Five double winners, two national bests at California State Track Championships

CIF State Track and Field Championships
At Veterans Stadium, Buchanan High School

Top 5 female team scores : Serra (Gardena) 60, El Camino (Oceanside) 36, Long Beach Poly 29, Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 26, St. Mary's Academy (Inglewood) 22.

Top 5 male team scores: Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks 36, Serra 32, La Costa Canyon-Carlsbad 25, Newport Harbor 25, Rio Mesa (Oxnard) 22.

New national leaders: Sasha Wallace (Holy Names-Oakland) 100-meter hurdles (13.33), Daje Pugh (Fairfield) 300 hurdles (40.57).

Double winners: Ethan Cochran (Newport Harbor) shot put/discus; Darren Fahy (La Costa Canyon-Carlsbad) 1600/3200; Khalfani Muhammad (Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks) 100/200; Wallace 100 hurdes/triple jump; Ariana Washington (Long Beach Poly) 100/200

CLOVIS, Calif. – What the 94th annual California State Track and Field Championships lacked in record-breaking performances it made up for in balance, quality and depth. 

That's no slight on a meet that drew almost 15,000 fans over two days.

It's just that this particular state meet has been known to set more than a handful of national season-best times and even some national records, like last season when Amy Weissenbach (Harvard-Westlake) recorded a national federation mark in the 800 meters.
 
Weissenbach was back on Saturday and she won in a superb time of 2 minutes, 5.7 seconds, but it was no 2:02.04 she blazed to last season.

Still, much like Weissenbach's win and performance, the meet was first-rate, solid in every sense and at some points spectacular.

Like the day's second event, when one of the meet's five double individual winners - Khalfani Muhammad (Notre Dame) - chased down a handful of runners to pull out a razor-thin 400 relay win for Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks over Rio Mesa-Oxnard, 41.1322 to 41.1325.

Yes, it had to go down to a thousandths of a second to determine a winner. Ultimately, that helped Notre Dame win its first state title, 36-32 over favored Serra. It also helped that Muhammad swept the 100 and 200 as well.

"It was a great day," Muhammad summed up succinctly.

Considering his individual prowess led to a team title, Muhammad was the No. 1 performer at a meet filled with a wide range of standouts throughout the state. See more on Muhammad's day from MaxPreps correspondent and award-winning prep writer Steve Brand, who covered his 44th consecutive state meet.

As usual, the Southern Section had most of the champions - 22 of 32 - but the San Diego and North Coast Sections also claimed three each.

The Central Coast Section boasted two champions and the Central and Sac-Joaquin sections added one apiece. 

Here are all the winners and their marks.

Male winners - 100 (2.4-wind): Khalfani Muhammad (Notre Dame) 10.52; 200 (2.5w): Muhammad (Notre Dame) 21.15; 400: Alex Rohani (Beverly Hills) 47.34; 800: Alex Monsivaiz (Army-Navy-Carlsbad) 1:51.34; 1600: Darren Fahy (La Costa Canyon) 4:08.78; 3200: Fahy (La Costa Canyon) 9:03.29; 110 HH (1.9-w): Lloyd Sicard (Serra) 14.09; 300 hurdles: Jarrett Gonzales (Damien-La Verne) 37.30; 400 relay: Notre Dame (Koa Farmer, Eric McDaniel, Nick Holland, Muhammad) 41.13; 1,600 relay: Rio Mesa (Darion Zimmerman, Cameron Roach, Anthony Teart, Blake Selig) 3:16.21; HJ: Noel Frazier (California-San Ramon) 6-10¼; PV: Peter Chapman (Murrieta Valley) 16-4; LJ: Adoree Jackson (Serra) 25-0½ (1.9.-w); TJ: Klyvens Delunay (Claremont) 51-7 (2.5-w); SP: Ethan Cochran (Newport Harbor) 62-4¼; Discus: Cochran (Newport Harbor) 196-4.

