Top Bay Area track and field athletes expected to contend at the CIF State meet
The CIF State Track and Field Championships are just more than a month away — May 30-31 at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis.
Here are 10 Bay Area athletes to keep close tabs on as they move through league and section qualifying meets (all marks and rankings are according to athletic.net):
Kira Gant Hatcher (St. Mary's-Berkeley): The junior jumper should be a contender in both the long jump (19-5½) and the triple jump (39-6 ¾). She currently ranks fifth in the state in both events. As a sophomore she finished 10th at the state meet in the long jump (18-1).
Jaden Jefferson (De La Salle-Concord): The junior sprinter placed fourth last season at state in the 100 and this season has the sixth fastest (all conditions) mark (10.41 seconds). Jefferson, a running back and cornerback, has already committed to North Carolina to play football.
Cameron P. Jones (Bishop O'Dowd-Oakland) and Anthony Dean (De La Salle): Both have legitimate shots at winning the triple jump, a highly technical event that often goes to slight underdogs. Jones has the state's fifth-best mark (48-7) and Dean is just behind him (48-3½). The state leader is Camren Smith (49-11¼) of Quartz Hill (Los Angeles County).
Ellie McCuskey-Hay (St. Ignatius): The junior sprinter and jumper was the state-runnerup in the 100 as a freshman and has a legitimate shot to bring home three state medals. She has the fifth-best 100 mark (11.54), No. 7 in the 200 (23.90) and fourth-best long jump (19-7). It's a demanding triple, but McDuskey-Hay did just that at Saturday's Central Coast Section Top 8 Meet, winning the 100 (11.55), 200 (23.96) and long jump (18-9½), before pulling the Wildcats from well behind to place second in the 4x100 relay to Los Gatos. Both teams finished in 48.39.
Khaliq Muhammad (Pittsburg): The senior pole vaulter is tied for the top mark in California this season at 17-1. He finished second last season at 16-4 after recording a then-best of 16-9 at the 2024 Sacramento Meet of Champions.
Chronicle baseball, softball rankings
BASEBALL
Rk.
School
W-L
Pre.
1.
Granada
15-3
2
2.
De La Salle
12-3
3
3.
Serra
17-4
1
4.
Valley Christian
15-4-1
4
5.
St. Francis
15-4
5
6.
Casa Grande
15-3
8
7.
Petaluma
14-2
12
8.
Clayton Valley
14-3
9
9.
Pittsburg
15-2
10
10.
Foothill
14-4
11
11.
St. Ignatius
10-7-2
6
12.
Los Gatos
13-3
13
13.
Dublin
16-3
NR
14.
Heritage
13-4
14
15.
Cardinal Newman
9-8
7
SOFTBALL
Rk.
School
W-L
Pre.
1.
St. Francis
18-2
1
2.
Mitty
10-5-1
2
3.
Casa Grande
13-5-1
6
4.
Petaluma
12-5
5
5.
Valley Christian
15-4
4
6.
Livermore
12-6
3
7.
Notre Dame-Belmont
13-3-1
7
8.
Capuchino
10-4
NR
9.
Liberty
10-4
9
10.
Mills
12-3-1
NR
11.
California
11-5
10
12.
Castro Valley
12-3
11
13.
Logan
12-2-1
13
14.
Bishop O'Dowd
14-5
14
15.
San Marin
12-5
NR
Landon Pretre (Menlo School-Atherton): The senior was part of a record-breaking 3,000 at the Arcadia Invitational, finishing 12th in 8:18.52. Converted to a 3,200 that would have been 8:49.30, the top mark in the state this season. He was seventh last year at state in the 3,200.
Hannah Rutherford (Mountain View): The versatile senior speedstar has the state's No. 9 200 time (24.00) and seventh-best 400 (54.34). Last season, the Stanford commit was second at state in the 400 (53.70) and seventh in the 200 (24.06).
Aydon Stefanopoulos (Los Gatos): The senior has the state's No. 3 1,600 mark (4:06.62) and No. 6 3,200 (8:57.33).
