The Southern Section moves into its second week of the post-season following a week of league qualifiers across the massive 471-school section with division prelims on Saturday at four sites across the Southland.
Field events begin at 11 a.m. and track events at noon at all four sites: Trabuco Hills HS, Mission Viejo (Division 1), Ventura HS (Division 2), Yorba Linda HS (Division 3), and Carpinteria HS (Division 4) with individual athletes and relay teams looking to grab a spot into the May 13 Division Finals meet at Moorpark HS.
On Saturday, only nine athletes and relay teams will move on to the Division Finals. In the field events, the top nine performances, regardless of flight, will advance. On the track, heat winners plus the next fastest comprise a total of nine qualifiers that will advance. Athletes and relay teams in overall places 10 and 11 will move on as alternates.
Below, MileSplitCA's Southern Section guru Mark Gardner takes a deep dive into the Division 1 Prelims at Trabuco Hills. In the pages below that, we take an overview look at the highlights and storylines of the other three divisions.