One of 12 freshmen in a field of over 70 golfers at the City Section Championships in Griffith Park, Robin Jang wasn't supposed to contend for the individual title, let alone win it. Yet he did just that Wednesday and it could be the first of several for this cool, calm kid from Koreatown.
The 14-year-old Jang attends Van Nuys, which wasn't in the team competition, so he flew under the radar on his way to a 73 and a share of the lead Monday on Harding. That was one thing. But with the pressure cranked up a notch in the final round on Wilson, he was the only player to shoot under par. He won by a stunning four shots with a sparkling two-day total of 144.
Given his mastery of the greens, Jang stands an excellent chance to repeat next year.
With Segerstrom winning this afternoon, the semifinal lineups are now complete:
BOYS TENNIS
DIVISION I
Semifinals, Tuesday, 3 p.m.
#1 Irvine University at #4 Peninsula
#3 Mater Dei at #2 Santa Barbara
DIVISION II
Semifinals, Tuesday, 3 p.m.
Palm Desert at #1 San Marino
#2 Diamond Bar at #3 San Luis Obispo
DIVISION III
Semifinals, Tuesday, 3 p.m.
Santa Monica at #1 Brentwood
#3 Crossroads at #2 Beverly Hills
DIVISION IV
Semifinals, Tuesday, 3 p.m.
#1 Cerritos at Buckley
#2 Rowland at #3 Viewpoint
DIVISION V
Semifinals, Tuesday, 3 p.m.
#1 Cate at #4 La Salle
#2 Thacher at #3 Segerstrom
Notes: Championships, May 28 at Claremont Club (Div. III, 11 a.m.; Div. II, 11:30 a.m.; Div. I, 1 p.m.; Div. IV, 2 p.m.; Div. V, 2:30 p.m.)
Individual championships: Sectionals, Friday at Cate/Carpenteria, Arcadia HS/Arcadia County Park, Costa Mesa Tennis Center, and U. of Redlands. Final rounds, May 23-24 at Seal Beach Tennis Center.
It's all over but the medal presentations at Griffith Park, where Granada Hills held off a final-round charge from El Camino Real to win the City Section golf championship by seven shots.
Defending champion El Camino Real made up seven strokes Wednesday on the 6,942-yard Wilson Course but finished in second place with a two-day total of 782. Chris Kim shot a final-round 75 and Brady Ma carded a 78 to lead 6A League runner-up Granada Hills, which finished at 775.
Van Nuys freshman Robin Jang shot a one-under-par 71 to win the individual title by four strokes over Kim and Gabe Durkin of Cleveland.
It was too much Kaitlynne Birkett early and too much Makenna Cox late. And, ultimately, there wasn't much Burroughs could do about either as the sophomore pitching tandem from La Reina was effective throughout Wednesday's Southern Section-Toyota Division III wild-card playoff game.
Birkett started the game, giving up five hits and striking out five in five innings. Cox threw two innings of scoreless relief to help the Regents to a 7-3 victory over the visiting Indians in Thousand Oaks.
La Reina jumped to a four-run lead in the first inning during Wednesday's Southern Section-Toyota Division III wild-card game against Burroughs, and the host Regents have made their lead stand up, taking a 7-3 advantage into the sixth inning in Thousand Oaks.
Kaitlynne Birkett has done a fair job from the pitcher's circle for La Reina.
The right-hander has scattered five hits, struck out seven and worked herself out of two bases-loaded jams in five innings. Burroughs seems frustrated. Making matters worse, the Indians are running out of time.
The Southern Section-Toyota Division III wild-card game between Burbank Burroughs and Thousand Oaks got started about 20 minutes early Wednesday afternoon, but luckily for me, I planned ahead, arriving just in time to sit down and catch the first pitch.
Good thing I wasn't late because there was plenty of action in the first inning. La Reina batted around, scoring four times in the bottom of the inning as Sarah Fox and Taylor Yamek both had two-RBI hits. The Regents lead, 4-0, heading into the second.
SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS VOLLEYBALL
DIVISION I
Quarterfinals, Friday, 7 p.m.
