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Zach Shinnick, who won the CIF-State 400m title in 2017, is scheduled to run a leg on USC's 4x400m relay team this weekend at the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Ala. (Pat Rhames photo)
Athletes are listed by event, with day of competition noted.
3000m (Saturday)
Cooper Teare (St. Joseph Notre Dame/NC) is the No. 8 seed in the men's 3000m. Teare, a sophomore at the University of Oregon who won the CIF-State 3200m title in 2016 (8:51.85). His qualifying time of 7:50.60 from the Husky Classic (Feb. 8) is the No. 7 performance for 3000m in Ducks' history. Teare is also scheduled to anchor the Ducks' DMR team which comes in with the No. 8 qualifying time (9:28.62).
5000m (Friday)
Luis Grijalva (Armijo/SJ) is a freshman at Northern Arizona who has the No. 12 qualifying time in this field (13:49.35). Grijalva won the 1600 title at the 2016 State Meet running 4:08.62 and ranks among the top 10 in state history in multiple distance categories. Grijalva recently won the 5K title at the Big Sky Indoor Championships.
4x400 Relay (Saturday)
USC's lineup includes two sophomores from CA in Cameron Samuel and Zach Shinnick. The Trojns are the No. 12 qualifier at 3:06.40. A year ago, with Vista Murrieta product Michael Norman on anchor, the Trojan team set a meet and collegiate record in a world-best time of 3:01.98. Norman, who has since turned pro, went on to win the Bowerman Award. As a senior, Samuel, one of the all-time dual hurdlers in CA history, helped Rancho Verde to the CIF-State team title, scoring in both hurdles and anchoring the winning 4x400 relay that put a cherry atop the title. Shinnick, a year after an injury cost him significant time while at Damien (SS), went on to win the State title in the 400 in 2017 running 46.12 and followed that with an epic 45.20 at Junior Nationals, the No. 4 time in state history.
DMR (Friday)
The same race where Teare is scheduled to anchor for Oregon, two-time CIF-State champion Isaac Cortes (Great Oak/SS) is scheduled to run lead leg for Stanford. Cortes, a junior with the Cardinal, pulled off the rare feat of winning both the 800 and 1600 at the State Meet in 2016.
High Jump (Saturday)
USC sophomore Earnst Sears III (Alemany/SS) and Georgia junior Darius Carbin (Mt. Pleasant/CC) are in the field here, which must feel like old times. They went 1-2 at the CIF-State Final in 2016, with Carbin claiming victory based on fewer misses. Both cleared 7-feet that day (as did then-sophomore Sean Lee of Trabuco Hills). At USC, Sears has gone 2.27 (7-5.25) and Carbin has gone 2.26 (7-5) at Georgia. Carbin is the co-state record-holder at 7-4.50. He was seventh at the Indoor Championships last year, jumping 7-2.50 and recently placed seventh at the SEC Indoors.
Pole Vault (Friday)
Sondre Guttormsen transferred from Norway to Davis Senior High last season and dominated the state pole vault scene, setting the state record at 18-10.25. Now a freshman at UCLA, Guttormsen is the No. 4 qualifier (5.73/18-9.50). LSU freshman Mondo Duplantis has the top qualifiying mark (5.92). It should be noted that last year's winning height was 18-8.25 and the meet and collegiate record is 19-4.75. Guttormsen recently won the MPSF title, his third victory of the indoor season.
As a senior at Davis HS, Sondre Guttormsen celebrated his epic state record 18-2.50 clearance at Arcadia last April. Now at UCLA, Guttormsen continues to make big noise in the pole vault. (Clark Kranz photo)