For as clear-cut as the top of the boys competition appears to be, the girls are the opposite. So, without going through all the projections (we'll get you a virtual meet breakdown, once all of the state's section results are in, that will project the girls competition much more accurately), let's focus on individual performances.
And the most obvious place to start is with Ariyonna Augustine, the LSU-bound sprinter from Long Beach Poly is the only athlete in California this season looking to defend two -- TWO -- State Meet titles. She's prepared to defend her titles in the 100m and 200m by winning both last week at the CIF-SS Division 1 Finals and again on Saturday at Masters, holding off Calabasas junior Deanna Nowling and Gardena Serra junior Jazmyne Frost in 1-2-3 order in both races. Augustine also helped Poly's 4x100 relay team move on, but the Jack(Track)Rabbits were third behind Frost's Serra squad (45.88) and Nowling's Calabasas crew (46.34).
In addition to Frost placing third in both sprints, Serra's 4x100 relay team of Queen Okoh, Jaylah Herron, Destinee Reid and Frost put up the state's No. 2 time, 45.88; Herron qualified 4th in the 400 (55.85), and the 4x400 relay team of Okoh, Maya Rush, Frost and Herron placed 4th in 3:48.51.
Battling through a painful ankle injury, Mater Dei senior Dominique Ruotolo still managed to post the meet's best jumps in both the long (19-2.50) and triple (41-00.50). Her freshman teammate Jade McDonald also advanced in the triple, but that is all that remains of the Monarchs' jump squad heading to Clovis.
Defending State high jump champion Abigail Burke (Riverside Poly), who didn't win the D1 title for the first time in three years, defended her Masters title with a 5-6 clearance. After winning on fewer misses, she said she PR'd in practice this week and, despite a season she described as "long", said she is feeling good about where she is with her jumping just in time for her return trip to Clovis.
West Ranch junior Natalie Ramirez is headed north at the top of her throws game after putting up the best marks in both the shot put (44-8) and discus throw (155-10). Ramirez and Golden Valley junior Shyann Franklin are the only girls advancing in both throws.
El Toro senior Maliyah Medley, third in the 400 at the State Final each of the last two years, won her second Masters title in three years, cruising in at 54.83. She also placed fourth in the 200 (24.46).
The girls distances put on a show, as has been the trend this season. Great Oak junior Fatima Cortes won the 1600 (4:46.73) in an race that saw 11 of the 12 competitors dip under the qualifying standard. The group included Cortes' teammates Tori Gaitan, Arianna Griffiths and Sandra Pflughoft. It also included three freshmen: Jacqueline Duarte (Chino Hills), Audrey Suarez (Pasadena Mayfield) and Mia Barnett (Sun Valley Village Christian).
Oh, and the field also included a senior from Saugus by the name of Mariah Castillo. We didn't get to see her lethal kick in her 4:48.01 race. She's saving it for next week. This week, it was graduation on Thursday, qualification on Saturday. Check. Check.
And qualify she did also in the 3200, cranking up that late-race speed just a bit at the end to leave Haley Herberg (Capistrano Valley) and Sara Leonard (Anaheim Canyon) for 2nd and 3rd. Castillo's 10:22.24 winning time is only about 16 seconds off her CA #1/US #5 PR but it was fuel enough to pull across two at-large additions to the SS 32 party heading north. That field, however, will not include the Great Oak duo of Cortes, who missed the at-large standard, and Griffiths, who dropped the event after qualifying in the 1600. Barnett also dropped the 32 after qualifying in the 16.
The girls 4x400 relay team from La Verne Bonita took the state lead with an impressive 3:44.92 last week at the divisional finals. The team of senior Amari Prude, freshman Alisha Wilson, senior Sierra Julian and junior Sammie Riggs made the point of proving both that last week was not a fluke and they are definitely for real in posting their second-fastest time of the season, 3:46.07. That time, anchored determinedly but Riggs, who powered home the victory while holding off runner-up Quartz Hill, which clocked 3:46.73, the No. 2 time in the state this season!!
The 800 didn't produce an at-large addition but it did rewrite the state leader board, with all six qualifiers ranking among the top 17. Winner Delaney Sanacore (Los Alamitos) 2:10.12 is now CA #4, runner-up Rylee Penn (Corona Centennial) 2:10.74 (CA #6), sophomore Ashley Johnson (Mission Viejo) 2:11.30 (CA #9), Malina Yago (Marymount) 2:11.66 (CA #10), freshman Makayla Browne (Riverside North) 2:11.77 (CA #11), and Kalea Ibarra (Riverside Poly) 2:11.99 (CA #17). Sanacore rebounded following a disappointing race a week before, Penn qualified for her third State Championship in three seasons, and Yago returns after placing 7th last year.
The girls 100 meter hurdles was three or four or five hurdles in when multiple starter's pistol shots went off, stopping the race. Odd, yes, but when the initial starter's gun failed to trigger the timing sensors, there was no choice but to stop it. But because the race was so far in, meet officials decided to let the boys 110s go off next and bring the girls back afterward.
That abnormal 'warmup' and restart produced a fast race with Jada Hicks (Upland), Danae Dyer (Temecula Valley), Allie Jones (Santa Barbara San Marcos), Breanna Bernard-Joseph (Roosevelt) and Nikki Merritt (Santa Margarita) all running 13.93 or faster (in 0.7 legal wind). Hicks, the state leader, won in 13.54, equaling her PR. BBJ (13.92) and Merritt (13.93) both PRed. But the quick collective group did not pull along at-large qualifiers, leaving familiar names behind (Mya Greene, Abbey Bryant, Nyree Brown).
The 300s later in the meet provided a second chance for Brown (42.67) and Greene (42.87) to earn their tickets to Clovis. Calabasas junior Kyla Robinson-Hubbard won in 41.82, the fastest time in CA this spring (US #8). Merritt, two days removed from serving as her school's prom queen, went 41.34 for second. Bernard-Joseph earned her third trip to State in the long hurdles (she's been 2nd and 4th in the last two Finals), running 42.59. Long Beach Poly junior Kenya Payne got through in 42.92 and Riverside North sophomore Amari Jenkins was 7th but popped the No. 10 time in the state, 43.27, to earn an at-large spot. Just missing the 43.48 at-large standard was Great Oak junior Kolonnie Green, who was clocked in 43.49.
The pole vault accounted for seven qualifiers, including D1 champion Amari Turner (Redondo) who hit the 11-11 at-large lotto to join a field that also included freshman star Paige Sommers (Westlake) and Darla Gonzalez (Apple Valley).