Hanne Thomsen (Montgomery-Santa Rosa): Another Stanford commit, Thomsen is one of the state's most versatile and accomplished runners, with the state's No. 2 time this season in the 3,200 (9:58.17) — just behind La Jolla junior Chiara Dailey (9:58.02) — and No. 6 in the 800 (2:09.04). She won the state's eight-lap event as a freshman and was the state runner-up last year in 9:59.81, after finishing fourth at state in the 1,600 as a sophomore (4:43.63).
Chad Works-Wright (El Cerrito): Only a sophomore, the sprinter has run 10.44 in the 100 and 21.34 in the 200. He also ran the second leg of the Gauchos' fourth-ranked 4x100 relay team that has gone a smoldering 40.87. Works-Wright, Michael Boyer, Jayln Smallwood and Gavin Thompson also have the state's No. 3 4x200 relay (1:24.88).
Others to watch: Dougherty Valley senior Arrin Sagiraju has the state's seventh-best 1,600 mark (4:08.70). … Fremont-Sunnyvalle senior Juan Gonzalez was also part of that crazy fast 3,000 at Arcadia, which converted to a 8:51.83 3,200, the second fastest in the state. … St. Ignatius senior hurdler Prince Babalola Buchango won the Stanford Invitational 110 hurdles in 14.10 and showed exceptional speed with bests of 10.70 and 21.37 in the sprints. … Serra senior Luke Lewis, a two-time CCS champion and Stanford commit, has the state's No. 2 shot put (60-9). … Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa sophomore Ashlin Mallon is the latest long-distance phenom from the Redwood Empire. She has the state's No. 5 1,500 (4:34.70) and the seventh-best mile (4:53.83). ... Soleil Warner, of tiny Bay School, has the state's No. 7 girls 300 hurdles time (42.29). … Mitty senior discus thrower Maya Ifo Desai is No. 4 at 154-4. … All-Metro girls basketball standout Dulcinea Vail, of Acalanes-Lafayette, could win the always wide-open high jump title. She currently has the state's seventh-best mark of 5-7¼.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Miami Herald
Belen Jesuit's Tiago Socarras is the Miami-Dade Boys' Track and Field Athlete of the Year
Early in his career, Belen Jesuit's Tiago Socarras was more concerned with individual accolades than team accomplishments. But as he progressed through his running career, Socarras became more of a leader while developing into one of the top distance runners in the state of Florida. That's what made his senior season extra special. Not only did Socarras finish his final meet in a Wolverines uniform with a pair of individual state titles, he played a vital role in helping Belen Jesuit secure a long sought after team state championship. Socarras, who is headed to the University of Pennsylvania this fall, is the Miami Herald's Boys' Track and Field Athlete of the Year for Miami-Dade County. Socarras, a key contributor on the Belen cross-country team in recent years, has been a part of multiple state team titles in that sport. But winning team titles in track and field is less common at Belen. That changed last month when Socarras' victories in the 800 and 1,600 meter races at state helped the Wolverines secure their first state team championship since 2007. 'It was really special and the team title meant even more than any other individual title,' Socarras said. 'The double was pretty special too and the experience was great. It was amazing and the greatest way to cap a high school career.' Socarras ran a time of 1:52.27 to win the 800 meter race at the Class 3A meet. He dominated the event during the season, and ran the fastest time in the state this season in the event in April at the Arcadia Invitational (1:47.66). Socarras won the 1,600 meters earlier in the meet with a time of 4:10.11. His successful track season followed a strong performance in cross-country. At state in November, Socarras finished third individually and ran a season-best time of 15:12 in the 5K race. Next, Socarras will try to carry over what he learned from his experiences at Belen to the track and cross-country programs at Penn while studying finance. 'I'm definitely excited because academically it's an amazing school,' said Socarras, who had previously been recruited by multiple programs including Duke. 'So far in track and field, they haven't done too much, but hoping to go up and change that.'