San Clemente at #1 Newport Harbor
#4 Santa Margarita at Woodbridge
#3 Loyola at Los Alamitos
#2 Mira Costa at Orange Lutheran
There have been some date/time/site changes since Monday -- here's the latest information we have:
SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
DIVISION I
First round, Thursday, 3:15 p.m. unless noted
Long Beach Poly at #1 Los Alamitos
Royal at Anaheim Canyon
Valley View at Capistrano Valley
Corona Roosevelt at Mater Dei
Tustin vs. Lakewood at Blair Field (Long Beach), 6:30 p.m.
Fountain Valley at Valencia
JSerra at King
Vista del Lago at #4 Simi Valley
Westlake at #3 Hart
Corona Santiago at Canyon Springs
Riverside Poly at Tesoro
Edison vs. Long Beach Wilson at Blair Field (Long Beach)
Millikan at Thousand Oaks
Saugus at Norco
Aliso Niguel at El Modena
Riverside North vs. #2 Orange Lutheran at Hart Park (Orange), 7 p.m.
The opening-game schedule for the Nike Fairfax Summer Basketball Classic June 24-29 at Fairfax is loaded with quality matchups.
The June 24 schedule: Loyola vs. Pasadena, 4:30 p.m.; Harvard-Westlake vs. Santa Monica, 5:50 p.m.; Dominguez vs. Leuzinger, 7:10 p.m.; Campbell Hall vs. Orange Lutheran, 8:30 p.m.
The June 25 schedule: Westchester vs. Dorsey, 5:50 p.m.; Crespi vs. Mater Dei, 8:30 p.m.; Taft vs. Long Beach Poly, 4:30 p.m.; Fairfax vs. La Canada, 7:10 p.m.
It's no surprise that Chris Kim of Granada Hills is in contention for the individual title heading into today's final round of the two-day City Section Championships at Griffith Park. After all, he won the 6A League tournament by three shots last week and tied for seventh in the City last spring.
What is surprising is that the Highlanders lead the team competition by a comfortable 14 strokes over pre-finals favorite and reigning champion El Camino Real. Four Granada Hills players posted sub-80 scores Monday on the par-72 Harding Course and Michael Nishida, the Highlanders' fifth scorer, carded an 81.
Kim is tied atop the leaderboard at one-over-par with teammate Dohnte Allison, Brennan Amirkhizi of Taft and Robin Jang of Van Nuys. Eight players are within three strokes of the leaders, so it's still anyone's tournament.
Play switches over to the longer Wilson course today, where scores figure to go up, not down, and it'll take an effort equal to Granada Hills' first-round performance for the Conquistadores to defend their title. The first of 20 groups in today's final round teed off 30 minutes ago and qualifiers for the Southern California Regionals should be determined by early evening.
Harvard-Westlake Coach Matt LaCour had no time to call his wife Tuesday night to explain why he wasn't home from his team's Southern Section-Toyota Division III wild-card playoff game at Downey that started at 3:15 p.m.
"My wife found out we were still playing at 10 p.m. by watching the Channel 11 news," he said.
The longest baseball playoff game in Southern Section history ended at 10:35 p.m. in the 20th inning when Downey scored a run to win, 3-2.
The longest playoff game in Southern Section history came to an end when Ivory Thomas III walked home in the 20th inning to help host Downey defeat Harvard-Westlake, 3-2, in a Division III wild-card game Tuesday.
Thomas got his fifth hit of the game with a no-out single in the bottom of the 20th. After stealing second and third, he later scored on a no-out walk to Bryant De la Campa to put an end to the game that tied the record for longest game between two Southern Section teams.
Ten minutes after Granada Hills' reign as City champion ended Tuesday night in Pacific Palisades, Coach Tom Harp was in a matter-of-fact mood. Rather than offer up excuses for his team's shaky performance, he simply gave credit to the other team.
"Palisades played a solid game and they deserved to win," he said after the Highlanders' 13-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-22 semifinal loss. "Our lack of blocking and the fact that we couldn't get any runs going really cost us."
Harp also issued a proclamation--one that doesn't bode well for Palisades' next opponent, ninth-seeded El Camino Real: "If those guys play as well as they did tonight, they're going to be awfully tough to beat."
The closer Palisades got to victory Tuesday night, the louder its gym got.
