In the field events, the competition often boils down to which athletes are the hottest at the moment. Whereas it's rare for a 4:10 miler to suddenly drop a 4:05 or a 12-second 100 runner to blast an 11.7, field event athletes DO sometimes bust out with big performances. That can make it hard to predict the outcome: do you go with a consistent athlete who has performed well over the last several meets, an athlete that popped a HUGE performance earlier in the season but hasn't matched it since, or a sleeper that has been under the radar but steadily improving and appears poised to break out? That's part of what makes the field events so interesting to watch at the state meet! Complicating matters is the fact that several elite athletes may have played it safe at their section finals, stopping when their position at the state meet was assured (either by auto qualification or by place in the meet).
If course, another part of the story at the state championship every year is the list of athletes that did NOT make it, whether through injury or a poor performance at the wrong time. In the field events, the attrition rate has been fairly small: 7 of the 12 events have every one of the top 8 athletes in the state rankings present! Only two true game-changers are missing this weekend: Jake Grimsmann will be sorely missed in the high jump, and Myles Massey (Hesperia) could have impacted the triple jump and the high jump. The presence of so many of the state's heavy hitters makes this weekend's competition even more intense, and in many cases it means there will be several contenders for the individual title. And on the boys side, at least, the outcome of these field event battles could very well determine the team champion!
Let's get into the details...