BOYS SOUTHERN SECTION RECAP
Yucaipa senior Asani Hampton continues to impress and remains California's midseason favorite in the short sprints. Hampton battled some of the best in the United States and came through with 3rd place finishes in the Invitational portions of the 100 (10.47) and 200 meters (21.35). Under the cooler night air, Hampton just missed bettering his personal bests.
Hampton, headed to Michigan, took 4th at the 2017 CA State Meet in the 100 meters (10.40w). Last spring, after running into a strong headwind at the sectional finals, he filled in as an alternate at the Southern Section Masters Meet. Taking full advantage of the second chance, Hampton rolled to a 3rd place finish. His showing at Arcadia further cements his resolve to compete against the best.
Defending California State champions, the Mustangs of Rancho Verde, graduated 79 of the 84 points (94%) they earned from winning the Southern Section Division I crown in 2017. The five points returning were in the legs of Carlton Johnson. Off the radar until Saturday, they emerged as the new #1 4x100 relay team in California with an impressive 41.49. They have reloaded to say the least and were perhaps the biggest surprise for the boys in the sprints.
Capturing the Division III sectional title in the 200 meters in 2017 (3rd in the 100m), Christian Shakir-Ricks led his Gahr High squad to a 2nd place finish in the 4x100 relay at the California State Meet. With his move down to Murrieta Mesa, he has now led that crew to the 3rd fastest time in the state (41.67) while continuing to improve into one of the fastest (10.58/21.43) here on the West Coast.
Along with the improving Great Oak (42.13) and Vista Murrieta (42.34) groups, the Southwestern League will battle it out with the Baseline League for male sprint supremacy in the Southern Section. The two leagues possess five of the top nine squads in the section for the 400 relay.
Now with a training partner in Shakir-Ricks, Murrieta Mesa has also watched the ascension of senior Matthew Okonkwo. With a personal best of 51.28 coming into 2018, Okonkwo brought home a 47.65 personal best at Arcadia with his 3rd sub-48 effort in the last four weeks. Okonkwo is now the top ranked quarter miler in the Southern Section while Vista Murrieta's Paris Samaniego (5th place at California State Meet) is #3 after his 48.10 seasonal best.
Settling for a Division I runner-up team plaque in 2017 behind Rancho Verde, the men of Great Oak are the heavy favorites to capture the team title here in the 2018 mid-season. They earned the team title in '16 and '14 with more runner-up plaques in '15 and '13. With many focused on the accolades of their distance crew (and deservingly so), the core of the team's title hopes lie in the horizontal jumping abilities of seniors CJ Stevenson and the throwing duo in Jaime Navarro and Harrison Gould. These three alone are currently in position to earn between 44-48 points at next month's sectional finals. The California defending state champion, Stevenson settled for 2nd place in the men's Triple Jump (still #1 in CA under all conditions), he continues to improve in the Long Jump. On his second approach, Stevenson elevated out to a new school record of 24-3 and held on for the victory at Arcadia.
Meanwhile, Navarro threw out to a personal best of 58-6 in the Shot Put and now is right behind Gould for #3 in Division I. In the Discus, Navarro had another solid day and remains #2 for the Discus in California with his best of 185-8. Gould is currently #4 in the section with a mark of 173-9. The duo are currently #5 and #6 in all of California for the Shot Put.
But, just when Great Oak was already a strong favorite for the Boys' Division I team title in May, senior Ernesto Collazo rocketed up over 15-3 in the Friday night session for Pole Vault! A 14-6 junior a year ago, while only elevating up over 14-2 at the Reno Pole Vault Summit in January, Collazo has moved up into a tie for third with Marina's Skyler Magula in the Southern Section charts and now tied for #4 in California. Does this make Great Oak the favorite for the California team title in early June? Stay tuned.....
Also improving at the Arcadia Invitational, Canyon Country Canyon senior Christian Valles improved up over 15-7 and is now #2 for the section. Marina junior Skyler Magula had some great looks at 15-7 while Santa Monica senior Ariel Dyrek, Mission Viejo senior Mason Gariepy along with Loyola junior William O'Brien all improved up to the 15-1 clearance. Loyola impressed as a whole at the Arcadia Invite.
Coming off another Division I State Cross Country team title and NXN berth, Great Oak senior Carlos Carvajal brought home the victory for his crew in the Invitational Distance Medley Relay as they held off a stingy Dublin group from the Bay Area. Meanwhile, Palos Verdes also impressed with their 4th place finish in 10:19.58 with a tough West Ranch crew right behind them in 10:20.29. Also noteworthy (especially from a school with only 260 students) were the men from Thacher at 10:21.16.
In the distances, the strongest in the Southern Section struggled against the nation's best in that Invitational portion of the 3200 meters. But, in that seeded race, Mira Costa's Xavier Court continues to emerge into one of California's best. With a huge negative split race, Court came home with a 9:06.92 just off the sectional best of 9:06.10 (Great Oak's Carvajal). Court came through at 4:38 and brought it back with a 4:29 last half. This is coming off the heals of his huge sub-4:16 performance from two weeks ago. Pasadena Poly senior Xian Shively ran away to a new personal best of 9:12.52 while Santa Margarita's Sean Byrne stepped it up for a 9:15.85. The Loyola seniors of Shane Bissell and Liam Jamieson both broke 9:19. For the mile, we had two standout performances run at opposite ends of the day. Under the lights, Burroughs' senior Jagdeep Chahal finished strong to take 3rd place in the Invitational portion with a huge personal best of 4:16.92. Meanwhile, the morning session of the Mile, Campbell Hall senior Jamie Moreland negative split his affair and held on for a 4:17.69 victory in his section. Orange Lutheran senior Kevin McNulty ran to a 4:18.18 best whereas Mission Viejo's Brett Hickman did not improve upon his best but still ran an impressive 4:17.86 for the full mile.
Ventura junior Carlos Aviles continues his nice string of victories over this past month. Taking 8th place as a sophomore in the Discus at the California State Meet, Aviles' 194-1 victory at Arcadia elevated him to the top spot on the California lists and just inches off the national leader! Aviles maintains his spot as #6 in the US for the Shot Put. Meanwhile, Esperanza sophomore Jeff Duensing follows in the long line of elite throwers from that program in launching out to a 59'3" personal best. He is now #4 in California and #3 for the Southern Section. LB Millikan senior Noah Holm also continues to improve with his 57-9.75 personal best in the Shot Put. In the Discus, Simi Valley's Dexter Stephens moved his way up the statewide lists with his 177-1 effort.
Another individual that was tough to overlook was Upland junior Caleb Lutaro Roberson. His 14.28 (+2.2w) easily won the afternoon session of the 110 High Hurdles and was the 5th fastest overall time of the entire Arcadia Invitational. His 38.22 (37.16 best last year) is currently #3 in California with Harvard-Westlake junior Brayden Borquez' 37.64 effort here at Arcadia being the only one ahead of him in the Southern Section. Lutaro Roberson also rolled to a 21.58 in the 200 meters at Arcadia which places him amongst the top seven in the Southern Section for wind-legal efforts. His best event perhaps? Caleb took 5th place at the California State Meet in the Long Jump as a sophomore in 2017. What events he will focus on for the postseason remains to be seen. ...
Sidenote: Reflecting back on that Boys' 300 Hurdles, Mission Viejo senior Josh Hill was well onto his way to breaking his personal best of 38.30 until the disaster that was the 8th hurdle in his race. Look for him down the road to definitely to be a factor in that event.