Poly’s vaunted girls track and field team will have 21 entries in the CIF-SS Finals next Saturday at Cerritos College, making it a prohibitive favorite to win a seventh consecutive section title.
But at the Division 1 prelims Saturday at Trabuco Hills High, it was a Poly star who didn’t qualify that made news.
Ebony Crear, who has the fastest time in the state this year in the 300 hurdles at 41.46, clipped the fifth hurdle, stumbled in her heat and finished in 46.35, which was 11th-best on the day. The top nine athletes in each event advance to the finals.
Crear qualified in the 100 hurdles and also as a member of the Jackrabbits 4×400 relay team, but there’s no denying the disappointment that came with the stumble.
She wasn’t the only local hurdler with issues in the prelims. Millikan’s Misana Viltz, whose specialty is the 110-meter high hurdles, easily posted the best time at 13.78, but he didn’t advance in the 300 hurdles, and neither did one of his top competitors locally, Wilson’s Bayron Manuel.
Poly stars Ariana Washington (100, 200), Jade Lewis (100, 200), Kaelin Roberts (200, 400) and Kymber Payne (both hurdles) qualified in multiple events. All four compete on Poly’s relay teams, too.
On the boys side, Millikan’s Malik Brown, who won the Moore League 100 and 200, advanced to the finals, as did Poly’s Mary’ea Harris in the 200 and 400 and Wilson’s Kemonie Briggs in the 400 and long jump.
In Division 2, Mayfair’s Ellis Newton qualified easily in the 800 and 1600 to set him up for a rare double in those events.
St. John Bosco is primed for a good showing in the Division 3 boys finals with nine entries, including Sean McGrew in the 100, long jump and short relay, Branden Estrada in the 800 and 1600, and Matt Katnik in the shot put and discus. Dijon Donaldson of Bellflower qualified in their field events, the high jump, long jump and triple jump.
CIF-SS TRACK & FIELD PRELIMS
(Area athletes only, with rank in prelims and times)
DIVISION 1
At Trabuco Hills HS
GIRLS
100: 1, Ariana Washington, Poly, 11.61; 4, Sara Limp, Los Alamitos, 12.00; 5, Ashleigh Chambers, Wilson, 12.13; 8, Jade Lewis, Poly, 11.90.
200: 1, Kaelin Roberts, Poly, 23.76; 2, Washington, 24.20; 5, Lewis, 24.67; 7, Limp, 24.67.
400: 1, Roberts, 54.87; 5, Hollie Harris, Poly, 56.39; 7, Autumn Wright, Poly, 56.56.
800: 2, Janice Lane, Poly, 2:14.32.
100 hurdles: 3, Kymber Payne, Poly, 14.27; 4, Ebony Crear, Poly, 14.35; 5, Elijah McDonald, Wilson, 14.45; 6, Je’Neal Ainsworth, Poly, 14.69.
300 hurdles: 1, Payne, 42.52; 2, Angela Marong, Poly, 43.95.
4×100 relay: 1, Poly (Kenyla Miles, Wright, Lewis, Washington), 46.14.
4×400 relay: 2, Poly (Roberts, Harris, Crear, Wright), 3:50.84; 5, Wilson (Chambers, Katleen Ballweber, Rabia Hawes, Alecia Robinson), 3:53.19.
High jump: 1t, Kaelin Davis, Wilson, 5-4.Long jump: 2, Zhane Smith, Poly, 19-0 ½; 8, Onxy Gaston, Poly, 18-3 ½.
Triple jump: 1, Gaston, 36-9 1/4; 5, Ainsworth, 35-5 ¾; 6, Jennifer Bandley, Los Alamitos, 35-10 ½; 9, Jali Barret, Poly, 35-7.
Shot put: 1, Mackenna Howard, Los Alamitos, 46-9 ½; 4, Sisilia Puaka, Cabrillo, 40-7.
Discus: 2, Angel Gonzalez, Downey, 128-6; 7, Howard, 141-4; 9, Puaka, 116-9.
BOYS
100: 3, Malik Brown, Millikan, 10.86; 4, Matthew Sherrills, Paramount, 10.90; 5, Tristan Smith-Moseby, Wilson, 10.95.
200: 2, Mary’ea Harris, Poly, 21.60; 3, Brown, 21.60.