Much of the noise was generated by a small but boisterous cheering section off to one side of the court. That clique consisted of players from Palisades' girls' volleyball team, which won the City title in November. Now the boys want to hang their own banner on the wall.
"Our fans were great -- we could definitely hear them and it fired us up," hitter Adam Cristiano said after the Dolphins' four-game victory over defending champion Granada Hills in the semifinals of the City Section's Championship Division. "It would be great to win it the same year as the girls. That's what we're going for... a Pali sweep, baby."
The last time Palisades won girls' and boys' volleyball titles in the same year was 1998. The boys have not won it since, while the girls went on to win the title again the following year and added titles in 2003 and 2007.
There will be a new City Section champion this season and, for the first time in a decade, it could be a team from outside the San Fernando Valley.
Palisades defeated two-time defending champion Granada Hills, 13-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-22, in Tuesday night's semifinal and will play El Camino Real for the title at 5 p.m. Saturday at Cal State Northridge.
The loss snapped Granada Hills' 13-match playoff win streak dating back to the first round in 2006. The visiting Highlanders didn't surrender their championship easily. Trailing, 24-18, they fought off four match points before an awkward kill attempt sailed long.
Some quick stats...
Kene Izuchukwu had 10 kills and Noah Kauss added nine for the Dolphins, who turned the match around with their defense beginning in the second game. Jordan Cohen had 17 digs and Matt Hanley added 12 for Palisades. Joe Randis had 16 kills to lead the Highlanders.
Top teams: 1. Crescenta Valley (26-0), 2. Burbank (21-2), 3. Los Altos (20-5), 4. Beckman (21-6).
Dark horse: Oak Park’s Julia Rice is probably the best pitcher in the division and should keep the Eagles (20-6) in every game. Only problem, she’s been out the last two weeks with a sore shoulder. Supposedly, she's now healthy.
How it shakes out: This should be a wide open division simply because the two favorites, both from the Pacific League, are so completely untested. Crescenta Valley, for example, hasn’t played a single opponent in the Division I or II playoff field. Oak Park, Beckman and No. 5 La Serna (22-4) would be CV's toughest tests of the season. In the lower bracket, it’s hard not to like No. 6 Laguna Hills (20-6-1) or No. 7 Fullerton (21-7), though Cajon (20-6) has an offense that could prove difficult to stop.
Top teams: 1. Simi Valley (27-0), 2. Corona Santiago (24-3), 3. Valencia (24-5), 4. Norco (26-5).
Dark horse: Rosary (20-9) is a longshot in the truest sense. It could lose in the first round, or make noise throughout. It got off to a poor start, but the young pitching, in particular Alex Peyton, has come around and the Royals have won 10 in a row.
How it shakes out: The three likeliest candidates to emerge are Santiago, Norco and Hart because they have superior pitching in Kamerin May, Teagan Gerhart and Destiny Rodino. Losses the past two weeks show a vulnerability in Santiago which is hard to ignore, even though it won the 2006 title after losing three of its last five games heading into the playoffs. Still, it has an easier path than Norco and Hart, who could meet in the quarterfinals. Simi Valley must deal with the pressure of being No. 1 – and unbeaten – after having not been challenged much outside its league.
Yes, I know it's only the semifinals but tonight's match between Palisades and Granada Hills might as well be for the City Section title. After all, these are the two highest seeds remaining in the 32-team tournament and the winner will be an overwhelming favorite against whichever team emerges from the upper half of the draw -- either No. 4 Sylmar or No. 9 El Camino Real.
Second-seeded Palisades got a scare from 18th-seeded Marshall in the second round before holding on to win the decisive game, then dispatched Taft in four games in the quarterfinals. The Dolphins are the only City team not to lose a best-of-five match this season and were the last team outside of the San Fernando Valley to win the City championship, beating Taft in 1998.
Third-seeded Granada Hills, meanwhile, enters tonight's contest playing its best volleyball of the season. The two-time defending champion Highlanders have won 13 consecutive playoff matches and are the only one of the four remaining teams that hasn't dropped a game in the playoffs. They also swept top-seeded Chatsworth on its home court in their West Valley League finale.
