Track and Field Notebook: Stanislaus athletes advance to state after successful weekend
For the first time since 2019, the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section ended its postseason by hosting the Masters Meet on Friday, May 20, and Saturday, May 21, at Davis High School. Prelims of most events were Friday, along with boys pole vault, girls high jump, boys discus, girls shot put and boys and girls triple jump finals. Finals for all other events were Saturday.
Representatives from a number of Stanislaus District teams advanced to Masters after progressing through league championships and divisional championships over the past month, but only a select few earned spots in this weekend’s state meet. Representatives from Enochs, Downey, Pitman, Turlock, Ripon and Hughson will make the trip to Fresno after having success at Davis High.
The top three finishers from the weekend’s Masters events advance to The 102nd CIF State Track & Field Championships at Veterans Memorial Stadium at Buchanan High School in Clovis on May 27 and 28.
Here are notes from the weekend, as well as names of all Stanislaus District representatives heading to Clovis:
Enochs finishes in top 3: The Eagles boys team finished the championship weekend second in overall team points. Its total of 41 was behind just event host Davis, but not by much. The Blue Devils won the event with 47 points.
Enochs picked up 20 points from Abayomi Babalola alone after the Dartmouth commit won two events on the weekend. On Friday, the senior took home the discus title (168-01) and came back on Saturday, placing first in the shot put (52-09.50). Also placing in the top three of the throwing events was USC-bound Steve Mai, who finished second in Friday’s discus (160-07). The senior also finished fourth in the shot put.
Rounding out Enochs’ successful trio was Keith Orona. The three-sport athlete finished second in the high jump with a personal best 6-4 and will also be competing this weekend in Fresno.
Ripon’s Sausedo wins 300m hurdles: Ripon High’s Anthony Sausedo went into Saturday’s 300m hurdles final with the top time after finishing first in Friday’s prelims. He proved that Friday’s effort was the norm, winning the final with a personal best time of 38.26. He will run in the first of three heats at Friday’s 300m prelims. He also ran in the 110m hurdles, finishing sixth.
Relay teams advance to state: Two relay teams from the Central California Athletic League will make the trip to Buchanan High for state. On the girls side, Turlock’s 4x400 team of Olivia Walker, Zoe Lamur, Ava Torres and Ella Spaulding finished second at the Masters Meet with a time of 4:02.58 in the prelims and 3:57.22 in the finals.
Downey High’s Jorden Lewis, Fayzon Allen, Gabriel Hernandez and Rusty Jones won the CCAL boys 4x100 Championship and Masters prelims and finished third in the finals with a school record time of 42.51 which earned the team a spot in the state relay. They will compete in the third of three heats at the state championship prelims.
Stanislaus District State Qualifiers
Boys 4x100m Relay: Downey: Jorden Lewis, Fayzon Allen, Gabriel Hernandez, Rusty Jones and Derrick Kirkendall
Boys 800m: Joseph Lighthall (Hughson), Damian Garcia (Pitman)
Boys 300 hurdles: Anthony Sausedo (Ripon)
Girls 4x400m Relay: Turlock: Olivia Walker, Zoe Lamur, Ava Torres, Ella Spaulding, Evelyn Ladine and Emma Ward
Boys High Jump: Keith Orona (Enochs)
Boys Pole Vault: Max McFarlane (Turlock), Ian Strode (Turlock)
Boys Shot Put: Abayomi Babalola (Enochs)
Boys Discus: Steve Mai (Enochs), Abayomi Babalola (Enochs)