Female winners – 100 (0.6-w): Ariana Washington (Long Beach Poly) 11.47; 200 (1.4-w): Washington (Long Beach Poly) 23.41; 400: Renetia James (Serra) 53.98; 800: Amy Weissenbach (Harvard-Westlake) 2:05.70; 1,600: Nikki Hiltz (Aptos) 4:42.45; 3,200: Sarah Baxter (Simi Valley) 10:12.00; 100 H (1.5-w): Sasha Wallace (Holy Names) 13.33; 300 H: Daje Pugh (Fairfield) 40.57; 400 relay: Serra (Jade Pavajeau, James, Maya Brown, Alexis Faulknor) 45.92; 1600 relay: Serra (Magan George, Kayah Agudo, Brown, James) 3:46.45; HJ: Claire Kieffer-Wright (South Pasadena) 5-10; PV: Taylore Jaques (Presentation-San Jose) 13-4¼; LJ: Faulknor (Serra) 20-3 (5.4-w); TJ: Wallace (Holy Names) 41-5¾ (1.0-w); SP: Stamatia Scarvelis (Dos Pueblos-Goleta) 47-3¼, Discus: Lissette Mendivil (Redwood-Visalia) 155-10.

Complete results - Click here.

Following Muhammad's day, here are nine other moments or individuals worth special attention. 

2. Poised and polished - Sasha Wallace Holy Names-Oakland junior Sasha Wallace dominated a deep and quality 100 hurdles field in a national best of 13.33 seconds – and this was her second best event.

She also won the triple jump going away.

Wallace, a poised and even-keeled athlete, said it didn't all hit her until right before she reached the victory stand for a second time. Someone told her she finished the season as the national leader in two events.

"That was the first moment I really thought about it and I felt real proud," she said. "It was, 'Oh my goodness.' It just seemed crazy."

3. Perfect timing – Darren Fahy

Two hours to recover from an event isn’t all that tough. Not for an 18-year-old.

But when it’s long distance running against the best in the state of California, well, good luck.

La Costa Canyon senior Darren Fahy needed none. He calculated everything precisely. He used his long loping stride and superb kick to win the 1,600 in 4:08.78 before slingshotting past everyone in the final 200 meters to take the 3,200 as well in 9:03.29.

The pace of both races – moderate – played perfectly into the legs of the Georgetown-bound standout.

“It played out perfectly for me,” he told San Diego Union-Tribune reporter and MaxPreps correspondent Steve Brand. “It wasn’t very fast, but if someone had set a quick pace, they would have broken me. I slowly moved up and when Danny (Martinez of St. John Bosco) made his move with 1,000 meters left, I was still feeling great.”

He was feeling even better after it all. He became just the eighth California runner to win the grueling 1,600-3,200 double.

4. Dreams made and records broken – Daje Pugh

Daje Pugh has been knocking on a state medal door for the last three seasons. The hurdler from Fairfield High slammed it shut with a day she didn’t even fathom.

The senior first set a Sac-Joaquin Section record by finishing the 100 hurdles in 13.69 seconds to place third, then she did even better, not only winning the 300 hurdles but recording the top time in the nation this season at 40.57 seconds.

It was the eighth-fastest time ever run by a high school athlete and it annihilated her own section record that she set on Friday of 41.73.

She told Brian Arnold of the Fairfield Daily Republic after: “This is the greatest end to my senior year. There’s one more week until graduation and this is the best present ever. I don’t even need a birthday present.”

Pugh told Arnold that simply face top competition makes all the difference.

"You have to run with the competition," she said. "The person next to me was pushing me all the way to the finish."

Fairfield coach Dave Monk told Arnold that he had a feeling something special was going to happen Saturday.

"I looked up the national lead and it was 41.11 and I told him I thought that could go down today," he said. "I didn't expect 40.57, I but I knew 41 seconds could be broken."

It was, which brought Pugh to her knees and to tears.

5. Getting it done for coach – Ethan Cochran

Tony Ciarelli is one of the more successful weights coaches in California if not the nation.

But the Newport Harbor coach had never coached a double winner. Until Saturday.

Cal-bound Ethan Cochran became the first by winning the shot put, his secondary event, with a toss of 62-4.25 and then taking the discus – and event he ranks second nationally – at 190-0.

According to the Daily Pilot, Ciarelli has coached 33 seasons and has had athletes who have won 23 state titles.

“Coach Ciarelli has coached a lot of great people and that’s the first time out of all of them,” he told the Daily Pilot. “That’s great. … it’s a big honor.”

6. Inspired by a hero – Nikki Hiltz

Before every race, Aptos junior Nikki Hiltz writes an inspirational note on her left hand. Before Saturday’s much-anticipated 1,600 showdown with defending champion Cami Chapus of Harvard-Westlake, Hiltz wrote simply: “What I want is to be No. 1.”

Not exactly something you’d expect to read in a book of famous quotes. Until you consider the source.

“Steve Prefontaine,” Hiltz said. “He is my hero.”

