After qualifying at the City League Finals, Coronado’s athletes moved on to the CIF Preliminary Meet at Mt. Carmel High School. This meet would determine which athletes would advance to the CIF Finals this coming Saturday, only nine of which advance in each of the track events, and up to twelve in each field event. Depending on the athletes’ results, they may advance to either the “A” Flight (top half of Division I and II) or “B” Flight at the CIF Finals. The top three finishers in each “A” Flight race/event will advance to the State meet on Friday, June 1st. Coach George Green mentions that, “An athlete can also advance by matching a state standard for their event.”
Girls’ Events
Starting at 9 AM, Coronado’s athletes in the girls’ division competed in nearly all of the track events, which were each broken up into multiple heats. All of the heats were taken into account when selecting the top three qualifiers in each event.
The first track race was the 4×100-meter relay. At the City League Finals, Christian High School had bested Coronado in this race but now were racing in a different heat. Ruthie Grant-Williams, Madison Shanks, Abigail Whittemore, and Alysah Hickey clocked a time of 49.11 seconds, winning the first heat, while Christian won their heat, with a time of 49.53 seconds. Therefore, Coronado will be advancing as the No. 1 seed in this event.
In the field events, Hickey and Grant-Williams both competed in the High Jump, taking both first and second place in these events. With respective efforts of 5 feet-6 inches and 5-4, they will both move on to the Finals in this event. Later, they competed in the Long Jump and qualified with jumps of 19-2.5 (Hickey) and 16-5 (Grant-Williams). Grant-Williams also ran in the 100-meter hurdles, advancing with a time of 16.28 seconds, and Hickey won her heat of the 100 meter dash in 12.22 to advance.
Coach Green shared these articles with us:
DyeStat.com article and interview with Alysah Hickey
San Diego U-T article on Alysah
MileSplit San Diego Section Finals article
Teresa Perez qualified in three track events at the City League Finals: the 800-meter, 1600-meter, and 3200-meter. “In the 1600 on Saturday, she set a new Personal Record with a time of 5:03.22 to qualify as the fourth seed going into the finals,” shares Coach Green. Her second race of the day was the 800-meter, for which she qualified as the No. 3 seed, clocking 2:16.54. Running the 3200-meter, she qualified as the sixth seed and missed the school record by three seconds. “This combination was the first time I’ve had anyone qualify for the CIF “A” heat in the three distance events,” says Coach Green.
Also running in the 1600-meter, Madden and Abigail Hundley will both advance with Personal Records of 5:07.10 and 5:12.91, respectively. Freshman Sofia Van Arsdale ran in a different 800-meter heat than Teresa, got a Personal Record time of 2:18.96, and is the No. 6 seed.
In the discus throw and shot put, Victoria Perez represented Coronado in both of these events. She had particular success in the discus throw, qualifying as the No. 7 seed with a toss of 105 feet-2 inches.
Boys’ Events
Senior Ian Hurlburt was the featured competitor for the Islander Track team in the boys’ events. He ran in 800-meter, for which he is top in the county with a school record time of 1:54.17. “However, six boys have run between 1:56 and 1:57, and eight more have run under 1:58,” comments Coach Green. “There were two Division-I heats and two Division-II heats for the boys, who were all vying for one of the nine “A” slots. Since advancement is by time alone, each race was fast.” Ian typically has the strategy of kicking strong at the end of the race, but when he saw the clock and his position in the race, he decided to start his kick early. He won the race, with a time of 1:56.23, the best of the day.
In the 1600-meter race, Luke Klingenberg had a PR time of 4:25.85 and will move on as the No. 6 seed at the CIF Finals.
Congratulations to all Islanders who qualified!
Upcoming Meet:
CIF Finals – Saturday, May 26 at Mt. Carmel High School
For more information, visit: sdtrackmag.com/CIF
