CHS Track – CIF Finals to the Banquet

Head Track & Field Coach George Green shares:

Finals

The CIF Track and Field finals run on May 27th served three purposes. The first was to qualify athletes for the state meet in Clovis California on June 2nd and 3rd. The second was to name individual champions in all events for the two divisions. The third was to establish team championships for both divisions. Athletes coming out of the CIF prelims on May 20th were divided into two heats with the top half in heat “A” and the bottom half in heat “B.” With a few exceptions, based on marks, only the top three athletes in heat “A” were eligible to advance to the State Meet. All running events except for the 1600 and 3200 meter runs had nine athletes in each heat. For the 1600 and 3200 there were 12 runners per heat. Team and individual champions came out of both heats and ranked by overall performances. We had two athletes advance to the state meet. Alysha Hickey won both the 100-meter dash and the high jump to move on. Ian Hurlburt placed 3rd in the 800 meter run just edging out Charlie Winn who placed 4th.

The top six combined finishers out of both heats per division made the podium to receive one of the coveted CIF Finals medals. Hickey made the podium trip four times. The first was for the 4×100 meter relay in which she combined with Ruthie Grant-Williams, Abigail Whittemore and Madison Shanks to place 3rd in D-II with a time of 49.82.

She also won the D-II high Jump with a leap of 5 feet 5 inches and the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.99. Not only did she win the D-II title in both of those events, she was the overall winner out of the “A” heats.  She could have gone higher in the high jump but after clearing 5-5, she was the only girl left in the competition and the 100 was about to start so she left it there. Her 4th medal was in the 200-meter dash where she clocked 25.09 to place 1st in the D-II competition and 4th overall. Actually, she did wind-up advancing in the 200 but I’ll get to that story a little later. Even if she had initially qualified for the 200 she would have passed to concentrate on the 100 and high jump.

Grant-Williams picked-up a 2nd medal by placing 6th in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.71. Also stepping up to the podium were Kelli Law who placed 3rd in the pole vault with a mark of 9 feet 4 inches, Renee Phillips with a PR of 5:05.67 for 4th place in the 1600, Jasmine Rippey for 4th in the 3200 with 11:24.39, Rileah Ramirez for 5th in the high jump with a leap of 5-1, and Teresa Perez who set a new personal record and school record while placing 4th out of the “A” heat and 3rd in D-II with a time of 2:13.38.

In most any other state Perez’s time would advance her to the state meet finals, but this is California and, in San Diego this year, the 800 is very competitive. The previous school record was 2:14.13 set by Samantha Piper at the State Meet finals in 1998. In the race last Saturday, the San Diego Section leader, Kiley McCarthy from Carlsbad, won with a time of 2:10.06 followed closely by Sakura Robinson from La Jolla in 2:10.66. Third place was up for grabs with Sakura’s sister, Sierra Robinson, also from La Jolla, one of the top runners with a PR of 2:15.62. The race for third came down to a dual between Sierra and Teresa with Sierra coming out on top by 7/100 of a second. The top two finishers are both seniors and the younger Robinson and Perez are both sophomores so, for the next couple of years, we should see some great competition between them. The two are currently ranked 3rd and 4th in the San Diego Section for the 800.

Madden Hundley didn’t quite make the podium but she ran well in the 1600 with a time of 5:20.34.

The girls’ team score in D-II was 66.5 points and ranked them 3rd behind La Costa Canyon with 73 and Cathedral Catholic with 70. Fourth and 5th went to Mt. Carmel and University City with 55 and 52 points respectively. Season’s end top-10 San Diego marks for girls list Hickey in three events, the 100, 200 and high jump. Phillips is listed for both the 1600 and 3200 meter runs. Grant-Williams is listed for both the 100 hurdles and the high jump, and Perez is listed in the 800. If you add the top 10 listing for our 4×100 team, Hickey’s total goes up to four and Grant-Williams’ tally goes up to three.

