Who are the athletes to watch at this weekend's CIF State Track & Field Championships?
The 105th CIF State Track & Field Championships will take place Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High in Clovis and though the thermometer is expected to rise above 100 degrees both days, many Southland sprinters also will bring the heat.
The absence of last spring's 100 and 200-meter dash winner Brandon Arrington, whose leg injury in a league meet May 9 forced him to miss the San Diego Section finals and denies him an opportunity to defend his state titles, opens lanes for the fastest athletes in the City and Southern Sections to take advantage. A junior from Mt. Miguel, Arrington broke the San Diego County record (20.35) in the 200 at Arcadia in April and one week later set a new section record (10.21) in the 100 at Mt. SAC.
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The favorite in the 100 is Concord De La Salle junior Jaden Jefferson, who enters with the best qualifying time (10.30, three hundredths of a second better than Arrington's winning time last year), but challenging him will be Antrell Harris of Birmingham (who clocked 10.92 to win the City title May 22), back-to-back Masters Meet winner Demare Dezeurn of Bishop Alemany (10.35), RJ Sermons of Rancho Cucamonga (10.47) and Servite's trio of Benjamin Harris (10.44), Robert Gardner (10.59) and Jorden Wells (10.63).
Senior Antrell Harris (middle) of Birmingham was first in the 100 and 200 meters at the City Section finals May 22 in Lake Balboa.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
In the 200, Masters champion Sermons (20.97) will be in the first heat along with Temecula Valley's Jack Stadlman (21.24), Dezeurn (21.04) has the fastest qualifying time in the second heat, Servite's Jace Wells (21.05) and Newbury Park's Jaden Griffin (21.36) are in the third heat and joining Jefferson (21.11) in the last heat are Santa Margarita's Leo Francis (21.14) and Harris (21.66).
Sermons, who announced the day before the Masters Meet that he will skip his senior year of high school to play football at USC, clocked a career-best 20.88 at the Baseline League finals and will try to beat Arrington's winning time of 20.55 last year.
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Servite freshman Jaelen Hunter (46.91) heads a talented group in the 400, which includes Stadlman (47.91), City champion Justin Hart from Granada Hills (47.45) and City runner-up Nathan Santacruz of Venice (47.48). Servite's 4x100 relay was first at the Masters in 40.40 followed by Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (40.77), which will be in the same heat Friday as JSerra (41.44) and City champion Granada Hills (41.78), and Murrieta Valley (41.55) will be in heat four with Birmingham (41.80).
Servite also has one of the faster foursomes in the 4x400 as the Friars figure to challenge for the team title, won last year by Long Beach Poly, which won the Masters race Saturday in 3:10.83. The loaded field also features Cathedral (3:12.20), Mira Costa (3:18.73), Long Beach Wilson (3:14.93), Culver City (3:14.80) and Granada Hills (3:24.15).
For the girls, Redondo Union's Journey Cole and Chaparral's Keelan Wright are in separate heats but should they advance they would go head-to-head in the finals in a rematch of last week's epic 100 meter showdown (Cole prevailed by five hundredths of a second in 11.36), however not to be underestimated are Malia Rainey (11.57) and Marley Scoggins (11.60) from Calabasas (11.57) and Carson's Christina Gray, who ran 12.05 to win the City title.
Wright (23.21) is the leading qualifier in the 200. Other contenders are Rosary's Justine Wilson (23.38), Scoggins (23.59) and Gray (24.62).
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Long Beach Poly carried the baton around the oval in 45.94 at Masters to avenge its loss to Oaks Christian at last year's state 4x100 final and the two schools could match up again Saturday alongside City winner Carson (46.84), which was third in Clovis last year. Long Beach Wilson, the state team champion in 2024, has the top qualifying time (3:43.71) in the 4x400 relay.
In the distance events, Corona Santiago boasts two title contenders — Braelyn Combe in the 1600 and Rylee Blade in the 3200. Combe was second to Ventura's Sadie Englehardt last year and won the Masters four-lapper last week in 4:44.36 (more than two and a half seconds better than her winning time at the Southern Section Division 1 finals), second-best among all qualifiers behind Chiara Dailey (4:43.57) of La Jolla in San Diego.
Blade ran 9:58.46 two weeks ago to break a Southern Section record that had stood since 1996 and cruised to the Masters win in 10:11.38. The Florida State-bound senior was third at state last year in 10:06.26 and she set a new meet standard of 15:20.3 at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in September.
USC-bound RJ Sermons of Rancho Cucamonga will try to double in the 100 and 200 meters at the CIF State Track & Field Championships.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Stanford signee Evan Noonan of Dana Hills, winner of the Southern Section and Masters races the past two weeks, will try to defend his 3200 state title (he won in 8:43.12 as a junior).
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Aliso Niguel's Jaslene Massey and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame's Aja Johnson have the first and second best throws in both shot put and discus. Massey swept the events at Masters (49-7.50 shot put; 165-06 discus). Johnson is the defending state discus champion and won the state shot put title in 2023.
In the boys high jump, Mission League rivals Matthew Browner from Chaminade and JJ Harel of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame both achieved 6-10 to finish first and second at Masters. Harel cleared that same height to take second at the state finals last year behind Birmingham's Deshawn Banks.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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