It’s been 20 years since a single Canyon Cowboy returned home as a track and field state champion. However, Canyon welcomed home two champions this weekend after the state meet at Buchanan High School.
Senior Mikaela Warr and junior Jordehn Gammage have made headlines all season but now the Cowboy pair finish off their years with huge marks to earn the title of state champs in Clovis.
The senior Warr earned her title first on Saturday, when she flew by the fastest runners in California in the girls 100-meter dash. Warr won by a hair in 11.41 seconds, a personal best time.
“My goal was definitely to survive and advance because the goal was to just make it to finals,” Warr said in a phone interview. “Whatever I did on Friday, it didn’t matter anymore because all I wanted to do was just run the 100 meter and win it.”
Gammage, a junior, took a stumble in the 110-meter hurdles race on Saturday that kept him out of the finals. The junior was able to use the emotion of his first race in his second when he took the field for the 300-meter hurdles. Gammage hit a personal best time and punched his ticket to the finals on Saturday.
The hurdler has been chasing Canyon’s school hurdle records since his freshman year and breezed by the mark in the biggest race of his life, winning the 300 in 37.35 seconds.
“In the prelims when I ran 37.76, I knew the next day that the school record was going down,” Gammage said in a phone interview. “It was very nice weather and perfect for hurdles. Not too hot, not too cold. I knew that the pressure would definitely be on and I knew that I’d be applying pressure to those in the race.”
The Santa Clarita Valley was represented well at the state meet, per usual.
Castaic’s Meagan Humphries returned with some hardware in the long and triple jump events. Humphries earned a bronze in the long jump with a 19-foot, 1.5-inch leap and hit a mark of 38 feet, 10.25 inches in the triple to finish in sixth.
Golden Valley’s star juniors Addae Ma’at and Kiera Donovan both finished their strong seasons on Friday. Ma’at flew 21 feet, 11.5 inches in the long jump, while Donovan hit 39 feet, 2 inches in shot put.
Valencia’s 4×100-meter relay team broke the Foothill League record this season but was eliminated on Friday after a 41.99-second finish in the event.
Vikings sophomore Brian Bonner advanced to Saturday in the boys’ 100, where he finished eighth overall in 10.61 seconds.
Also competing at state for Canyon were both boys and girls 4×400-meter relay teams. Gammage, Jeremiah Taylor, Josh Cambaliza and Myles McRory advanced and finished seventh in the state championship race with a mark of 3 minutes, 20.02 seconds.
The girls 4×400 team also placed seventh in the championship race, as Emoni Wright, Keziah Webster, Briana Bartone and Alaya Graves-Hogains also came home with medals. The group lowered their school record time yet again and finished off the season with a 3-minute, 50.68-second mark.
Sacramento State commit George Stansell also represented Canyon over the weekend. Stansell just missed the cut in state prelims but still threw an impressive 164-foot, 5-inch bomb in discus.
Warr and Gammage are the first state champions from the Santa Clarita Valley in five years and the first Cowboys to achieve the feat since Canyon alumnus and Team USA sprinter Alysia Johnson won in 2001.
“I was crying, thank you Jesus, because I did not know that I was gonna run that time,” Warr said on her 11.41-second mark. “You never know if you’re gonna win or lose, so I was just very thankful and I was crying. Wearing the medal, being called a state champion and a lot of awards coming to me, it was very overwhelming.”
The bright lights and huge crowds in Clovis didn’t faze either of the Canyon state champs, as both have been in this position plenty of times.
“My focus was to win,” Gammage said. “Buchanan High’s got the bright lights for a state championship. You’ve got hundreds of people that are cheering you on. I heard my mom in the stands shouting my name. Having my parents and her there is a big part of it, but the overall energy is big. You can feel it in your nerves and in your bones. When you’re on the line, you’re getting ready and you have to quiet all of those things out and stay true to your game plan.”
Gammage made his triumphant return to state after reaching the preliminaries last year as a sophomore. The hurdler didn’t make it out of prelims then, but toppled the competition in 2024.
“We felt that our job was already 50% complete, making the finals,” Gammage said. “Last year we were put out in the prelims so coming back, we had a little bit of vengeance this year. We were very excited to be in the finals. For me personally in the 300 hurdles last year, I was put out in the prelims. Coming in this year, I just wanted to make the finals and let the chips fall where they may.”
Canyon returned to the state meet with a vengeance, as the back-to-back Foothill League champions, and CIF medalists, now return home with some state hardware.
“This was a glory season,” Gammage said. “We talked about this season my freshman year because we knew that we were going to be great. My coaches have talked about state championships, being at the state meet, since my freshman year. Mikaela Warr, shout out to her for putting in the hard work all season long. I’m glad to see the outcome for her.”
Gammage will continue working for his senior year with a handful of league, CIF and state titles to defend. The soon-to-be senior is grateful to all of his coaches, family and supporters.
“To my coaches, thank you for always having my back, always pushing me, keeping me in line and having my goals in mind,” Gammage said. “After the Masters meet, it became a reality that I could become a state champion and they continued to push me. Thank you to coach Ron Brown for the vision, coach George Stansell (Sr.) for pushing me and coach Sandy, she was definitely a big piece of this. Thank you coach Chris Jackson and coach George Velarde, for believing in me.”
Warr now graduates from Canyon with three school records to her name. The sprinter is committed to San Diego State University with big plans and a work ethic to match.
“I think all my goals have been accomplished,” Warr said. “I got a full-ride athletic scholarship to San Diego State. I ran 11.41 this year. I ran a 23.8 (in the 200-meter dash) this year. Big things are coming. I think I’m going to be running in the Brooks Invitational this June and I might run the Nike Invitational in Oregon … Nothing’s ever really pressuring me. My goal is to be an Olympian one day.”
