After multiple local athletes were crowned as California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section champions, many competed in the CIF track and field masters’ qualifiers, which determines who from the section will compete in the state championships.
By the end, many local stars secured wins in the master’s and solidified their spot in the state competition, set to begin on Friday at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
For West Ranch, the Wildcats are sending two athletes to state, including Tamea Crear, who’s qualified for state in the 100-meter and 200-meterand Avery Prestridge, who qualified for the high jump.
“I’m excited that we are showing some representation from West Ranch High School,” said Mark Crear, West Ranch’s track and field coach and Tamea’s father. “For Tamea and Avery to go into these events is just a reflection of the hard work that these two athletes have and deserve to be.”
Tamea, who secured the overall win master’s 200-meter dash with a total time of 23.50, narrowly defeated Calabasas’ Olivia Kirk by four tenths of a second.
“They keep dropping the standard in Southern California, and this is one of the most difficult regions to make state in,” Mark Crear said. “She has grown into an athlete to where she is now able to qualify in two different races. It’s hard enough to win your own division, but the masters – we’retalking about Division 1, 2, 3 and 4. For her to win, speaks to her dedication.”
As for Prestridge, the junior will join Tamea in the high jump after posting a jump of 5 feet, 4 inches and earning an automatic qualification into state.
“We’re ready to go, we’re excited and the challenging part now is keeping Avery and Tamea in the know. But we’re locked in,” Mark Crear said. “We’re ready to go and we’re excited and ready to go.”
For the Canyon High School track and field program, the master’s weekend was another successful event from George Velarde and his Cowboys.
On the girls’ side, the Cowboys’ relay team in Kameron Smith, Alaya Graves-Hogains, Lyric Scott, Emoni Wright, and Khloe McCoy qualified for the 4×100-meter and 4×100-meter races.
Velarde spoke on the girls’ results and said that meet after meet, the team has expressed the goal of breaking school records en route to qualifyingfor state competition.
“The 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter are both ranked top three in the state time-wise,” Velarde said. “The girls have been telling us they want to continue lowering the school record and it’s an incentive to go after.”
In the individual races, Khloe McCoy, who’s a freshman, qualified for her spot into state with a total time of 55.38 in a 400-meter dash.
Velarde spoke on the freshman’s historic qualification as a freshman and added that he believes McCoy has the potential to be one of Canyon’s greatest.
“That girl works hard and she wants to do special things,” Velarde said. “She wants to rewrite a lot of school records and she’s backing it up.”
As for Kameron Smith, the junior hurdler secured her spot in the 300 hurdles with a time of 42.83 and joined the list of Canyon athletes at statealongside Graves-Hogains, who will also compete individually in the 100 hurdles.
On the boys’ side, Canyon’s Caleb Williams secured his bid and will compete in the 400-meter dash after posting a time of 47.77.
For the Valencia High School track and field program, Bryton Cole will represent the Vikings in the 300-meter hurdles with a 38.29. And for Hart High School, the Hawks’ Samuel Aina qualified for the 800-meter run with a time of 1:53.73.
The CIF track and field state championships begin on Friday at Buchanan High School in Clovis with field qualifying events set to begin at 3 p.m.