The top marks out of the boys’ meet were supplied by our 800 meter runners Ian Hurlburt and Charlie Winn who placed third and fourth in the “A” heat with times of 1:55.86 and 1:56.53. Hurlburt’s time was a PR and his 3rd place finish advanced him to the State Meet this weekend. Winn tied his PR set last year at CIF finals. Both are ranked in the top-10 this season.

Other finishers for the boys were Luke Klingenberg in the 1600 with a time of 4:26.95, Spencer Busby in the 3200 with 10:00.87, and Alex Cheever in the pole vault with a height of 12 feet 6 inches.

State Meet

At the state meet on June 2nd Hurlburt set a Personal Record in the 800 with a time of 1:55.69, and Hickey was just off her Personal Best with a time of 12.01 for the 100. Hickey also nearly got into the finals in the High Jump via a Jump-Off for the final qualifying spot. Jump-Offs are needed when two athletes are tied at a certain height and a winner can’t be determined by misses at lower heights. Here’s how it works. Each athlete has one try at the height that each went out on in the original competition. If both make it the bar goes up one inch. If both miss the bar goes down one inch. This goes on until one of the jumpers fails to make the current height. Because the 100-meter dash and the High Jump were at the same time, Hickey was at a disadvantage because she had to check-out to run the 100. The height she cleared, 5 feet 2 inches, was way-off her 5 feet 7-inch Personal Record set earlier this year. Another wrinkle that had to cause a bit of stress is that there was a scratch in the San Diego Section 200 that moved her into the 200, an event that she didn’t want to run at the state meet. When someone scratches from the CIF finals into the state meet the person moving in to the vacated position is supposed to be notified. This, however, didn’t happen. If we had known this we would have also scratched. The problem goes beyond just not showing up for the finals. At the state meet there is an honest effort rule that states if you don’t compete with an honest effort in an event you’re entered in you’ll be disqualified from competing in any events you’re entered in that come later. So, had Alysah qualified in the high jump for the finals on Saturday, she would have had to run the 200 on Friday. I was able to explain the situation to the officials and they let her scratch with no penalty. For a while, though it appeared she’d have to run.

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Banquet

We had our track banquet after the State Meet on Monday where Hickey and Hurlburt were named the girls’ and boys’ Track MVPs for the season. During the season Hickey set the school record for both the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.96, and the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.16. Add to this the top section mark in the High Jump of 5 feet 7 inches and a point total of over 155 points she was the obvious choice. She also was MVP last season as a freshman. On June 9, Alysah was named to the Union-Tribune First Team for Track in its All-San Diego Section teams for spring sports. Hurlburt had a great season culminating with the Division II championship in the 800-meter run which earned him the trip to the state meet. He also scored over 100 points in other events during the season to become a member of the Islander Track Team 100 Point Club.

MVP Plaques

To become a member of this elite group you need to score at least 100 points during the season. Three other Islanders achieved this level, Teresa Perez, Alex Cheever, and Ruthie-Grant Williams. Cheever has been primarily a pole-vaulter since he started with us last season but this year he branched-out to try other events. At the end of the year he had the boys’ best mark in the Pole Vault, Discus Throw, 100-meter dash, Long Jump, and Triple Jump. All this earned him the occasionally awarded “Swiss Army Knife Award” for this season. Perez and Grant-Williams set school records for the 800-meter run and 100 meter hurdles with Perez clocking 2:13.38 and Grant-Williams breaking her own record set last season with a time of 15.70. The 5th record set this season was by Renee Phillips who clocked 11:02.25 to break teammate Jasmine Rippey’s record set last season. All school record setters received photo plaques with their accomplishments.

Plaques for school records

Phillips finished her career at Coronado with the school’s top mark in Cross Country, the 3000-meter run and the 3200-meter run. Her school best for Cross County at Morley Field will never be broken as they’re changing the course this season. Both Phillips and Rippey were also All-CIF Cross Country First Team runners and both will be missed next season for both Cross Country and Track. Other special awards were given to Charlie Winn who was 4th in the county for the 800 this year right behind Hurlburt, and Rileah Ramirez who placed 5th in the high jump at CIF finals.

All photos courtesy of George Green.