The CIF state football championship bowl games have been expanded from three to five games for 2008, but the only one that most folks are going to care about is the new open-division game that will be played on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 8 p.m. at the Home Depot Center in Carson.
That game will match the best team in Northern California, regardless of enrollment, against its counterpart from Southern California. It's the closest thing yet to crowning a true state champion in football.
The remaining bowl games are about school pride. Only the individual schools and their fans will really care. The CIF can't even guarantee if all five games will be televised. It's negotiating a new contract after FSN's contract to televise the three bowl finals each of the last two years has expired.
Many colleges have overlooked the 5-foot-9 receiver because of his size, but Dickmann played a vital role in the Dayne Crist-led offense. He caught 57 passes for 795 yards and eight TDs as a senior.
With the first round of the Southern Section-Toyota Division I playoffs scheduled to start Friday, I wanted to get your thoughts as to which team will win the divisional title.
Los Alamitos, which is located just down the road from the section offices, was seeded No. 1 in the division, but also drew the toughest road to the semifinals, in my professional opinion. The best team in the division not to win a league championship is Mater Dei, and the Monarchs and Los Alamitos will meet in the quarterfinals should both win their first two games.
Not sure why the Monarchs couldn't have been placed in Valencia's spot in the same half of the bracket, forcing fourth-seeded Simi Valley to go through Mater Dei to reach the semifinals.
Valencia's 6-foot-7 middle blocker Skyler Seymour has committed to BYU. The senior played a valuable role in pushing the Vikings to their eighth consecutive Foothill League championship and is one of the reasons top-seeded Valencia is considered a favorite for the Southern Section-Toyota Division II title.
The Vikings still have a ways to go before they can claim their fourth divisional title since 2003. Villa Park might not offer the biggest challenge on Tuesday, but Valencia is expecting to face some serious resistance from the semifinals onward.
"Laguna Beach and Dos Pueblos are very good teams," said Valencia Coach Mark Knudsen in regard to the other top teams on the Vikings' side of the bracket. "Either one can push us."
Despite Knudsen's somewhat cautious outlook, I think the Vikings are the best in the division and I'm rooting for a Valencia-Santa Barbara rematch in the final on May 24.
I wouldn't say Granada Hills has built an insurmountable lead in the City Section Championships, but it's going to take a great score in Wednesday's final round to overtake the Highlanders, who had four players shoot in the 70s to post a 384 on Monday -- good enough for a 14 shot lead -- on Griffith Park's Harding Course.
Leading the way for Granada Hills were Dohnte Allison and Chris Kim who each shot a one-over-par 73 and share first place with Robin Jang of Van Nuys and Brennan Amirkhizi of Taft. Gabe Durkin of Cleveland and Gary Valdez of San Pedro are tied for second, one stroke behind. North Hollywood teammates Khorri Ellis and Joe Donato each shot 75 and are tied for third.
Three weeks ago, 6-foot-8 junior forward Tyler Honeycutt of Sylmar had no scholarship offers. Now he has schools clamoring to sign him, with Arizona, Arizona State, California, Washington, USC, San Diego, San Diego State and Gonzaga in hot pursuit.
"Nothing has changed," Sylmar Coach Bort Escoto said. "People just don't do their job."
Escoto said Honeycutt always had good potential, but when he started playing for the Pump 'N Run travel team last month, college recruiters took notice.
Honeycutt is also playing for Sylmar's volleyball team.
BOYS' VOLLEYBALL DIVISION I Second round, Tuesday, 7 p.m. #1 Newport Harbor at Tesoro San Clemente at Long Beach Wilson Woodbridge at Peninsula Thousand Oaks at #4 Santa Margarita Mission Viejo at #3 Loyola Los Alamitos at Huntington Beach Orange Lutheran at Fountain Valley #2 Mira Costa at Crespi
DIVISION I Quarterfinals, Tuesday, 3 p.m. Troy at #1 Irvine University #4 Peninsula at Harvard-Westlake Dana Hills at #3 Mater Dei #2 Santa Barbara at Thousand Oaks
West Hills Chaminade has two very appealing jobs to offer: Boys' basketball coach and baseball coach. Basketball Coach Bryan Cantwell has decided to step down after seven years to pursue an administrative position. Jim Milkovich had been serving on an interim basis as baseball coach this season.
