these athletes are on their game then the final will be electric. There is even a possible spoiler that could move up or pick off anyone who doesn't jump her best: Alexxis Brown (Westview) has jumped in the mid-17's all season.
Triple Jump
Once again Hardyway has the huge PR that shows her ultimate potential - she hit that mark at the SDS finals last year to catapult her to the state meet. Also once again, she consistently jumps at a lower distance that is still good enough to be the favorite here. Even if she stays in the 38's through the championship season, she will return to the state meet and do better there, but if she breaks back into the 39's she is a certain finalist in Clovis. We should see a wicked competition for second and third between Anna-Kaye Powell (El Camino), Sadie Heckman (Point Loma), Alexis Davis (Lincoln), and Simone James (Christian). Powell has the best track record, hitting her 37's in the section trials and finals last year; after narrowly missing out on a trip to the state meet, she will be well motivated next week.
High Jump
Two 2019 runners-up will aim for division titles next week, with one shooting for a return to the state meet and the other looking for her first trip to Clovis. Cailey Beaudoin (Westview) and Lilly Vaal (Imperial) both cleared 5-4 at last year's finals, but only Beaudoin advanced. This season they have been over that same height several times each, leading us to believe that 5-5 or 5-6 could be in play before the season ends. Emma Curtis (Point Loma) opened 2020 with a new PR of 5-2, and she has jumped that consistently but is still looking for her first 5-4. Mazzie Harris (Cathedral Catholic) has gotten over 5-4 once but regularly produces 5-2, putting her right on par with Curtis in the battle for third (assuming neither of them actually jumps well enough to knock off one of the co-favorites). There are several other athletes in the section that COULD be spoilers here, having cleared 5-2 once or twice, but nobody that has been consistent enough to move beyond sleeper status.
Pole Vault
No surprises here: after a trip to the state meet and a sixth-place finish there, Katerina Adamiec is the overwhelming favorite to claim her first section title. The Poway star has cleared 13 feet several times this spring (and she hasn't jumped less than 12-6, which is almost as impressive) - that definitely puts her into the competition for the top three in Clovis. (She has also dabbled in the triple jump and had some success, but she is focused solely on the vault the rest of the way through the season.) The big question comes when we look at the contenders for second place next weekend: who will emerge to claim the other two state meet spots? Alyssa McKeever (Valley Center) leads a solid group of vaulters with PR's in the 11-0 to 11-6 range, which also includes Faith Heffron (Scripps Ranch). Abrianna Sebastiani (University City) has taken a step forward in 2020, putting herself into the thick of this battle.