Golden Valley High’s Gabriel Coronado wasn’t sure he was going to make it to the CIF-Southern Section Masters Meet at Arcadia High on Friday.
Traffic caused a delay for the discus thrower.
“I came right before they were about to start throwing,” Coronado said. “When I got there and I knew I made it, I had to relax and just try to be my best.”
His best turned out to be a third-place throw of 176 feet, 4 inches. It topped his CIF-SS Finals throw by nearly 6 feet and was good enough to get him a ride to the CIF state meet.
“Everything felt like it was connecting right,” he said. “It was smooth. Everything fit together nice. It was amazing.”
West Ranch girls thrower Natalie Ramirez will also be headed to the state meet, which is held June 2-3 at Buchanan High of Clovis.
Ramirez advanced in both the shot put and discus, throwing 41-11.50 for fifth in the former and 134-01 for seventh in the latter.
“I was just going in as I’m just going to do what I need to do, just got a mission to complete and I just have to do it,” Ramirez said.
Gabby Sanchez of Canyon moves on in discus, placing fifth in the event with a 137-01 toss.
In track events, Trinity Classical Academy’s Solomon Strader placed fifth in the boys 400-meter dash with a time of 48.45.
“Finishing fifth, I wasn’t expecting that. It feels good to be moving on,” Strader, a freshman, said. “…It’s awesome to be able to represent my school and have people ask me about Trinity.”
Shyann Franklin of Golden Valley placed eighth in shot put and 12th in discus, but did not qualify for state.
Saugus High’s Blake Walkowiak was ninth in discus. His 165-04 throw was 3 inches short of the state-qualifying mark.
Adaugo Oguejiofor of West Ranch competed in the high jump but did not place in the event.