The school is accepting resumes for both positions.
DIVISION I First round, Thursday, 3:15 p.m. unless noted Long Beach Poly (Moore T4) at #1 Los Alamitos (Sunset 1) Royal (Marmonte 3) at Anaheim Canyon (Century T1) Valley View (Inland Valley T2) at Capistrano Valley (South Coast T1) Corona Roosevelt (Mountain View 2) at Mater Dei (Trinity 2) Tustin (Century 3) vs. Lakewood (Moore 1) at Blair Field (Long Beach), 6:30 p.m. Fountain Valley (Sunset 3) at Valencia (Foothill 2) JSerra (Trinity 3) at King (Ivy 1) Vista del Lago (Inland Valley T2) at #4 Simi Valley (Marmonte T1) Westlake (Marmonte T4) at #3 Hart (Foothill 1) Corona Santiago (Mountain View 3) at Canyon Springs (Inland Valley 1) Riverside Poly (Ivy 2) at Tesoro (South Coast T1) Edison (Sunset 2) vs. Long Beach Wilson (Moore 2) at Blair Field (Long Beach) Millikan (Moore 3) at Thousand Oaks (Marmonte T1) Saugus (Foothill 3) at Norco (Mountain View 1) Aliso Niguel (South Coast 3) at El Modena (Century T1) Riverside North (Ivy 3) vs. #2 Orange Lutheran (Trinity 1) at Hart Park (Orange), 7 p.m.
I'm at Griffith Park for the first round of the City Section championships and so far no one has missed a tee time. The field of 77 players was divided into 20 groups, over half of which are already on the course.
They'll be playing the Harding Course (6,536 yards) today, then switch to the longer Wilson Course (6,942 yards) for Wednesday's final round. Unfortunately, neither spectators (parents, friends, classmates) and media (like me) are allowed on the course during competition so it looks as if I'll have to hang out at the 19th hole until front nine scores start trickling in.
The first round of the City Section championship tees off Monday in Griffith Park and I'm not going out on a limb when I say that El Camino Real has to be considered the team to beat in the two-day tournament.
The Conquistadores dominated the 6A League (the strongest in the City) all season and proved that it was no fluke last Wednesday, winning the league tournament by five shots over Granada Hills at Wilson and Harding -- the same courses used for this week's City finals.
If you want to know who's going to be competing at next week's Southern Section-Toyota Division Championships, be sure to check out these links for complete results. Special thanks to DyeStatCal.com for making all the divisional preliminary results available in such a timely fashion -- you saved my fingers.
We're through two rounds of the Southern Section-Toyota Division I playoffs and each of the top four seeded teams are still alive. On Tuesday's slate are two particularly intriguing quarterfinals.
The first pits No. 5 Harvard-Westlake against No. 4 Peninsula in a rematch of a regular-season meeting won by Peninsula. In the other, second-seeded and unbeaten Santa Barbara should get its first real test from a Thousand Oaks squad that features a formidable singles trio in Kyle McMorrow, Denis Lin and Marcos Giron.
Reigning champion and top-seeded Irvine University is rolling along, having won 35 of 36 sets so far, and will be a heavy favorite to eliminate Troy and advance to the semifinals. Third-seeded Mater Dei, which has lost only to University, must knock off Dana Hills to set up a final four showdown against the Thousand Oaks-Santa Barbara winner.
The Newhall Hart girls’ swimming team opened the Southern Section-Toyota Division II finals in record-breaking fashion and ended it as team champion.
The Indians scored 207.50 points at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, easily outdistancing runner-up Westlake, which had 165. Flintridge Sacred Heart was third with 139.
Hart won the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay in 1 minute 47.81 seconds, surpassing the previous meet record of 1:48.59 set by Corona del Mar three years ago. Sophomore Maggie Hanson led off, followed by junior Jordan Danny, senior Rachael Krager and junior Rachael Stoffel.
When it comes to team efforts, few can keep up with the Westlake Village Oaks Christian boys’ swim team. The Lions set meet records in the 200-yard medley and 200 freestyle relays at the Southern Section-Toyota Division IV finals Saturday afternoon at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, giving the program all three meet relay records in only its second year in the division.
