It's a new venue, but Saturday's Sacramento Meet of Champions continues to be a great precursor for Northern California athletes to the California State Track and Field championships.
Carrie Verdon leads a strong field
of female distance runners.
Photo courtesy of Jonathan Hawthorne
Sacramento City College's Hughes Stadium is under renovations so American River College will be the site for at least a trio of state title hopefuls.
Presentation (San Jose, Calif.) pole vaulter Taylore Jaques is the state leader at 13 feet and Sasha Wallace, a junior at
Holy Names (Oakland, Calif.), is the national leader in the triple jump at 42 feet, 4¾ inches and is third in the 100-meter hurdles (13.73).
Kenneth Walker, a senior at
Kennedy (Richmond, Calif.), is ranked No. 1 in the state in the 110 high hurdles at 14.05. All marks are according to the dyestatcal.com
boys and
girls leaderboards.
Wallace's plight for a state crown in the hurdles will be tough once the nation's best Trinity Wilson of
St. Mary's (Berkeley, Calif.), gets healthy. Wilson has competed only once this season, winning a heat race at the Stanford Invitational, where she injured her toe. She ran a national best 13.41 in that heat.
She's expected back in the next week or two.
Wallace, meanwhile, who has followed in Wilson's footsteps throughout her prep career and trains with her, has emerged and is also one of the nation's top jumpers. She leads leads the state in the triple jump by more than 18 inches.
Another national leader will also headline the event in high jumper Gabby Williams, out of
Reed (Sparks, Nev.). She cleared 6-foot at the Del Oro Invitational.
Other top athletes including
Campolindo (Moraga, Calif.) senior Carrie Verdon (1,600 and 3,200),
Fairfield (Calif.) hurdler Daje Pugh and
Logan (Union City, Calif.) triple jumper Jeff Prothro.
See Rich Gonzalez' preview at
dyestatcal.com. Go
HERE for live results.
