GIRLS
Envision Academy's Ciearra Mathis. (Dan Tyree photo)
Skyline's domination of the girls side of the section finals last May was even greater than that of the boys side. The Titans girls won by 192 points over runner-up Oakland Tech.
While Skyline collected points down the leaderboard in the sprints, it was Oakland Tech senior Hailee Smith and Envision Academy junior Ciearra Mathis who are the top returners in the fast races. Smith is the top returner from the finals, running 13.06 to beat Mathis by .26, but Mathis went 12.85 at Raiders Regional for the top returning PR time among section sprinters. Smith's 12.96 from The Halden Invitational is second.
Mathis, one of four returning girls in the Oakland Section to have qualified for the State Meet last spring, ran a 200-meter PR of 26.21 in her qualifying heat at Clovis. Last spring, Mathis out-sprinted Smith by .44 to win her second consecutive 200m title.
After those two, it's a steady stream of Skyline Titan seniors led by Cymone Winters, Dominique Gaston and Mia Brizendine. At the section final, that trio went 3-4-5 in both the 100 and 200 finals. Winters, by the way, beat Smith to win the section 100m title in 2017 and qualified for the State Meet.
Mathis displayed her versatility by placing second in the 400 to Skyline junior Alycia Robinson-Gross (Eric Taylor photo at right).
The girls distances in the Oakland Section include two of the state's best in Skyline junior Eleanor Wikstrom and Oakland Tech senior Caroline Garrett. Wikstrom won the section title in both the 800 and 1600 as a sophomore and went to State in the 1600. Wikstrom's PR of 5:05.25, ranks 13th in CA among girls in the junior class.
Wake Forest-bound Garrett is the defending champion in the 3200 and ran a PR of 10:46.77 at the State Meet final, a time that ranks 14th in CA among the Class of 2019. Garrett focused on the long distance as a junior after winning the 800 and 1600 each of her first two years. She qualified for the State Meet in the 1600 each of her first two seasons.
Oakland Tech is well-stocked in the distances with senior Nell Schafer as the No. 2 returner in the 800, and senior Ayla Frost, sophomore Quinn Sedlachek and senior Emily Mansell as the Nos. 2-3-4 returners in the 1600.
Skyline sophomore De'Saya Smith won the section title in both hurdles as a freshman with Envision junior Brooke Holt second in both. Smith went to State in the 100-meter hurdles.
Robinson-Gross, the section 400 champion, also doubles as a long hurdler, placing third at the section final last spring as a sophomore.
Castlemont senior Briona Rivera was the only non-senior to win a field event title last spring, taking the long jump crown for the third year in a row.
As a freshman, Rivera won the 200, high jump and long jump and went to the State Meet in the 200 and long jump. As a sophomore, she focused on the sprints, running the 100, placing second to Mathis in the 200, and doing her thing in the LJ where she has a personal record of 17-05.
Skyline distance runner Eleanor Wikstrom (13). (James Leash photo)