Oaks Christian broke the 400 free relay mark last season en route to setting a meet record with 419 points.
The Lions came close to matching that mark on Saturday, winning six of eight individual events and all three relays to help bolster their winning point total to 377. Cerritos finished a distant second with 169 points.
To say that I had a busy afternoon during Saturday's Southern Section-Toyota Division IV preliminaries at Carpinteria High would be an understatement. Chasing around after all those athletes and gathering official times, honestly, it felt like I was competing at times.
With so much going on, there was no possible way to catch every event. But those in attendance to see Lauren Radke of Oaks Christian participate in the pole vault were treated to a record-breaking performance as the senior cleared 12 feet.
Races don't get much more competitive than the girls' 100-meter hurdles during Saturday's Southern Section-Toyota Division IV preliminaries at Carpinteria High. Guess that's what happens when three of the top finishers in the event from a season ago get together in the starting blocks.
Marlborough's Ashtyn Baltimore used last year's third-place finish as motivation this time around, winning in a time of 14.40. Malibu's Emani Truluck, second last season, duplicated that feat with a time of 14.50 to narrowly edge defending champion London Finley of St. Mary's Academy, who finished in 14.51.
Here's a quick look at some of the more notable performances to come out of the final hours of the Southern Section-Toyota Division II preliminaries at Moorpark:
For the last two hours, people have been poking their heads into the press box and asking if we had the boys' and girls' 3,200-meter results. Well, consider yourselves lucky to find out Rex Nelson of Newport Harbor posted an impressive time of 9 minutes 18.52 seconds -- more than six seconds faster than his seeding time. Whittier's Luis Dorantes was second (9:19.12) and James Kostelnik of Loyola qualified third (9:20.78).
One of the more highly anticipated showdowns of the Southern Section-Toyota Division IV preliminaries at Carpinteria High was between St. Bernard's Adam Long and Oaks Christian's Chris Owusu in the 100 and 200 meters.
Too bad the toe-to-toe races failed to live up to the hype.
Owusu won, rather easily, in the 100, finishing in 10.59. Long, the event's defending champion, ended up with a disappointing 10.89. He did, however, exact a measure of revenge, defending his title in the 200, winning in 21.58 to Owusu's 22.48.
I imagine these two will end up meeting again in next Saturday's division finals at Mt. San Antonio College. Perhaps, then, the score will be finally settled between the rivals.
Rio Mesa's Valexsia Droughn qualified for the Southern Section-Toyota Division II Championships in both the 100 and 200 meters on Saturday at Moorpark. Here's what she had to say about her state championship aspirations:
The best performance from a football-player-turned-spring-track star at the Southern Section-Toyota Division II preliminaries came from Agoura's Kevin Graf. The UCLA-bound defensive lineman posted the top-qualifying distance in the shot put at 58-7.
Not only was the mark his best of the season, but it also put him among the top-10 shot putters in the state. Graf now has to be considered a legitimate contender for at least a division title. But is the two-sport standout good enough to beat Loyola's Nigel Davies, who posted a 59-7 earlier this season?
I suppose we'll have to wait until next Saturday when a divisional title is on the line at Mt. San Antonio College.
Joey Hughes of Long Beach Poly turned in the quickest time in the state in the boys' 200 meters in the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills.
Hughes, who came into the day ranked third in the state with a time of 21.40 seconds, peeled off a 21.10.
Hughes wasn't the only athlete to make a run at the state's best mark of 21.30 by Chris Owusu of Oaks Christian. Leon Dillihunt, a sophomore from Dominguez, fell just short with a effort of 21.41. Like Hughes, his time wasn't wind-aided. Dillihunt's time would move him into the state's top 10 with the No. 4 effort of the season.
Junior Rodney Storrs of Corona Santiago ran a wind-aided 21.34.
Let's hear it for Arroyo Grande's Brooke Shepard. The senior posted the top qualifying distance of 134 feet 6 inches in the discus and also finished first in the shot put at 41-8 during the Southern Section-Toyota Division II preliminaries at Moorpark.
She will probably win the shot put in the divisional finals next Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College since she's been ahead of the competition all season, but it'll be interesting to see if she can beat out Mira Costa's Molly Roth for the division title in the discus.