400: 1, Kemonie Briggs, Wilson, 48.04; 5, Harris, 49.14; 9, Malik Dennis, Poly, 49.09.
800: 7, Thomas Heib, Los Alamitos, 1:56.57.3200: 3, Miguel Bautista, Poly, 9:15.95; 5, Benjamin Gonzalez, Warren, 9:25.45; 6, Anthony Palazzo, Poly, 9:19.57; 7, Andres Barragan, Warren, 9:19.60.
100 hurdles: 1, Misana Viltz, Millikan, 13.78; 4, Juan Ward, Poly, 14.15; 8, Bayron Manuel, Wilson, 14.58; 9, Tyler Rios, Los Alamitos, 14.62.
300 hurdles: 1, Ward, 38.59; 2, Rios, 38.16.
4×100 relay: 2, Poly (Jeremy Calhoun, Kyle Wilson, Harris, Dennis), 42.11.
4×400 relay: 1, Poly (Harris, Dennis, Daveon Howard, Christopher Donowa), 3:16.36; 4, Wilson (Briggs, Smith-Moseby, Jason Velesquez, Copeland Laris), 3:19.73. 7, Lakewood (Jayson Levias, Justin Reis, Jahleel Norwood, Jordan Wooten), 3:20.19.
High jump: 5t, LaBrice Howard, Poly, 6-4.
Pole vault: 1, Luis Briceno, Downey, 15-0.
Long jump: 4, Ekene Chukwumezie, Downey, 22-9 ½; 6, Vincent Calhoun, Poly, 22-3 ¾; 7t, Briggs, 22-1 ½; 7t, Terrell Coleman, Downey, 22-1 ½.
Triple jump: 8, Briceno, 45-0.
Shot put: 9, DaWaun Lucas, Lakewood, 52-6.
Discus: 3, Jeneum Toalepai, Paramount, 171-10.
DIVISION 2
At Moorpark HS
BOYS
100: 3, Jacob Bryant, Compton, 10.68w; 9, Tristan Thompson, Mayfair, 10.92w.
200: 8, Justin Parker, Mayfair, 22.15w.
400: 2, Parker, 48.47.
800: 3, Ellis Newton, Mayfair, 1:55.81.
1600: 2, Newton, 4:18.96.
DIVISION 3
At Estancia HS
GIRLS
100: 6, Shawna Lino, Bellflower, 12.36w.
200: Lino, 25.03w.
800: 6, Kala Kopecek, St. Joseph), 2:18.18.
Shot put: 2, Tiffany Gilmore, Centennial, 44-11.
Discus: 1, Gilmore, Centennial, 138-4.
BOYS
100: 2, Sean McGrew, St. John Bosco, 10.64w.
800: 6, Branden Estrada, St. John Bosco, 1:57.98.
1600: 7, Estrada, 4:22.17.
3200: 6, Gustavo Gonzalez, St. John Bosco, 9:21.17.
110 hurdles: 3, Wesley Bernard, Bellflower, 14.92; 6, Tytus Simmons, Artesia, 15.25w.
300 hurdles: 1, Bernard, 39.03.
4×100 relay: 4, St. John Bosco (Jordan Harris, Shay Fields, Tyus Loman, McGrew), 42.37.
4×400: 7, St. John Bosco (Loman, Harris, Kaylin Franklin, Kristian Gilbert), 3:25.90.
High jump: 6, Dijon Donaldson, Bellflower, 6-2.
Long jump: 6, McGrew, 21-6; 7, Donaldson, 21-3.
Triple jump: 5, Donaldson, 44-3.
Shot put: 3, Matt Katnik, St. John Bosco, 58-11 ½.
Discus: 2, Katnik, 165-0.
DIVISION 4
At Carpinteria HS
GIRLS
800: 3, Anahy Covarrubias, St. Matthias, 2:17.12.
1600: Catherine Luo, Whitney, 5:08.94.
3200: 5, Luo, 11:22.47.
100 hurdles: 6, Rataeja Sholes, Cerritos Valley Christian, 15.90.
High jump: 1t, Sholes, 5-0; 3t, Michaela Platt, Whitney, 5-0.
BOYS
100: 9, Jonathan Nicholson, Cerritos Valley Christian, 11:50.
Long jump: 3, Nicholson, 20-5 ½.
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