Namir Hemphill (left) of Upland and Corie Smith (right) of Buchanan represent the two schools with both boys and girls teams among those into the semifinals of the MileSplitCA March Madness Virtual Dual Meet Tournament. (Credit: DeAnna Turner)
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A strong rollout through the first three-plus weeks of the 2020 outdoor season has both the boys and girls teams from Buchanan (CS) and Upland (SS) into the semifinal round of the MileSplitCA March Madness Virtual Meet Tournament.
Semifinals will be scored and posted this weekend with the championship meet recap articles hitting the site early next week.
In the girls bracket, Upland, the No. 2 seed, will be scored against No. 3 Santa Margarita (SS) in one semifinal and No. 5 Buchanan will be matched against No. 8 Etiwanda (SS) in the other semifinal.
Upland reached the semis with a blowout win over No. 26 Citrus Valley (SS), Buchanan advanced past No. 4 St. Francis (SJ), Etiwanda eliminated No. 17 Yucaipa (SS) -- the team that had knocked out top-seeded Roosevelt) -- by four points, the closest contest of the girls bracket, and Santa Margarita advanced past No. 11 Fresno Central (CS).
Upland is averaging 95.33 points through its first three virtual duals in the girls bracket. Buchanan is averaging 86.44, Santa Margarita is averaging 82.83, and Etiwanda is averaging 74.78.
In the boys bracket, Upland is the top seed and will be scored against No. 12 Trabuco Hills (SS) in one semifinal. Buchanan, the No. 3 seed, will be scored against Mission Viejo (SS) in the other semi.
Upland reached the final four with 1.67-point victory over No. 9 Santa Margartia, the closest contest of the tournament. Trabuco Hills advanced with a four-point victory over No. 13 Central, Mission Viejo also advanced by a four-point margin, knocking out No. 10 Vista Murrieta (SS) and Buchanan eliminated No. 11 Loyola (SS) by 8.67 points.
Buchanan, on the strength of a 114-point output in a first-round victory over Long Beach Poly, is averaging 
89.44 points over its three tournament matchups. Mission Viejo, which also put up 114 points in the first round, is averaging 86.22. Upland is averaging 77.61 and Trabuco Hills 73.83.
This virtual dual meet feature was launched with 32 boys teams and 32 girls teams. Marks applied throughout this event are limited to the three-plus weeks of the 2020 outdoor season. This project is to recognize athletes and teams for what they were able to do on the track before this outdoor season was stopped.
Scoring is based on a 5-3-1 format for individuals and 5-0 for relays. The MileSplit Virtual Meet program used to score the meets limits teams to no more than three athletes per event. Also, athletes are capped at four individual events. Relay names are not known, so it is possible that athletes could be part of four individual events and two relays.
Be sure to check the site this weekend and early next week to see which teams reign supreme!