Girls
Sprints
In 2019 Amador Valley senior Chinyere Okoro was the undisputed top 100m/200m sprinter in the section. Now that she is a UCLA Bruin, the door is quite open for several sprinters to lay their claim as the best in NCS. The fastest returning 100m sprinter will be Pittsburg's junior Ariane Wilson who had a wind-legal 11.96. Her teammate Trinity Bolden will be the top returning sprinter as she finished in 3rd place at last year's 100m final.
In the 200m, the top returning and fastest sprinter is El Cerrito's Kaiya Johnson who finished in 4th place at last year's section final and had a season-best of 24.91.
Katelyn Carro of Benicia was a state meet qualifier last year with a 3rd place finish with a season-best 55.95.
Distances
The above image taken by Haley Nelson took place at last year's NCS MOC 800m final as Samantha Wallenstrom of Marin Catholic stopped to encourage Concord's Rayna Stanziano after Stanziano had fallen while leading the final. Wallenstrom won that race and in a somewhat bigger surprise, she ended up taking the state title in a new PR of 2:08.78.
While Wallenstrom is the fastest returning 1600m runner, she will more than likely focus on the 2-lap race. The top two returning 1600m runners are Campolindo's Alicia Hober and Paloma Hancock. They were part of Campolindo's state championship XC team and will be aiming to dip under the 5-minute mark during the 2020 season.
In the 3200m, the heavy favorite will be St. Helena junior Harper McClain. She finished in 3rd place at last year's section final and followed that up with a PR of 10:29.68 at the state final. She competed in her first XC season this past fall and will be vying for more than a mere section title in the season ahead. It's not always that a favorite is picked over the defending champion but that is what we have in the girls' 3200m. Monte Vista senior Kelli Wilson won last year's section final and had bests of 4:59.74 in the 1600m and recorded her PR of 10:31.84 while winning the NCS MOC 3200m race.
Hurdles
St. Mary's Berkeley could garner valuable team points in the short hurdles race as they return the top two hurdlers in the section. Current seniors Sofia Bailey and Amelia Tremain finished 1st and 2nd last year and will be looking to duplicate last year's finish.
In the 300m. hurdles, Daylee Dunn of Salesian finished in 2nd place at the section final and recorded the fastest time of the season with her 44.56 at the NCS Bayshore meet.
Jumps
The top horizontal jumper in the section will be Concord's senior Airiana Dargan (Anda Chu photo) who was section champion in both the long and triple jumps and had the best marks in both events at 18-07.5 and 39'11.5 respectively.
Kelley Kern of Carondelet is the two-time defending section champion in the pole vault and also has one of the top marks in the state at 13-04.
Throws
In the throws events, Lilian McCoy of Casa Grande is the defending section champion in the shot put while Deanna Gaines of San Leandro had the best throw of last season at 41-11.
In the discus, the pre-season favorite to win was Granada's Claire March and she did not disappoint. She won the section title after a 4th place finish the previous season and had the best mark for all section throwers at 139-00.