Hiltz ran a lot like the late, great Oregon distance star, blew past Chapus with about 300 meters to go and breezed to a scintillating win in 4:42.45, the fastest winning time ever by a Northern California performer.

She won by almost five second over runner-up Rebecca Mehra of Palos Verdes who crossed in 4:47.33. Chapus seemed broken after Hiltz passed her. She finished fifth in 4:53.42.

Hiltz told Julie Jag of the Santa Cruz Sentinel: “When I passed (Chapus) with 300 to go, I though she would be right on my tail. I looked with 100 to go, and there was no one with me.”

And when she crossed the finish line: “That was the best feeling in the world.”

7. Their day, their time – Serra girls/Alexis Faulknor

Everything fell into place for Serra's girls, which won its schools first state track and field title. Timely performances. Impromptu wardrobe changes. Sudden gusts of wind.

It all added up to a dominating performance as Serra finished with a whopping 60 points, more than doubling favorite and four-time defending champion Long Beach Poly (29). El Camino-Oceanside was actually second with 36.

Serra got four wins – both relays – senior Renetia James in the 400 and senior Alexis Faulknor in the long jump.

According to Torrance Daily Breeze sports writer Tony Ciniglio, Faulknor was in the middle of her long jump – and not doing very well – when she had to change her blue uniform to red to match the 400 relay team.

She did it just in the nick of time to anchor the 400 relay team to victory in 45.92 to 46.11 for Long Beach Poly.

When Faulknor returned to the long jump, still jacked from the big relay win, she had one last jump and was sitting in fourth place. She hit her mark perfectly and with the help of a 5.4-meters-per-second wind, she improved by almost a foot to 20-3 to win.

She went on to place seconds in both the 100 (11.53) and 200 (23.73). Counting her relay win, she contributed 36 points. Impressive considering that injuries kept her out of the last two postseasons.

“It feels so great right now,” Faulknor told Ciniglio. “This is my last high school meet, and I got two golds and two silvers.”

8. Joining elite company – Ariana Washington It wasn’t a real good day for Long Beach Poly’s girls. Not by their lofty standards. But sophomore Ariana Washington indeed did her part and made some history.

Washington became the first Poly female to ever win the 100 or 200 – a fact that seems hard to fathom – and she won both, going 11.47 and 23.41.

She also became the first sophomore since Marion Jones to pull off the double since Marion Jones in 1991.

“I’m shocked, I’m shocked,” Washington told gazettes.com. “I knew I had it in me, but I still can’t believe it.”

Washington also ran a stellar anchor 400 relay leg and passed at least three runners to help the Jackrabbits finish second.

Legendary Poly coach Don Norford told the website: “There were five of the top 11 sprinters in the nation in this field, and she’s No. 1 in both? It’s marvelous.”

9. Clutch vaulting - Taylore Jaques

Five girls had cleared 13 feet in the pole vault – an unprecedented number for the state meet – and though Presentation sophomore Taylore Jaques was one of them, she had an early miss. She sat in third place.

But she cleared 13-4¼ on her second attempt and no one else did to take the state title. Not bad for a second-year vaulter and former standout gymnast.

She’s following the exact path and working with the same private coaches – Bob and Steve Slover - as two-time state champion Tori Anthony, who just completed her senior year at UCLA.  Presentation coach Warren Jaques, also Taylor’s father, also was a pole vaulter under Bob Slover.

“For the first time since early in the year she had everything clicking,” Steve Slover said. “Her timing was just right. You could see it was going to happen.”

10. Clutch throwing – Lissette Mendivil

Talk about seizing the moment. Lissette Mendivil saved her best for last.

The senior from Redwood High unleashed a discus 155-10 on her final attempt to edge Arroyo Grande’s Madison Jacobs by a single inch. It came right after the national anthem and a flurry of thunderous cannons went off, which set off car alarms throughout the parking lot.

There was a lot of hubbub and pressure going on around her. But with one final throw, Mendivil delivered and that made her coach Randy Ziraldo very happy on many levels.

According to the Fresno Bee, Ziraldo told Mendivil as a freshman that she could win a state title with hard work and devotion. She placed two other times, but this was her first gold.

“All my hard work, my training, my practices, workouts in the weight room, it all paid off,” she told reporter Nick Giannandrea. “There have been so many high school functions I haven’t been able to attend. It makes it all so much better because I know it was all worth it.”

More crazy-good moments from photographer Craig Morley.