Winter Track & Field Championships

The 2019 CA Winter Track and Field Championships are scheduled for Feb. 9. Official qualifier meets begin Saturday, Jan. 12 and are held each Saturday through Feb. 2 at sites across the state. Here's a primer.

Many top names are scheduled to compete Saturday at the CA Winter Championships at Arcadia HS. 

Jade McDonald went to the State Meet in the triple jump last June as just a freshman competing for Santa Ana Mater Dei. McDonald, a jumper and short hurdler, is now at Calabasas, adding her unique versatility to an already stacked girls team. We caught up with McDonald during a practice at Calabasas earlier this winter. This interview also includes a clip of her running the 60-meter hurdles at the CA Winter Championships. In the clip, she's on the far left.

We've updated our preview of the relay at the CA Winter Championships with results, evaluation of our predictions and links to video.

Up next in the countdown to the 2019 CA Winter Championships: Qualifying meets and standards, plus details and links. 

Cathedral (SS) continued its dominance in the boys 4x200 as a warm-up for next week's trip to the Simplot Games in Idaho. The team of Mikal Gammage, Anthony Taylor, Lennard Marshall, Elijah Islam crossed in 1:30.65 ahead of runner-up Pitman (1:31.99).

Great Oak's 4x800 meter A team of Kendall Harrison, Brianna Weidler, Arianna Griffiths and Fatima Cortes won the CA Winter Championships title in 9:41.31. 

Faith Bender, a sophomore from Liberty HS in Bakersfield placed second in both the shot put and in the weight throw at the CA Winter Championships. In the weight throw, Bender took the lead with a throw of 13.90 meters (45-07.25) but had to scratch her final two attempts because of a pinched nerve in her back. Later in the shot put, she led with a PR of 45-01 until, on the last throw of the competition, Natalie Ramirez popped a PR of 47-00 to win.