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
St. Francis softball avoids another early NorCal exit with stirring 1st-round win
A year after complete despair brought on by a stunning upset loss in the first round of the Northern California playoffs, the St. Francis softball team experienced the opposite on Tuesday. With her team having been down to its final strike three times, junior outfielder and three-time West Catholic Athletic League MVP Jaime Oakland delivered a run-scoring double to plate May Meltz to tie the score. A few moments later, Peyton Tsao doubled home the winning run to beat Rocklin 3-2 in a Division 1 contest. Last season, following a 4-1 loss to Amador Valley-Pleasanton, the then-undefeated and national No. 1 Lancers tearfully walked off their home field. On Tuesday, they skipped and joyfully celebrated. The third-seeded Lancers (28-3) next travel to No. 2 Del Oro-Loomis (29-2) Thursday in the semifinals. Tuesday's win did end with controversy. Tsao's liner in right-center field appeared to be caught on a diving play. But after huddling, umpires ruled that the ball had bounced. It took nothing away from the emotional win, said St. Francis coach Mike Oakland, who has led the team to a sparkling 209-30 mark since taking over in 2017, including five Central Coast Section titles. The fifth CCS title came Saturday, a wild 9-6, eight-inning win at top seed Willow Glen-San Jose when Hayden Hummel, Tsao, Gabby Rocha and Isabella Sandoval all drove in two runs. Sandoval, Rocha and Hummel are all seniors. 'Our girls have been resilient all year,' Oakland said via text. 'They kept fighting (Tuesday) and found a way to get it done. Rocklin is a very strong team with an elite pitcher. There were no easy innings and we had runners on base most of the game and couldn't get the hit we needed until the end.' More first-round softball: In Division 2, Isabella Rice, Kylee McKinney and Taylor Jennings all blasted home runs to lift No. 4 seed Liberty-Brentwood (24-4) to a 14-3 five-inning home win over Central Catholic-Modesto. The Lions will travel to play top seed Vanden-Fairfield, an 8-6 winner over Foothill-Pleasanton, which got a home run and two RBIs from Alexa Sponsel. … No. 6 seed King's Academy-Sunnyvale (22-7) beat No. 3 Destiny Christian-Sacramento 5-4 behind two hits and two RBIs each from Katia Nesper and Mia Bennette. … In Division 3, Callie Howard threw a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts and Andrea Mansberry and Izzie Kunimune each had two hits and two RBIs as second-seed Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa beat Calaveras 5-1. … In Division 5, seventh-seed Balboa (14-4) broke open a close game with a 15-run fifth inning to win 20-3 at Foresthill (Placer County). The Bucs will have another long bus ride to face host and third-seed King City (19-11). Baseball first-round: In Division 1, Tyler Spangler and Antonio Castro had three hits apiece and Bubba Vargas drove in three runs as host and top seed De La Salle-Concord defeated Del Oro 7-3. The Spartans will next host St. Mary's-Stockton (26-8), a 4-3 winner over Valley Christian. Mississippi State-bound Dax Hardcastle launched a game-ending leadoff homer in the seventh for St. Mary's. Christian Navarez had a home run for Valley Christian (25-8-1). … A bases-loaded walk to Tyler Harrison in the 12th inning gave No. 3 seed Serra a 2-1 win over College Park-Pleasant Hill. Kelley Crawford, Aiden Waters and Davis Minton combined to throw a five-hitter for Serra, which will host No. 7 seed Los Gatos, a 9-8 winner at Franklin-Elk Grove. Brayden Smith drove in three runs with a double and Rowen Smith added a two-run double for Los Gatos (25-5). … In Division 2, sixth-seeded Acalanes-Lafayette (18-10-1) continued its late-season surge with a 9-3 win over No. 3 Chico (28-2) as Ando Butner had a two-run homer and Drew Asadorian and Cominic Patiucci each drove in two. … Nick Chow threw a four-hitter and Henry Dommer added a homer and double, lifting St. Francis (21-10) to a 5-0 win over Central Catholic. … In Division 4, pitchers Jackson Flanagan and Reid Plamondon made a two-run first-inning double from Zach Roeder stand up for No. 5 seed Menlo School-Atherton in a 2-0 win at Las Lomas-Walnut Creek. … A Zach Gallegos RBI single capped Santa Clara's 10-9 comeback win over Oakland Tech, which led 7-2 in the third inning. John Depner, Drew Diffenderfer and Jaxton Chao all drove in two runs for the Bruins (28-3). … In Division 5, Nicholas Chiu hit a two-run homer and Jerry Hou and Everett Carvalho each drove in three runs leading sixth-seed Lincoln to a 16-4 win at No. 3 Vacaville Christian. The Mustangs (17-15), who got three hits and three runs by Aidan Castaneda, travel to No. 2 Stevenson-Pebble Beach, a 5-2 winner over Torres. State golf: Led by a 4-under round of 67 by Josh Kim and a 71 from Noah Eisen on Tuesday, De La Salle tied for second in the CIF State Golf Championships at Poppy Hills Country Club. The Spartans and Santa Margarita-Rancho Santa Margarita (Orange County) finished at 362, nine strokes back of champion and host Stevenson (353), which had three players finish under par, led by Luke Brandler (67). The individual champion was St. Francis-La Canada (Los Angeles County) freshman Jaden Soong, who shot a bogey-free round of 62 with seven birdies and an eagle to finish two strokes better than Evan Liu (64), of Torrey Pines (San Diego County). Palo Alto, led Brendan O'Keefe's 70 and Joshua Wang's 71, finished fifth out of six teams at 367.
