Ariana Washington leads LB Poly to 70 points

State Meet Highlights

 
A victory at the California state meet (CIF Finals) truly means something special. In a state of 38 million people, all the various rounds and layers of postseason meets funnel into one meet at Veterans Memorial Stadium at Buchanan High School in Clovis. It's the best of the best in the entire state and it produces competition that drives performance and produces nationally relevant marks across the board. This year's meet was especially historic for Long Beach Poly senior Ariana Washington, who tied Allyson Felix as the only sprinter to win eight times (including relays).

Top Performances:

 
- Ariana Washington produced nation-leading times in the 100 (11.22), the 200 (22.96) and anchored the LB Poly Jackrabbits to the 4x100 relay title (45.19) to close out a storied career that also sent longtime coach Don Norford into retirement. Only Marion Jones has surpassed Washington's three straight 100-200 doubles.

 
- Long Beach Poly freshman Kaelin Roberts ran 52.52 to secure a nation-leading time in the 400 meters and was part of the Jackrabbits' whopping 70 points. She was also on the winning 4x400 relay (3:38.05).

 
- Reonna Collier, a freshman from Piedmont Hills, ran 40.90 to win the 300-meter hurdles with a nation-leading time of 40.90, one of the fastest performances ever by a ninth grader (the record is 40.81). She was also fourth in the 100 hurdles.

 
- Nate Moore of Castro Valley scored a wind-legal PR and US#1 in the long jump with 25-8.75 and he also won the triple jump with a 51-4 (2.1w). He also ran a leg on the second-place 4x100 relay team.

- Misana Viltz of Millikan ran 13.47 to win the 110 hurdles with a nation-leading time. (He would finish his ranked US#2 with 13.42).

- Curtis Godin, who won the 100 (10.31) and the 200 (20.87), led Mater Dei to the boys team championship.

- The meet's biggest controversy came when top contenders Anna Maxwell (San Lorenzo Valley) and Destiny Collins (Great Oak) fell in a chain-reaction fall with 200 meters to go and Sarah Robinson of Gunn was able to get past them and win the 1,600 meters in 4:44.25. Robinson also placed second the 3,200. Maxwell recovered and got second in the 800.

- Woodcreek of Roseville won the 4x100 relay in 41.20, becoming just the second squad from the Sac-Joaquin Section to win that event. They won the title after Edison was DQ'd for a violation.

- Northwood senior Bethan Knights cruised to victory in the girls 3,200 meters – an event that missed Sarah Baxter because of an injury – in 10:00.19.

- Margaux Jones of Redlands got a final attempt of 20-4.75 in the long jump to outlast rival Courtney Corrin, a sophomore at Harvard-Westlake (20-0.25).

- Blake Haney of Stockdale won his second straight state title in the 1,600 (4:08.52) but he wasn't able to pull off an historic double for the second straight year. He was third in the 3,200 meters. Instead, Fred Huxham of Redwood won it with 8:54.24.

- Senior Stamatia Scarvelis became the second girl in state history to win three shot put titles (52-2) and she also added her first state title in the discus.

- Carl Johansson from Lutheran jump 17-0 to win the boys pole vault, just three inches shy of the meet record.

- Sophomore Michael Norman from Vista Murrieta made a big impact with second place finishes in both the 200 and 400.

Top Teams:

Long Beach Poly's girls sent out coaching legend Don Norford in style with the second-most points in CIF history (70). It was Poly's 14 state title. Mater Dei rode the fast legs of Curtis Godin and got key points from thrower Malik McMorris, fourth in the shot put and the discus, on the way to the boys trophy.

Top Competition: The boys 800 meters final was as close as you can get. Senior David Manahan from Harvard-Westlake edged Clovis junior Connor Morello 1:51.04 to 1:51.05. Those were the two fastest performances in California all season. Alternatively, how about the girls 800, where 2:11.54 failed to score? Junior Mikaela Smith won that race in 2:06.85.

Record-breaker: There were no state meets broken at this year's meet despite a slew of outstanding performances. The record that had most people talking by the end of the season came from Bethan Knights, who broke the US and California all-time record in the two-mile at the Brooks PR Invitational.

Results