SATURDAY FIELD EVENTS
Boys Discus
Meet Record: 214-11, Kami Kashmiri, Reno (NV), 1987
Dashing through the field events, JSerra will also be impressive in the field events as they once again have the best discus thrower in the field with Brendon See. He won last year's meet with a throw of 174-11 and has a season-best of 190-6 which has him as the best thrower in California. Teammate Jake Stafford has the 5th best throw in California with a mark of 172-8.
Girls Shot Put
Meet Record: 49-4, Jessica Pressley, Laguna Creek (SJ), 1998
40 feet seems to be the mark that separates the good throwers from the great throwers in the girl's shot put. If that is indeed the case, there are two throwers that have surpassed that barrier this season. The best is Los Gatos thrower Nicole Steiner who has thrown 41-6.5. Del Campo's Zenallah Hatcher Simmons has thrown 40-9 and those throwers should be clear of the field as they battle for a coveted Stanford Invitational victory.
Girls Pole Vault
Meet Record: 13-0.25, Greta Wagner, Los Gatos (CC), 2013
Maria Carrillo senior Lily Mulligan (Darryl Bush photo above) is a valuable sprinter on her team competing in the 100 meters as well as the 400 relay. But it is in the pole vault where she is exceptional. Last season Mulligan qualified for the CA state meet and had a best of 13-2.5 which was 8th best in the state. She will be back here looking for redemption as she no heighted at this invite last season after coming in as the favorite.
Boys Triple Jump
Meet Record: 50-6, Ken Frazier, Mission (SF), 1981
In this event, you have the jumper with the best mark, Ethan Fong of Lincoln of Stockton who has jumped 45-0.5. Next, you have the contender, Kenneth Tucker of Bellarmine who has jumped 44-7. Finally, you have the top returner from last year. Christopher's Kingsley Okoronkwo who finished in 6th place last year.
Girls Triple Jump
Meet record: 43-1.75, Brittany Daniels, Merrill West (SJ), 2005
We should have quite a dual here with two of the best triple jumpers in the state. Modesto's Chinanu Agunanne has a season-best of 38-9.25 which ranks her third in California. Mia Holden of South Pasadena has a best of 38-0.5 which puts her as the fourth-best triple jumper in the state. Megan MacKenzie of Los Altos won the Rustbuster Invitational with a jump of 37-7.5 and will be looking to break up the highly-ranked duo with another season-best mark.
Girls High Jump
Meet record: 6-0, Celia Willis, Clovis West (CS), 1988
The best jumper in this competition is Whitney's Ashanti Elie. She has a season-best of 5-8 which ranks her second in California. Last year she jumped 5-10 twice which included a second place finish at the Arcadia Invitational. Long Beach Poly's Jillene Wetteland has jumped 5-6 and has a lifetime best of 5-8. Notre Dame Belmont's Melanie Castelli has a best of 5-7 and finished in fourth place at last year's CA state meet.
Girls Discus
Meet record: 169-10, Pamela Amaechi, Lincoln (SF), 2017
Just as the many of the field events covered above, it looks like we have a three-way battle for the Stanford Invite title here. The best thrower so far this season is Sol Bitners of Davis. She threw a lifetime best of 144-8 to win the Eddie Hart Invitational. Her two challengers should be Siena Lambert of JSerra and Ningning O'Brien of Homestead. Both throwers have bests over 140 feet.
Boys High Jump
Meet record: 7-4.50, Maurice Crumby, Balboa (SF), 1983
Picking a winner here is like filling out this year's March Madness bracket. Your guess is as good as mine. At this point, there are three jumpers who have all jumped 6-4 this season. They are Grady Wachob of Benicia, Alexander Dillon of Milpitas, and Dave Baraka of Piner. Bradley Hall of Bret Harte and Zachary Fagan of Los Altos have both jumped 6-4 in previous seasons and should not be overlooked.
Boys Shot Put
Meet record: 62-5, Kami Kashmiri, Reno (NV), 1987
Last year, JSerra's Brendon See won the discus and finished in third place in the shot put at this meet. This year, See will be heavily favored to win both events. He has already thrown 56-10 which has him as the fifth-best thrower in California. His main competitor is Junipero Serra (CC) sophomore Luke Lewis. He has already thrown 51-0.5 so far this season which is an impressive mark for his grade. Lewis's father is the longtime throws coach at College of San Mateo who has mentored many elite throwers at that college and will be inducted into the Peninsula Hall of Fame this year.
And that's my best attempt to identify the top competitors this coming weekend. Feel free to include any deserving athletes/teams that I may have missed in the comment section below. You can also chat with us at @MilesplitCA on Twitter.
Albert Caruana is a Cross Country and Track and Field coach in Northern California and a frequent contributor to California MileSplit.