Servite's 'Fab Four' show their blazing speed at state track and field prelims
Call them the 'Fab Four.'
Servite's boys' 4x100-meter relay team, consisting of freshmen Jace Wells, Jaelen Hunter, Kamil Pelovello and Jorden Wells got Friday's CIF State Track and Field Championships off to a blazing start by winning the first heat in 40.28 seconds and earning the top qualifying time — not bad for the foursome's first go around the oval.
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Robert Gardner ran the anchor leg behind Jace Wells, Hunter and Pelovello six days earlier when the Friars clocked 40.40 to win the Southern Section Masters Meet and fellow sophomore Benjamin Harris joined Jorden Wells, Hunter and Gardner when Servite set a state and meet record at the Arcadia Invitational in April.
Justin Hart of Granada Hills ran the 400 meters in 47.72 seconds on Friday to earn the final qualifying spot for the CIF state final.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Friday was all about the 'youth movement." They left Veterans Memorial Stadium at Buchanan High believing that they could return Saturday to break the state meet record of 40.24 set by Hawthorne in 1989.
'This is the first time that all four of us have been in the same relay,' Hunter said. 'We're going after the record tomorrow.'
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Sherman Oaks Notre Dame won Heat 2 in 40.83, the second-fastest time.
Hunter showed why he's the fastest freshman in the country one hour later when he looked like he was saving his energy for the finals even while winning his 400-meter heat in 47.43, the third-fastest prelims time behind Temecula Valley senior Jack Stadlman (46.99) and Culver City's Duaine Mayrant (47.38).
Jace Wells clocked a personal-best to win his 200 meters heat in 21.03 while Stadlman (21 flat), Antrell Harris (21.14) and Leo Francis (21.16) from Santa Margarita also advanced to the finals ahead of USC-bound RJ Sermons of Rancho Cucamonga, who raced Nicolas Obimgba of Torrance head-to-head at 11 p.m. for the last qualifying spot after they tied to the thousandth of a second for ninth.
Sermons won by 20 hundredths in 21.11 with the stadium empty to secure his spot in the finals.
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'I've never been in a run-off before,' Sermons said, shaking his head. 'I had a bad start the first time. No one to blame but me."
Rancho Cucamonga's RJ Sermons, right, wins a run-off against Nicolas Obimgba of Torrance to earn the last spot in the boys' 200-meter finals.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Servite capped its impressive day by winning its 4x400 meters heat in 3 minutes 10.94 seconds, holding off Cathedral (3:11.13) for the second-fastest qualifying time behind Long Beach Poly (3:10.70).
Maintenance crews will be working overnight trying remove the scorch marks on the track after the boys' 100 meters. All nine sprinters who advanced to Saturday's finals clocked 10.51 or under, led by De La Salle junior Jaden Jefferson, whose wind-legal 10.01 bettered the California record of 10.14 by Rodrick Pleasant of Gardena Serra in 2022. Second in the heat was Obimgba (10.20) and third was City Section champion Antrell Harris of Birmingham, giving a single heat the first, second and fourth-fastest times in the state this year.
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USC-bound RJ Sermons of Rancho Cucamonga bounced back from a subpar Masters race, where he finished fourth in 10.47, to win his heat in 10.40 and Demare Dezeurn, who repeated as Masters champion in 10.35 seconds, also topped his heat Friday in 10.43. Benjamin Harris won Heat 4 in 10.49.
'Today was all about qualifying for finals, said Dezeurn, a sophomore from Alemany. 'It's great competition. I have to go hard tomorrow. If I can beat [Jefferson] at the start I can beat him in the race. He is good, though. Seeing those times just makes me love the game even more. I want to prove I belong here. I run to win!'
Kyra Terry, left, receives the baton from Oaks Christian teammate Rayah Rodriguez in a girls' 4x100-meter relay heat at the state preliminaries on Friday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Christina Gray anchored Carson's girls' 4x100 relay, which posted the fastest qualifying time (46.16) while Journey Cole's late kick on the anchor leg in Heat 2 allowed Redondo Union (46.33) to clip last year's state champion Oaks Christian, which posted the same time (46.39) as Long Beach Poly. Gray followed with a personal-best 11.47 in the 100, beating Chaparral's Keelan Wright by two hundredths of a second for second in her heat.
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Calabasas sophomore Malia Rainey yelled 'C'mon' after winning her heat in a personal-best 11.57 while teammate Marley Scoggins won Heat 4 in 11.67. Wright bounced back to post the best time (23.58) in the girls' 200 meters while Gray finished second in 23.71, the second-fastest time and much swifter than her 24.62 at City Finals.
'In the 100 I had a great start, now I just have to work on the finish,' Gray said. 'It's still a great time for me. I'm feeling pretty good, there was no negative wind and winning the relay gave me confidence as I was feeling doubtful before that but after the 4x100 I knew I'd do well the rest of the day.
Carson 4x100-meter relay anchor runner Christina Gray crosses the finish line during a heat at the CIF state track and field preliminaries on Friday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Reigning discus champion Aja Johnson Sherman Oaks Notre Dame struggled Friday but secured the 12th and last finals spot with an effort of 139 feet 3 inches. Camarillo's Trinity Tipton was the top qualifier at 152-06. The 2023 shot put state champion, Johnson was the top qualifier Friday at 45-05, beating Aliso Niguel's Jaslene Massey by six inches.
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Transgender athlete AB Hernandez of Jurupa Valley was the leading qualifier in the girls' long jump (19-11.75), triple jump (40-09.75) and high jump (5-05.00).
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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