Friday’s Foothill League track and field finals were filled with stars shining and records broken as multiple programs had champions break school records at College of the Canyons.
The Canyon Cowboys, who achieved their fourth-consecutive league title during league play, ended the finals with 12 league champions.
“Friday was a very good day for our program,” Canyon coach George Velarde said in an interview with The Signal. “We had 12 league champions at the varsity level, and we had four league champions at the lower levels.”
One of the highlights for Velarde and the program was the comeback of Keyshawn Wooten, who returned to the Foothill League finals with a win in the boys’ 100-meter dash finals with a time of 10:69.
“What [Wooten] did, we’re calling it a redemption story,” Velarde said. “His freshman year he was our league champion in the 100-meter. And in the sophomore and junior year he was injured. Just for him to be persistent after all these injuries and for him to execute … what a redemption story.”
Also securing wins for the Cowboys, Caleb Williams and Jeremiah Easley secured a 1-2 finish for Canyon in the boys’ 400-meter dash finals. And in the boys’ 1600-meter race,Canyon’s Owen Southern secured a league championship as the winner with a time of 4:24.97.
Velarde said that the momentum from the head-to-head matchups in league play helped the Cowboys leading into the Foothill League finals.
For Valencia, the Vikings’ Caysen Badawi secured the win and a league championship in the boys’ 200-meter dash.
In total, the Vikings secured 12 league championships across all levels with freshman Morgan Humphries securing a personal best in the girls’ 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles.
The Wildcats had their own stars perform well in the finals with Tamea Crear and Avery Prestridge shining for West Ranch.
Crear won the 100-meter and 200-meter races in the finals and set a Foothill League finals record for the fastest time with an 11.83 and 24.08.
“She’s really learning how to get into the zone, and we’ve been working all year,” Tamea’s father and Wildcats boys’ track and field coach Mark Crear said.
Wildcats’ junior Avery Prestridge secured wins in the shot put and high jump finals.
As for Saugus, the Centurions had a big day with multiple league champions and Adrian Cantu lighting up the time board.
In the boys’ 3200-meter finals, Cantu secured the win with a time of 9:15.23 and sophomore Levi Higgins recorded the victory in the boys’ pole vault finals.
On the girls’ side, Saugus’ Lucia Pearson and Annika Mark secured a 1-2 finish in the 1600-meter finals. And in the 800-meter finals, Kai Ramsbottom and Sydney Kasahara endedthe day in second and third behind Hart’s Natalie Cottrill, who finished with a 2:20.23.
“Foothill League continues to be amazing with highly competitive athletes both on the boys’ and girls’ side,” Saugus coach Kevin Berns said. “So, it’s pretty neat. It’s cool as a coach when you come in full circle from the beginning of cross-country season to the end of track season. I’m very pleased with the effort.”
In the girls’ long jump finals, Canyon filled the podium with Jiselle Wright, Skye Thompson and Jerine Fuh, with Wright taking first place
Fuh took the win in the girls’ triple jump finals and Hart’s Taylor Chan ended the day as champion in girls’ pole vault.
As for Canyon, with another Foothill League championship, the goal for Velarde is to keep up the success from the Foothill League finals and into the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section prelims and finals.
But most importantly for Velarde, he wants his Cowboys going into CIF healthy.
“Besides the kids doing well, the main focus is to come out of the league finals healthy,” Velarde said. “In our program, we take things one day at a time and one week at a time and we understand not everyone is 100%. But we’re doing our best to be close to 100%.”
The CIF-SS prelims for all divisions are Saturday with the divisional finals set to begin on Saturday, May 16, at Moorpark High School.
