FUTURE STARS
La Canada sophomore Arielle McKenzie is a future star to watch in the Southern Section prelims. (Daniel Hernandez photo)
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UPDATED: This article was updated 5/5 at 9 am to correct a time in the qualifier grids.
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This week's Future Stars article is focused on the Southern Section. Because of its outlier size against CA's other nine sections -- 560-some schools -- the regular season closed out a week earlier than the rest of the state with some 75 league finals held through last Friday.
Below we update athletes whose marks statewide from last week moved them to the top of class rankings. And then we will go division-by-division for boys and girls, breaking out all Southern Section frosh/soph athletes who had a top-5 qualifying mark into this week's CIF preliminary meets.
New State Leaders By Class
Girls
Taylor Anyansi (Murrieta Valley/SS) - 100m freshman class CA all-conditions leader after running 12.14 (3.1) at the Southwestern League Finals.
Hannah Rutherford (Mountain View/CC) - 200m freshman class CA all-conditions leader after running 25.00 (3.2) at the SCVAL/SCL Finals.
Shemi Brown-Dawson (Pleasant Grove/SJ) - Triple jump freshman class CA leader after jumping 36-3.50 (1.5) at the Delta League F/S and Varsity Championship Trials.
Aja Johnson (Sherman Oaks Notre Dame/SS) - Throws freshman class CA leader in both after throwing 131-10 in the discus and 41-8 in the shot put the Mission/Sunshine League Finals.
Morgan Maddox (Culver City/SS) - 400m sophomore class CA leader after running 55.94 to win at the Bay League Prelims and Finals.
London Davis (Upland/SS) - 100m hurdles sophomore class CA all-conditions leader after running 14.42 (2.6) to win at the Baseline League Finals.
Alyssa Alumbres
(Vista Murrieta/SS) - Long jump sophomore class CA all-conditions leader after jumping 19-4.50 (nwi) to win at the Southwestern League Finals.
(Vista Murrieta/SS) - Long jump sophomore class CA all-conditions leader after jumping 19-4.50 (nwi) to win at the Southwestern League Finals.
New State Leaders By Class
Boys
Arthur Celestine (Vista Murrieta/SS) - 110m hurdles sophomore class CA all-conditions leader after running 15.13 (3.1) at the Southwestern League Finals.
Devin Bragg (Los Alamitos/SS) - 100m sophomore class CA leader after running 10.63 (1.1) at the Surf League Prelims.
Dontae Smith (JW North/SS) - 400m freshman class CA leader after running 49.80 at the Ivy League Finals.