High school state meet preview: Who are the favorites? How to get tickets and schedule
Several Fresno-area high school athletes are contenders to stand on top of the podium when the CIF state track and field championships take place this weekend.
The two-day meet begins Friday with the preliminaries followed by the finals on Saturday, all at Veterans Memorial Stadium on the Buchanan High campus in Clovis.
Of the Fresno-area gold hopefuls, Clovis’ Sydnie Vanek and Caruthers’ Nailea Fields hope to be repeat champions.
Vanek won the long jump last year with a leap of 20 feet 8.5 inches. Fields won the discus with a throw of 157-1.
Both are seniors.
Two other Fresno-area contenders look to improve one spot this year.
Buchanan’s Hilton Green placed second in the pole vault last year with a mark of 16-5, same as winner Hunter O’Brien of Roosevelt-Eastvale who’s now at UCLA. Green, a senior, is in just his second season of pole vaulting.
Clovis North’s Nickolas Miller placed second last year in the 200-meter sprint behind Serra-Gardena’s Rodrick Pleasant.
Miller, a senior, will see Pleasant again in the 100 and 200. Pleasant, who broke the state record in the 100 this season at 10.09 seconds, will play football at Oregon next season.
Buchanan team title contender
Host Buchanan, with eight boys starters and seven girls, figures to be in the team championship mix.
The Bears girls have a top pole vaulter in Jordan Leveque and experience back in the 1,600-meter run with Grace Hutchison and Sierra Cornett, sixth and seventh last year.
Where’s Clovis’ Chris Caudillo?
Clovis’ Chris Caudillo won the boys 1,600 and was third in the 3,200 last year but has sat out most of this year with an injury and won’t compete this weekend.
“He is getting ready for college and wants to be healthy when he starts this summer,” Clovis coach EJ Jackson said.
Caudillo is headed to Cal Poly.
Repeat winners this year?
There could be some repeat winners from other schools.
JSerra Catholic-San Juan Capistrano senior Brendon See won the boys discus in 2021 at 203-10.
Carson senior Reign Redmond clocked 11.56 in the girls 100.
Serra-Gardena senior Brazil Neal won the girls 200 (23.68).
Mackenzie Browne of J.W. North-Riverside finished first in the girls 800 (2:08.66).
Ventura sophomore Sadie Engelhardt won the girls 1,600 (4:36.67).
Montgomery-Santa Rosa sophomore Hanne Thomsen won the girls 3,200 (10:06.89).
Central boys won the 400 relay.
Clovis North girls won the 1,600 relay.
Los Gatos senior Hannah Slover won the girls high jump (5-6).
Martin Luther King-Riverside senior Alyssa Hope won the triple jump (40-2.75).
Locals with top state marks in 2023
1. McKay Madsen, Clovis North, discus, 191-03
1. Nailea Fields, Caruthers, discus, 167-08 (also 12th in the shot put at 40-0.75)
1. Sydnie Vanek, Clovis, long jump, 19-11.25
1. Jordan Leveque, Buchanan, pole vault, 13-4 (tied with Vista-Murrieta’s Aspen Fears)
2. Kyle Hughes, Bullard, triple jump, 47-8.5
2. Hilton Green, Buchanan, pole vault, 16-1
How to get tickets
Only online tickets will be sold for admission through GoFan. Tickets may be purchased by using the link through CIF online ticketing partner, GoFan: gofan.co/app/school/CIF.
For Friday’s qualifying, tickets are $7 for children under 13 and seniors 65+; Students (with high school ID) are $7 and $12 for general admission.
Saturday’s finals ticket prices are $8 for children under 13 and seniors 65+ and students (with high school ID) are $8 and general admission is $14.
Gate times
Friday
Stadium gates open: 2 p.m.
Field event qualifying: 3 p.m.
Track event qualifying: 5 p.m.
Saturday
Stadium gates open: 3:30 p.m.
Field event finals: 4:30 p.m.
Track events: 5:45 p.m.