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Northern Kentucky-bound Devlin Biggs makes huge plays as Marist rolls past Mount Carmel. ‘Variety and versatility.'
Not only can Devlin Biggs be a menace to opponents, he can be pretty troublesome for his Marist teammates, too. The senior outside hitter takes practices as seriously as he does matches. He doesn't ease up on anyone, according to teammate Nathen Toth. 'He's a very physical player,' Toth said of Biggs. 'It's great to have him on our side. 'If you go up against him in practice, he'll make your forearms hurt a little bit.' Biggs, Toth and the rest of the defending state champion RedHawks have been putting a big hurt on all of their opponents during the postseason. That includes Tuesday's 25-9, 25-13 win over Mount Carmel in the De La Salle Sectional final in Chicago. It's the seventh sectional title for Marist, which is seeking its fifth state championship. The MIT-bound Toth tallied 10 kills, three aces and five dig for Marist (36-2). Biggs added seven kills, while Griffin McElroy chipped in with five kills and two blocks. Rorey Donnelly made eight digs and Jacob Finley totaled 15 assists against the Caravan (17-11). Biggs, for one, has been a bright spot all season long for the RedHawks. 'He was really excited to step into a bigger role this year,' Marist coach Jordan Vidovic said. 'All things considered, he's just another perfect example of the senior class, how they go about it every day during the season and how they try to get better even when things are going well. 'And he's added a lot. He has more than just a power game. He's added variety and versatility, and that's big for us.' Marist takes on Lake Park (28-11) at 1 p.m. Friday in the state quarterfinals at Hoffman Estates. The Lancers beat Hersey 23-25, 25-17, 25-13 to win the Schaumburg Sectional. Biggs, a Northern Kentucky recruit, never imagined he would be a 6-foot-3 force for Marist, ranked second in the nation by the USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association. He was a 5-3 libero in seventh grade and wasn't really living up to his last name. But by the time he was a freshman, he grew to 6-1 and added two more inches after that. The progress is all recorded in pencil on a kitchen wall at his house. 'I had a massive growth spurt and after that, I started taking volleyball seriously,' Biggs said. 'I put in hours and hours of practice. I knew I was going to grow, but I didn't think I would be this tall.' While Biggs was getting some playing time here and there the last two seasons, he's really making his mark this spring as a senior. 'This is his first taste of being a high-impact option,' Vidovic said. 'He's really excited about the game aspect.' Biggs will have an interesting challenge ahead in college. Northern Kentucky will play its first season in 2026 under coach Jim Palilonis, who played on Marist's first team in 1992 and coached at St. Rita. Palilonis took an interest in Biggs early on. 'I've known him since seventh or eighth grade,' Briggs said of Palilonis. 'He coached at Purdue Fort Wayne and he recruited me for there. 'Then he ended up switching to Northern Kentucky and he recruited me there. It's brand-new team and he's bringing in five guys from Illinois.' That list includes Lincoln-Way West's Drew Kregul. No matter what happens this weekend, however, Briggs' high school career will be coming to an end. He said he will miss his teammates. 'The 10 seniors are 10 of my best friends,' Biggs said. 'Outside of volleyball, we're hanging out all of the time. They make practices so fun. 'This season is so sick. Playing with this team is so much fun, and we've been able to have fun and still be serious.'
