Personal, league and meet records fell all day during the Foothill League track and field finals at College of the Canyons.
The Santa Clarita’s Valley’s best went head-to-head one last time last week, fighting for automatic postseason spots.
Leading the day with wins was no other than Castaic’s Meagan Humphries, who brought home four league titles for the Coyotes.
Humphries topped the podium in the 200-meter dash, 100-meter hurdles, long and triple jump, giving the Texas commit a career total of 11 individual Foothill League titles.
The Coyote senior won the 200 in 24.21 seconds, took the 100 hurdles in 15.08 seconds, reached 19 feet in the long jump and launched 38 feet and 7 inches in the triple jump.
Humphries suffered a tough knee injury during league preliminaries the week before the finals. However, the senior didn’t want her season to end in the 200 and competed before winning the event at league finals a week later.
“I knew that if my knee started to act up, it could spell the end of my season, so I was determined to avoid putting any unnecessary strain on myself and just focused on advancing,” Humphries said via text message. “As of now, I’m feeling a lot better so hopefully I can get back to putting up big marks.”
Valencia sophomore Brian Bonner was another 2024 multi-event champion after speeding ahead in the 100-meter dash and 200, and running anchor in the Vikings’ 4×100-meter relay championship team.
Bonner finished the 100 in an impressive 10.72 seconds and won the 200 in 21.84 seconds, just ahead of freshman teammate Bryton Cole, who finished in 22.24. The two were part of Valencia’s 4×100 team along with Ronald Bruner and Deandre Kermah that reached a new school record of 42 seconds even.
Bonner finished third in the 200 at prelims and fought off the nerves in the league finals race.
“I came into the 200-meter race a little nervous since I placed third at league prelims,” Bonner said via text message. “I told myself I just needed to try myself … I want to send big thank you to coach (Josh) Pikes for being the best to coach Valencia High School track and field team and I want to say thank you to my talented teammates for pushing each other every day to be better runners.”
In throws, junior Kiera Donovan brought home both shot put and discus titles to Golden Valley. The junior hit a mark of 39 feet and 2 inches in shot while hitting a new personal best and top 10 mark in the state with her 143-foot, 9-inch throw in discus.
The reigning league champs on both the girls’ and boys’ sides had a host of individual titles.
Senior Mikaela Warr defended her crown in the 100, winning the sprint in 11.75 seconds for Canyon. Warr and the school-record-holding relay team of Alaya Graves Hogains, Briana Bartone and Emoni Wright finished the event in 46.83 seconds, a hair off their record set earlier this season.
The Canyon girls beat out the silver medalist Saugus, which set a new school record in the relay. Karina Page, Halima Williams, Lauren Collins and Hazel Rhodes etched themselves into the Centurion record books with a 48.75-second finish.
Junior Jordehn Gammage dominated the hurdles with a 14.63-second finish in the 110-meter hurdles and a 39.16-second mark in the 300.
Canyon’s Erick Leal won a nail-biter in the boys’ 1600-meter run, just edging ahead of Saugus freshman Adrian Cantu. Leal became a league champion with a 4-minute, 22.36-second finish, besting Cantu by 0.06 seconds.
Cowboys teammate Saul Jimenez just beat Leal in the 800-meter run, winning the event with a finish of 1 minute and 56.78 seconds. The two Cowboys also charged ahead in the boys 4×800-meter relay, winning the event with Adrian Rodriguez and Anthony Alcaron in 8:11.81.
Gammage will also compete at CIF alongside the 4×100 and 4×400 meter relay team. The latter also became a Foothill League champion, winning the event in 3 minutes and 21.7 seconds, with Jeremiah Taylor, Josh Cambaliza and Myles McCrory.
Taylor, a senior, also won the 400-meter dash in 49.43 seconds.
Sacramento State commit George Stansell led Canyon and the league in throws, hitting a mark of 144 feet and 9 inches in discus and 50 feet and 5.25 inches in shot put.
Nathan Hernandez and Isi Eichie also notched league titles in pole vault. Hernandez reached a season-high 13-foot mark, while Eichie cleared a bar of 10 feet and 6 inches, a foot above her competition.
Castaic senior Laura Lazzaratto-Bosque topped the girls 800-meter race with a PR of 2 minutes and 18.55 seconds.
For West Ranch, David Farag earned the long jump crown with a leap of 21 feet and 2.25 inches. Farag has state aspirations in both horizontal jump events but finished third in a tight triple jump race.
Golden Valley junior Josh Farley took the triple title after hitting a 42-foot, 11-inch mark. The jump just beat out Grizzlies teammate Addae Ma’at by 2 inches and Farag by 3.5 inches.
In high jump, Castaic senior Giovanni Valentin cleared a staggering 6-foot, 2-inch bar to take the league title in his first year of varsity track. Valentin dazzled audiences on the basketball court with his dunks, including a slam in the SCV All-Star Game dunk contest, when the Coyote leaped over 6-foot, 7-inch Golden Valley alumnus Taylor Statham.
Saugus sophomore Lucia Pearson swept the 1600-meter and 3200-meter runs on the girls’ side. Pearson became the fifth female athlete in the past 30 years to repeat in the 3200, after winning the race in 11 minutes and 4.33 seconds. The sophomore took the 1600 crown with a mark of 5 minutes and 7.75 seconds, beating out Canyon’s Cynthia Herrera.
The Foothill League stars will now embark on the postseason with many more obstacles to come. The teams will enter their respective divisions for CIF preliminaries before CIF Finals at Moorpark High School on Saturday, May 11.
Humphries has taken control of numerous events in the Foothill League, naturally for a future pentathlete. The future Longhorn has grown immensely as a track star over the past few seasons and gives most of the credit to her father, Will Humphries.
“My dad has played such a big role in my success,” Humphries said. “He’s been my primary coach since we left Golden Valley and has committed so much time and energy to my development as an athlete. I truly don’t think I would have made it nearly this far without his dedication.”
Humphries, Farag, Gammage and numerous others have eyes on the state meet while others are pushing for their best at CIF preliminaries.
“I am hoping I can run under 10.60 at CIF prelims,” Bonner said. “That would be my ultimate goal of the season. I am super excited about running CIF and representing Valencia High School and our league. I will stay focused, trust the training, trust the process and do my best.”