Riley Sullivan, ranked No. 2 in the state in the boys' 3,200 meters, easily qualified first out of the Southern Section-Toyota Division I prelimiinaries at Trabuco Hills.
Sullivan, a senior from Trabuco Hills, ran a 9:14.63 on his home track. He has run 8:56.09 this season at the Arcadia Invitational. The only other runner to go below 9:24 was Highland's Jeremy Acosta.
Saugus freshman Kaylin Mahoney dominated the 1,600 meters at the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries, then she turned her attention to the 3,200 and did the same thing.
Mahoney pulled away from Crescenta Valley senior Claire Collison over the last 300 meters and clocked a meet-best time of 10 minutes 41.93 seconds. Collison finished in 10:47.41.
Mahoney's best time of the season is 10:31.86, which she ran at the Arcadia Invitational. It was the state's fifth-best time coming into the day. She looks as if she's going to be a great talent over the next few years.
Alexandra Dunne, a San Clemente junior, dominated her heat and ran a 10:49.39 to qualify third.
As you may have already read, Antelope Valley's Ryan Butts had a record-setting day in the long jump at the Southern Section-Toyota Division II preliminaries today at Moorpark High. Here's what he had to say about it:
Blake Poole of Esperanza was more than 2 1/2 feet better than his nearest competitor in the boys' shot put in the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills.
Poole, a senior who was the Southern Section leader coming into the day, had a winning put of 59 feet 8 1/2 inches. It's still off his best of the season, 61-0, thrown on March 13 in a dual meet. He is ranked third in the state.
Daniel Swarbrick of Saugus qualified second at 57-2, and Jeramy Cutler of Lakewood was third at 54-9 1/2.
Here's a quick video interview with Loyola's Ryan Holmes, the favorite to win titles in both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles next Saturday at Mt. SAC in the Southern Section-Toyota Division II championships:
Madison Stark's day must have seemed, well, stark, but it turned out otherwise at the Southern Section-Toyota Division III preliminaries at Warren High.
The Oak Park freshman has qualified as the lone freshman in the batch of nine pole vaulters after tying for first place with a vault of 10 feet 3 inches.
At the Division III Southern Section-Toyota preliminaries, here are a few more top performers, whom I don't want to skip over...
Orange Lutheran's Sam Delgado clocked a first-place 1:55.68 in the boys' 800 meters, edging out Servite's Mike Villasin, who ran a 1:56.33.
One of the day's closest battles was between El Segundo's Allison Reaser and Santa Margarita's Kelly Collins in the 300-meter hurdles. Reaser won with a time of 44.54 seconds, beating Collins by one-tenth of a second. Can't wait to see these two standouts compete at the championship.
Corona del Mar's Shelby Buckley ran a 2:17.18 to win the girls' 800 meters, edging out a dynamic freshman, Palos Verdes' Erica Capellino, who clocked a 2:17.27.
Akawkaw "Coco" Ndipagbor, who dominated the 400 meters in the Southern Section-Toyota Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills earlier in the day, did not -- I repeat, did not -- emerge with the top time in the girls' 200 meters.
However, Coco, a Long Beach Poly freshman, ran a wind-legal 24.19 seconds, which would give her the state's second-best time coming into the day. Coco, a freshman, had previously run a 24.24 on this same track at the Trabuco Hills Invitational. Obviously, she likes the track.
The best times of the event, though, were a couple of wind-aided efforts. Jessica Davis, a sophomore from Highland, clocked 23.92 seconds with a 3.3 meters per second push from Mother Nature, and Jasmine Joseph, a junior from Long Beach Poly, who clocked 24.08 with a 3.4 wind reading.
Davis' time would give her the state's top wind-aided time of the year, displacing Coco's 24.11.
Poly had three girls advance in the event, including senior Tanisha Hawkins, who ran a wind-legal 24.71.
Here at the Southern Section-Toyota Division III preliminaries, there are "more stars than there are in the heavens" but one name might stand out over all the others -- Randall Carroll, the L.A. Cathedral junior who has committed to play football at USC.
"Randall Carroll... The fastest competitor in the state!" informed the event's announcer, as Carroll stepped into the starting blocks.
