Foster wins long jump and triple jump, contributes 30 of Broncos’ 41 points to become first Central Section program in a decade to win championship; Larrier leads Monterey Trail to a pair of titles, team runner-up, with Christon sweeping sprints

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

CLOVIS — Caleb Foster didn’t have to worry or feel sorry for himself in between events Saturday.

About all he had time to do, it seems, was win. And score.

Foster’s banner day at the 101st CIF-State Track and Field Championships lifted Clovis North to its first team state championship, as he won two events, finished second in another, and anchored the Broncos’ runner-up 4x100-meter relay team.

Clovis North won the title by scoring 41 points to runner-up Elk Grove Monterey Trail’s 27. Carmichael Jesuit was third with 24 points.

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The state championship was the first for a Central Section boys team since Bakersfield Frontier and Clovis East’s co-championship 10 years ago. Bakersfield had also won boys titles in 1939-40, 1992 and 2002, Fresno Edison in 1941 and 1963, along with Coalinga in 1917.

Saturday also broke a string of four consecutive boys team titles by Riverside County schools. It also marked the first time Central Section programs swept both team championships, with Buchanan capturing its first girls crown.

The Broncos can certainly thank Foster, who contributed to 30 of those 41 points. He won the long jump on his first attempt with a wind-aided leap of 25 feet (7.62m) and the triple jump in the final round with a wind-aided 49-9.50 (15.17m), marks that would both rank among the top five nationally. The triple jump was a personal best by eight inches.

“I’m just thankful that God got me here in the first place,” Foster said. “And just made me do what I needed to do. It was all about energy management.”

Foster got going early with his long jump, then experienced some disappointment as the Broncos’ 4x100 relay team finished second to Monterey Trail by a 41.47 to 41.49 margin.

“After the 4x100, I was kind of upset,” Foster said. “But I kind of put it in a bottle and threw it to the side and was like, ‘OK, that’s done and over with. I’ve got two more events to go and I can’t be worried about the last one.’ I just had to push through.”

Foster was also second in the 100 hurdles in 13.71, and it took Stockton St. Mary’s junior Jamar Marshall running a personal best and the top time nationally to win in a wind-aided 13.31.

“It shows all the hard work I’ve been putting in continued this year,” Marshall said. “It’s just like I ran a 13.31, it’s unbelievable, and some people can’t do it. I’m glad I’m one of those people that’s written down in history.”

Foster did get some help in leading Clovis North. Junior Isaiah Galindo scored two points in the 3,200 with a seventh-place finish (9:05.10). Senior Naythn Scruggs added three points with a sixth-place showing in the 100 (10.62).

All that added up to a total that California’s other teams simply could not keep pace. Monterey Trail’s other first-place finish came from senior Zachary Larrier, who held off Harvard-Westlake senior Brayden Borquez to win the 400 by a 46.73 to 46.83 margin.

Kenan Christon of Madison High in San Diego developed into one of the nation’s elite sprinters this year. He hammered that point home Saturday with a double victory in the 100 (10.30) and 200 (20.69).

Although he didn’t improve on his San Diego Section record in the 200, he did equal both the state meet and section all-time records in the 100, matching the achievement of Riley Washington from Southwest High in 1992.

“I came out here and did exactly what my overall goal throughout the year was to do,” said Christon, who is headed to USC to play football and perhaps run track. “I had times set for this year, and I surpassed that. So overall, I’m just happy with whatever I can run at the end of the year. It does feel great to run that 10.30.”

In one of the more anticipated races of the day, Upland senior Caleb Lutalo Roberson won the 300 hurdles, lowering his time in the event to 36.32, No. 2 in the country.

It was the second consecutive year he won the 300, and he had to hold off a fierce challenge from Riverside King senior Reyte Rash, who ran 36.41. Roberson became the first individual to repeat since former San Ramon California standout David Klech in 2005-06.

Jesuit junior Matt Strangio also won for a second consecutive year but in a different event. Strangio won the 1,600 in 4:08.07 over runner-up Colin Peattie of Bellarmine Prep (4:09.99) and Liam Anderson of Larkspur Redwood (4:10.26).

Strangio became the first athlete since Bakersfield Stockdale graduate Blake Haney in 2013-14 to win the different distance events in back-to-back years.

Newbury Park junior Nico Young, who turned heads in April in taking the national lead with an 8:40.0 in the 3,200, won again Saturday in 8:47.27. Anderson finished second in 8:53.28 and Strangio was third in 8:57.69.

Young had won many of his races lately by simply routing the field from the start. He stayed back Saturday for 800 meters, before taking control.

“I knew the wind was looking pretty strong today, so I definitely had to take that into account,” Young said. “But definitely I wanted to just not lead the first lap and a half so I could kind of just take the lead later on.”

In the throws, the shot put went to plan, as Bakersfield Liberty senior Daniel Viveros won his second consecutive state championship by throwing 68-10.50 (20.99m) to extend his winning streak in the event to 31 consecutive meets. Viveros, the national leader at 71-3 (21.71m), became the first to repeat since Bakersfield Frontier’s Matt Darr in 2009-10.

In the discus, however, Newbury Park senior Gino Cruz won with a third-round throw of 191-11 (58.49m), becoming the school’s first state champion, before Young added another later in the evening.

Sitting dead last after a lap in the 800 meters, Valencia senior Kai Wingo played catch up and caught Jesuit junior Chase Gordon to win by a 1:51.71 to 1:51.74 margin.

Wingo became the first Valencia male athlete to capture a state title, a decade after Aly Drake won the girls 800 championship for the Vikings.

The day’s other state champions in the field events came in the pole vault, where Lodi’s Samuel Wright won with a 16-5 clearance (5.00m) based on fewer attempts over Rancho Bernardo’s Jacob Rice, and the high jump, where San Marcos’ Beau Allen prevailed with a 6-11 clearance (2.10m) to hold off a personal-best 6-10 effort (2.08m) from Canyon junior Tyler Cash.

Loyola saved its two best races in the 4x400 for the state prelims and finals, edging Long Beach Poly in the championship by a 3:17.56 to 3:17.68 margin.