The CIF State Meet is arguably the One True State Meet among all the states of our nation, because ALL of California feeds into a single championship meet - no classifications, no separate sanctioning bodies for independent schools. Only 3 athletes can advance to the state meet from most of the sections, including the Central Coast. Below is a pre-season list of the contenders for those three berths in the sprints & hurdles. Don't forget to check out yesterday's articles on the Central Coast Section distance runners!
Girls Pole Vault
Favorite: Erika Malaspina (Pacific Collegiate)
Threats: Sydney Jacques (Presentation), Kathryn Mohr (Menlo Atherton)
Wildcards: Samantha Oxford (Santa Teresa), Corey Freidenbach (Pacific Collegiate), Sophia McDaniel (Los Gatos)Boys Pole Vault
Favorites: Justin Navarro (Mt. Pleasant), Matt Hunt (St. Francis Mountain View)
Threats: Talon Bennett (Serra)
Wildcards: Kyvon Hughes (Bellarmine), Mike Escobar (Burlingame), Kyle Henn (Soquel)
Girls Triple Jump
Favorite: Caice Lanovaz (Los Gatos)
Threats: Melissa Seaman (St. Francis Mountain View), Annika Opsasnik (St. Francis Mountain View)
Boys Triple Jump
Favorite: Darius Carbin (Mt. Pleasant)
Threats: Jordan Kenison (Serra)
Wildcards: Johnny Marquez (Mt. Pleasant), Semanu Attiogbe (Woodside), T.J. Trout-Lacy (Watsonville), Eric Nuez (Pioneer)
Girls Long Jump
Favorite: Rachael Estell (Mountain View), Caice Lanovaz (Los Gatos)
Threats: Haley Romero (Christopher)
Wildcards: Amanda Mell (Los Altos), Amy Watt (Gunn), Melissa Seaman (St. Francis Mountain View), Maddy Tarbox (Nueva)
Boys Long Jump
Favorite: Eli Givens (Palo Alto)
Threats: Jason Smith (Archbishop Riordan)
Wildcards: Darius Carbin (Mt. Pleasant), Isaac McCrimon (Christopher), Jordan Kennison (Junipero Serra)
Girls High Jump
Favorite: Julie Zweng (Scotts Valley), Olga Baryshnikov (Prospect)
Threats: Cassie Ackemann (San Lorenzo Valley), Ronika Stone (Valley Christian), Aine McNulty (Los Gatos)
Wildcards: Summer-Solstice Thomas (Santa Cruz), Margaret Redfiel (Gunn)
Boys High Jump
Favorites: Darius Carbin (Mt. Pleasant), Darius Thomas St. Francis (Mountain View)
Threats: Jeffrey Lee-Heidenreich (Gunn)
Wildcards: Nick Lombardi (Carmel), David Lee-Heidenreich (Gunn)
Girls Shot Put
Favorite: Elena Bruckner (Valley Christian) Defending state champion
Threats: Saka Tagoai (Westmoor), Athiya Iese (Valley Christian)
Boys Shot Put
Favorite: Kevin Ray (Archbishop Mitty)
Threats: Eric Niland (Junipero Serra), Tanner Zuleeg (Saratoga), Andy Maltz (Gunn), Tonga Keti (Los Altos)
Wildcards: Daniel Contowe (Soledad)
Girls Discus
Favorite: Elena Bruckner (Valley Christian)
Threats: Tariyan Nnoli (Willow Glen)
Wildcards: Julia Gibbs (Mills), Divina Brown (Salinas)
Boys Discus
Favorite: Jake Kenney (Wilcox)
Threats: Steven McEnroe (King City)
Wildcards: Jake Arnold (Marina), Sabastian Cabrol (Los Altos), Owen Mountford (Mountain View), Manuel Gallardo (North Monterey), Ethan Rasmussen (Aptos)