If you don't know Carroll, here's the most critical track tidbit about him: He clocked the state's best time in the 100-meter dash, at 10.49 seconds, earlier this season at the Arcadia Invitational.
There have been very few surprises during qualifying for the girls' events at the Southern Section-Toyota Division IV preliminaries at Carpinteria High. The favorites have been impressive. As for the challengers ... well, let's just say it could end up being a long day.
Carlyle Davis of Marlborough, the defending 400-meter champion, looked every bit the part, smoking the competition to finish with a qualifying time of 57.73. I'm not sure if anyone is going to be able to keep up with her in the finals next Saturday.
Yasmin Woodruff of St. Mary's Academy proved her division title in the 100 meters a season ago was no fluke. She qualified with a time of 12.17, and I'd be surprised if anyone dethrones her a week from today.
Gardena Serra was expected to have a good showing at today's Southern Section-Toyota Division IV preliminaries at Carpinteria High, and the Cavaliers have done little to disappoint thus far, placing well in several field events despite going up against some good competition.
Individually, James Kennedy, the defending 110-meter hurdles champion, is the top qualifier among his peers with a time of 15.13. Teammate Robert Woods finished ahead of the pack in the 400, qualifying in 49.74. Both must be considered favorites to win once the finals roll around in an hour or so.
The boys' 400 relay team did well too as Gardena posted the best time among all qualifiers with a 43.05. The Cavaliers have plenty to be happy about right now, and it will be interesting to see if they can keep up the momentum throughout the remainder of the meet.
Here are some notable performances from early action at the Southern Section-Toyota Division II preliminaries:
Antelope Valley's Ryan Butts broke a 28-year-old Division II record in the long jump with a leap of 24 feet 4 3/4 inches. It actually was a little less than the 25-0 jump he recorded at last week's Golden League finals, but that jump came with no wind instrumentation. Butts is one of the favorites for the state title and I'm planning to upload a video interview with him later.
Loyola's Ryan Holmes has posted the state's second-fastest time in the 110-meter hurdles this season and he posted a top qualifying time of 14.52 this afternoon. Like a lot of top-tier athletes at today's prelims, Holmes purposely didn't try to beat his seasonal best of 14.32, but expect big things from him at next weekend's finals.
Rio Mesa's Valexsia Droughn, pictured, continues to show why she's one of the state's most dynamic sprinters despite being only a freshman. Droughn's 12.01 in the 100 meters was enough to push her among the top three qualifiers in the event and it was just a few tenths of a second off her personal best. She may be only a freshman, but Droughn is gunning for the state title in the 100.
All you need to do is glance at the result sheet from the Southern Section-Toyota Division III preliminaries and you'd see that Sherman Oaks Notre Dame could dominate the girls' high jump over the next few years.
Two freshman jumpers -- Maia Cramer and Alexandra Clayton -- qualified with solid flights, both hitting five feet, three inches. Cramer also qualified in the 100-meter hurdles.
Great seeing some the younger kids schooling the upperclassmen.
She's only a freshman, but Kaylin Mahoney of Saugus turned in the most impressive time of the girls 1,600 meters at the Southern Section-Toyota Division I prelimiinaries at Trabuco Hills. Mahoney clocked 4:54.10, which would rank her fifth in the state coming into the day. Mahoney outpaced the top-seeded runner in the heat, Crescenta Valley's Claire Collison, who ran a second-best 4:56.61.
There was a good run by Burbank Burroughs' Sadee Martinez, whose 4:58.81 was sixth overall among the 50 runners; she was seeded seventh in her heat with Mahoney and Collison.
San Clemente's Alexandra Dunne, who had run 4:53.01 converted that was fourth in the state, easily won her heat and was the No. 5 qualifier at 4:58.78.
Arrived at Carpinteria High for the Southern Section-Toyota Division IV preliminaries a bit early this afternoon, only to find out that wireless access was going to be limited. Fear not. I still plan on gathering as much information as possible and checking in with results frequently.
The afternoon is shaping up well, I might add. James Kennedy of Gardena Serra is the talk of the meet so far. He is, after all, the defending champion in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles. On the girls' side, St. Mary's Academy's London Finley is creating quite a buzz too. Stay tuned.
