CLOVIS - The wind wasn't taken out of the sails of Harvard-Westlake's Amy Weissenbach and SimiValley's Sarah Baxter in pursuit of defending their state titles Saturday night.
But gusty conditions throughout the 94th annual state track and field championships at Buchanan High prevented Weissenbach from challenging her National Federation High School record in the 800meters and Baxter from breaking 10 minutes for the first time in the 3,200.
Weissenbach became only the third female athlete in state history to win three consecutive 800 titles - the first from the Southern Section - and Baxter became the first girl since Mission Prep of San Luis Obispo's Jordan Hasay (2006-09) to capture back-to-back 3,200 crowns.
Weissenbach, who won last year in the NFHS record of 2 minutes, 2.04 seconds, led from wire to wire, finishing in 2:05.70.
She also teamed with Cami Chapus, Shea Copeland and Imani Cook-Gist in the 4 x 400 relay, delivering an impressive anchor leg to help the Wolverines take second in 3:47.07 behind Serra (3:46.45), which secured the team championship with 60 points, followed by El Camino of Oceanside (36), Long Beach Poly (29) and Harvard-Westlake (26).
"It feels really good to have everybody help you come home (by cheering) on the home stretch," Weissenbach said. "It's kind of bittersweet. I'm glad I was able to win it again. I was a bit more conservative on the first lap (than last year) and then I wanted to relax and hold my pace and be able to come home strong in the last 200. I was hoping (a record) would happen, but winning was my main goal."
After her toughest challenger, Marina's Laura Hollander, was tripped and fell early in the race, Baxter was all alone for the final seven laps, clocking 10:12, just off her national-leading 10:08.11. Saugus' Karis Frankian finished 19th in 10:46.38.
"I wanted to break 10 minutes, but the wind made it hard. It was hard keeping up the pace the whole time. I'm sure I would have felt better if I had someone to run with me," Baxter said. "It really means a lot, if not more than winning last year. I want to win it four years in a row, but right now, I'm going to take it one year at a time, so hopefully I can do it."
Thousand Oaks' Caitlin Turner, a Long Beach State signee, rallied in the final 75 meters of the 800 to finish third in a personal-best 2:09.75.
"I wasn't feeling good, but I pulled it together," Turner said. "I looked and saw that I was fifth in the state (with 250 meters to go) and if I pass one more girl, I'm in fourth, then if I pass one more girl, I'm in third, so that was really cool. I went with 150 to go and it worked out."
After winning her first state title in the 1,600 last season, Chapus was in position to repeat with a lap to go, but the Stanford-bound talent struggled to maintain her energy in the final 300 meters and dropped to fifth in 4:53.42, with Aptos' Nikki Hiltz winning in 4:42.45.
"It was an honest pace and my goal was just to stay with them as long as I could and then go after it on the last lap," Chapus said. "I kept picking it up and I felt good with 600 left, but I just didn't have it. I'm glad I got my bad race out of the way (before the adidas Dream Mile)."
Oak Park's Sydney Lewis, headed to UCLA, battled stride for stride with some of the elite sprinters in the country and placed fourth in the 100 in a wind-legal 11.73, trailing Long Beach Poly's Ariana Washington (11.47), Serra's Alexis Faulknor (11.53) and El Camino of Oceanside's Jasmine Gibbs (11.62).
"It doesn't get much better than that. They're all amazing athletes," Lewis said. "I'm happy. I improved from (Friday's prelims), so I couldn't ask for more. My goal was always to get to state, so I'm really pleased."
Alemany freshman Nia Britt led the shot put after four rounds with an effort of 46 feet, 8
Harvard-Westlake freshman Alex Florent cleared 5-7 on her final attempt in the high jump, but missed all three attempts at 5-9 and placed fifth. South Pasadena's Claire Kieffer-Wright cleared 5-10 for the title.
After helping Oaks Christian place fourth in the 4 x 100 relay - teaming with Schuyler Moore, Asha Culhane and Sarah Johnson - Danni Alakija was sixth in the 400 (55.57) and anchored the 4 x 400 to a fifth-place result in 3:52.03.
Newbury Park's Kendall Mader took seventh in the discus throw (134-11) and Taft's Lexis Lambert was ninth in the 200 (24.72).
