Jazmyne Frost (l) and Deanna Knowling (c) battled throughout the sprints. (Kirby Lee/Image of Sport)
It took until the final event of the night, the 4x400 relay, before Gardena Serra completed what was expected and made sure the Denners weren't going to go the distance and take home a team title, too. But Serra needed that runner-up finish in the 4x4 to outpoint the Denner/Oak Ridge team, 36-33.
With workhorse junior Jazmyne Frost leading a mostly-underclass lineup, Serra won the 4x100 relay, got a 2nd from Frost in the 100 (11.61/1.2) and a 3rd in the 200 (23.76/0.3), a 5th in the 400 from senior Jaylah Herron (54.80), and they knew what they needed going into that final relay and left nothing to chance, finishing 2nd, pushing the two Oak Ridge girls to the second-place spot on the awards stand. In that opening relay, they ran 45.69, CA #1 and US #5.
"We've been talking about this moment since August," Serra coach Chris Calvin said. "We focused on what it takes to get here, not necessarily getting here. The girls have been putting in work. We went through a lot of adversity this year. Luckily we peaked mentally and physically the last three weeks of the season and to just see it all come together is just amazing, especially for my outgoing senior. We get to bring back five of these girls next year."
This was a meet where the aforementioned pole vault champion, Sondre Guttormsen, also won a silver medal in the 110 hurdles (14.02). Guttormsen's 17-10 clearance to win the pole vault was a meet record. He also took four attempts (the first attempt wasn't counted because he said the standards fell down) at improving on his state record of 18-02.50 but wasn't able to come down while leaving the bar at the top.
Keeping it in the family, Sondre's brother Simen Guttormsen cleared 15-4 and earned a medal for 6th place.
It was a meet where the talent-rich Inland Empire swept the hurdles a year after Joseph Anderson (Upland), Shea Anderson (Norco), Cameron Samuel (Rancho Verde) and Anthony Easter (Roosevelt) were IEers dominant over the barriers:
- Jada Hicks (Upland/SS) in the 100 hurdles (13.35/1.3; PR and US #3; CA #7 all-time!)
- Jaden Ellis (Vista del Lago/SS) in the 110s (13.97)
- Junior Caleb Roberson (Upland/SS) in the 300 hurdles (36.61)
- Breanna Bernard-Joseph (Roosevelt/SS) in the 300 hurdles. Bernard-Joseph was making her fourth trip to the State Meet and third in both hurdles. And she PR'd and got her first title with an efficient 41.76 to hold off Kayla Robinson-Hubbard (Calabasas/SS) 42.07, Nikki Merritt (Santa Margarita/SS) 42.28, and Kenya Payne (Long Beach Poly/SS) 42.30. Segerstrom (SS) senior Nyree Brown caught her foot on an early hurdle and summersaulted to the track. Despite the horrific tumble, she got up and finished in 49.34.
- Danae Dyer (Temecula Valley/SS) was 2nd to Hicks in the girls 100 race (13.67)
- Reyte Rash (Riverside King (SS), 37.17) was 2nd to Roberson in the boys 300s
"Even though I went through a lot of trials and tribulations this year, I feel like I finally did something for myself and I -- I did it!" Bernard-Joseph said.
Asked what was going through her mind the last 30-40 meters, she said: "I got this. If I just keep running, running from my shoulders, I got this. I know I got this."
In winning the boys team title, Murrieta Mesa struggled in the 4x100 relay, placing 5th while chief rival, Great Oak, ran 40.99 to win the title, the first 4x1 title in the history of the school primarily known for its amazing distance program.
The Rams got a 3rd from Shakir-Ricks in the 100 (10.54/0.7), a 4th from Matthew Okonkwo in the 400, before Shakir-Ricks took control. First, as he did in Friday's prelims, he spotted Yucaipa's Asani Hampton an early lead before reeling him in and leaving him behind. Shakir-Ricks won in 20.89 a day after running 21.00 in the prelims. (Hampton was 2nd in 21.13.)
Christian Shakir-Ricks won the 200m in 20.98 seconds. (Pat Rhames photo)
To cap off his amazing night, Shakir-Ricks anchored the 4x400 relay to a national-leading 3:10.86 with a 45.6 split. Let me repeat that. In his eighth hard sprint in two days, Shakir-Ricks anchored the Murrieta Mesa 4x400 relay team to a national leading time with a split of ... 45.6!!!
"With him, it's just a mindset," Murrieta Mesa coach Aaron Ballou said. "I've never seen a kid that is more competitive than him. ... He split 46 last night and I was worried that he wouldn't have anything left in the tank today, yet he came back and did very, very well."
The team title and the 35-30 victory over Great Oak is the first for Murrieta Mesa and the third boys team title by a Southwestern League school in four years.
"It's been a crazy ride, especially today," said Ballou, who has been the head coach since the school opened. "The 4x1 did not go anything like we wanted (41.51 for 5th place). The boys were kinda down when they came over. But one thing about them is just the resiliency of them."
Great Oak, which split the Southwestern League title with Vista Murrieta, came into Saturday's final with that 4x100 relay team, Stevenson in the triple jump and the long jump, Harrison Gould in both throws, Jaime Navarro in the discus throw and Carlos Carvajal in the 3200. Despite a tender leg that he refused to let stop him, the Texas A&M-bound Stevenson won the triple (49-11.75), ran third leg on the winning relay, and placed 5th in the long jump (23-4.50). Gould (Jeffrey Parenti photo at right) picked up key points in the shot put but that was the end of the scoring for the Wolfpack, who were visibly disappointed with their runner-up reality.
