For first time since 2006, a pair of competitors both eclipse 200-foot barrier during state qualifying round, as top 20 all-time performers in California will battle for supremacy again in one of the elite showdowns in meet history in Clovis; Arrington, Carter and Rogers also achieve state-leading marks in prelims 

By Pete Marshall for DyeStat

After a personal-best 204 feet, 2 inches (62.23m) in the discus throw at last week’s CIF Central Section Masters Meet, Clovis North junior McKay Madsen was unsurprisingly the top seed in the prelims for Friday’s CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High’s Veterans Memorial Stadium.

After all, it was the No. 6 mark in the nation this year and best performance in California in two seasons.

So, another 200-foot throw would surely give Madsen, a second-place finisher at state last year, the top seed for Saturday’s championship meet?

That was until his friend and top rival enjoyed the best moment of his career in his home ring Friday.

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Madsen achieved a mark of 201-10 (61.51m) on his first attempt, but he will go second-to-last in the rotation Saturday because Buchanan senior Derek Smith threw a lifetime-best 206-11 (63.06m), a new top mark in the state and third-best performance in the nation Friday on the first of his three throws.

Both Smith and Madsen enter the final ranked among the top 20 all-time competitors in California. The last time a pair of athletes surpassed the 200-foot barrier in the state final was 2017, but it had been since 2006 that multiple competitors achieved the feat in the state prelims.

“Usually I try to get a good mark to set the pace,” Smith said. “I just went 200 feet on my first throw, try to match that. It’s great energy to throw far on your first throw because it puts everyone else under pressure to perform.”

Madsen will go into Saturday’s meet as the No. 2 qualifier in both the discus and shot put. The top qualifier in shot put is his teammate, senior Brayden Bitter, who achieved a 64-3.25 (19.58m) effort on his second attempt, nine inches shorter than his PR and state-leading mark from last week.

“That was expected. He’s figured it out,” Madsen said of Bitter. “He’s so deserving of that first place and I think he’ll get it tomorrow. It should be exciting, battling for second or third (in shot put).”

While the primary goal Friday was to make it to Saturday, some of Friday’s competitors couldn’t help themselves and put up outstanding marks.

That included Mt. Miguel sophomore Brandon Arrington, who posted an all-conditions state-leading time in the 100, 10.27 seconds.

He also posted the top time in the 200 (20.55), which was slightly slower than his state-leading time from last week (20.40).

Acalanes’ Trevor Rogers posted a state-leading mark with a wind-legal 24-7.75 (7.51m) in the long jump on his only attempt, and Vista Del Lago’s Jordan Carter posted a state-leading effort of 48-6.75 (14.80m) on his third opportunity in the triple jump.

There were no new state top marks among girls on Friday, but there were many that were close.

Long Beach Wilson’s Loren Webster had a wind-legal leap of 20-9.25 (6.33m) in the long jump, one-quarter inch behind her state-leading mark. 

Carlsbad’s Morgan Herbst, the owner of the top time in the 300 hurdles this season (41.45), was the top qualifier in the event (41.93). 

San Diego High junior Anisa Bowen-Fontenot’s time in the 100 hurdles (13.74) was close to her state-leading mark of 13.68.

One notable girls absence Friday was St. Mary’s Academy junior Madison Mosby, who posted the top mark in the state (53.17) last week at the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet, scratched prior to her race.

Morgan Maddox of Culver City posted the top time in that event Friday (53.62) and was also the top qualifier in the 200 (23.60).