Islander Track Athletes Advance to CIF Prelims

Last Friday, most of the City League Track and Field Finals were held at Canyon Hills High School, except for the discus throw and triple jump held at Madison High School on Wednesday. The purpose of the finals is to qualify individual athletes for the CIF Prelims and determine league champs for each of the events. Medals were awarded to the top three athletes in each event. There are three ways to advance to the CIF prelims, which for our division (D-3) will be at Mt. Miguel High School on May 14th. The first way to advance is to place first at league finals. The second is to match a standard mark. The third is via the “at large” process. After league winners and “by mark” qualifiers are added to an event for the CIF prelims, the field is expanded to 27 athletes. The “at large” marks come from each league’s finals.

On Wednesday, at Madison High School, Tatum Wade won the girl’s discus throw with a toss of 80’8″. Emma Slaughter placed eighth with 54′ even. Donny Couts also advanced after a close competition with a Lincoln thrower. He placed second by five inches with 135’2″, but easily advanced by exceeding the standard of 130’1″. Also advancing “at large” was Saxton Silvester with a toss of 101’0.5″. Asa Valdivia’s throw of 90’8.5″ didn’t get him in the CIF Prelims for the discus, but on Saturday, he made the cut in the shot put with a heave of 36’8″. On Friday, Wade won the girls’ shot put with 29’11” to become our only double League Champ for this season.

We had double winners in the 300-meter hurdles. Lindsey Balsley won the girl’s race with 49.81 seconds; Zane Delcore won the boy’s race with a PR of 41.04 seconds. Delcore’s time was under the standard for auto-advance of 41.95.

Balsley also advanced in the long jump with a second-place mark of 16’6″, which tied the standard for auto-advance. She’ll be busy on Saturday as she also qualified for the 100-meter dash. Jack Delcore came very close to hitting the auto standard in the 110-meter hurdles with a second-place finish of 16.76 to easily move on via “at large.” In the sprints, Kaden Brown got through via “at-large” in the 200-meter dash with a PR time of 23.86 seconds. Also in that event were Gio Navarro (24.31 PR), Race Schwartz (24.87), and Cian Eberle (25.69). Delcore was our top finisher in the 100-meter dash with 11.77 seconds, followed by Navarro and Brown, each with a time of 12 seconds flat. Delcore’s time qualifies him as the first alternate, which means if there’s a scratch in boys-100, he’s first in line to move into the race. Mason Olsen cleared 18-0 in the long jump. In the distance events, all three girls who ran the 1600-meter run qualified, with Dana Jennings placing third with a PR of 5:40.13, followed by Lily Clemons with 5:58.43, and Eva Vinegrad with a first time under 6-minute PR of 5:59.51.

There were several PR’s in the boys’ 1600, with Conor Youngblood clocking 4:49.39, Detrik Heidt with a time of 4:58.69, and Rafael Roos running 5:16.18. Although none advanced out of this competitive field, Youngblood is the first alternate, so he has a good chance of scratching in. The boys’ team advanced in both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. In the former Zane Delcore, Brown, Jaden Banner, and Navarro placed third behind Lincoln and Madison with a time of 45.28. In the latter Schwartz, Brown, Navarro, and Banner placed second with a time of 3:37.80. Banner and Schwartz also competed in the 400-meter dash with times of 56.66 and 56.84, respectively.

Want to see more?
Click here for lots of shots taken at the discus competition on Wednesday.
Click here for stills taken on Friday.
Click here for videos of many of Friday’s events.
Click here for many years of Track Shots.