Fresno-area athletes competing
Qualifying event performance lists:
400 girls relay (Heat 4)
Buchanan 48.29 (Neka Egbuziem, Jordan Leveque, Lauren Jones, Megan Clenney, Reyna Estes, Lauren Mozier, Kaylie Keenan, Ava Owen)
Central relay 47.79 (Tionna Clements, Layla Griffin, Keytonna Ross, Mikiyla Royal, Kaiya Quarles, Chase Wilson, Vivian Moore)
400 boys relay
Heat 1: Buchanan 42.06 (Andrew Magnuson, Donovan Dunmore, Hank Baxter, Hudson Hergenrader, Jaelen Merancio, Agustus Remlinger, Hilton Green)
Heat 3: Clovis 42.03 (Aidan Coyne, Jacob Saldate, Jaden Carillo, Logan Cole, Jaden Mora, Zane Martin, Tyler Haggard, Linkin Woolf)
Girls 1,600
Heat 1: Elle Lomeli, Buchanan, 4:54.18
Heat 2: Grace Hutchison, Buchanan, 4:51.83
Boys 1,600
Heat 1: Jacob Diaz, Reedley, 4:16.83
Heat 2: Teg Pandher, Clovis North, 4:15.29; Luke Sanders, Buchanan, 4:15.67
Girls 100 hurdles
Heat 4: Milani Ward, Clovis East, 14.89
Boys 110 hurdles
Heat 1: Kyle Hughes, Bullard, 14.58
Girls 400
Heat 3: Emerson Parks, Clovis North, 57.04
Boys 400
Heat 1: Jozian Hagedorn, Tulare Western, 48.66
Heat 2: Ethan Avalos, Lemoore, 48.65
Girls 100
Heat 2: Shaniya Randolph, Bullard, 12.13
Boys 100
Heat 3: Jacob Saldate, Clovis, 10.63
Heat 4: Nickolas Miller, Clovis North, 10.40
Girls 800
Heat 2: Cameron Macias, Clovis West, 2:15.38
Boys 800
Heat 2: Noah Rey, Buchanan, 1:52.54; Zack Weaver, Buchanan, 1:53.00.
Heat 3: Aidan Ransom, Edison, 1:52.88.
Girls 300 hurdles
Heat 1: Maya Cordoba, Clovis North, 45.41
Heat 3: Milani Ward, Clovis East, 44.70
Boys 300 hurdles
Heat 3: Jazper Malone, El Diamante
Girls 200
Heat 1: Mikiyla Royal, Central, 25.04.
Heat 4: Keytonna Ross, Central, 24.95
Boys 200
Heat 1: Jacob Saldate, Clovis, 21.55.
Heat 2: Jaiden Haire, Hanford West, 21.50
Heat 3: Nickolas Miller, Clovis North, 21.06.
Girls 3,200 relay
Section 1: Buchanan 9:16.75 (Tayler Torosian, Sierra Cornett, Elle Lomeli, Sydney Sundgren, Riley Burgess, Avery Hutchison, Lily Olsen, Ellie Dimitraschuk)
Section 1: Clovis North 9:33.06 (Ashlyn Leath, Samantha Ebell, Kaitelyn Emmons, Keira Quigley, Isabella Blanco, Daniella Munguia, Aubrey Pacheco, Gohar Hakimipour)
Boys 3,200 relay
Section 1: Buchanan 7:51.70 (Noah Ray, Luke Sanders, Ryan Kunkel, Zach Weaver, RJ Estrada, Andres Diaz, Aidan Ardekani, Jansen Geyer)
Section 1: Clovis 7:52.74 (Jalen Morales, Cole McNeal, Jack Titus, Josiah Delgadillo)
Girls 3,200
Section 1: Grace Hutchison, Buchanan, 10:37.85; Caroline Mendyk, Buchanan, 10:41.58;
Boys 3,200
Section 1: Carter Spradling, Clovis East, 9:04.97; Alazar Teffra, Central, 9:12.86.
Girls 1,600 relay
Heat 2: Clovis North 3:53.25 (Hayden Craft, Emerson Parks, Maya Cordoba, Emma O’Neil, Kylee Critzer, Tyra Kelly, Ella Mirelez)
Boys 1,600 relay
Heat 1: Central 3:19.49 (Jerome Brown, Emanuel Morgan, Walter Pierce, Imari Conley, Braylen Hall, Brandon Smith, Jaylden Jackson)
Heat 3: Clovis 3:20.15 (Logan Cole, Linkin Woolf, Jacob Saldate, Aidan Coyne, Tyler Haggard, Tyler Radley, Josiah Delgadillo, Jack Titus)
Girls high jump
Flight 1: Illicia Ross, Central, 5-03.00;
Girls pole vault
Flight 1: Brooklyn Ashjian, Clovis West, 11-03.00; Jordan Leveque, Buchanan, 13-04.00.
Girls long jump
Flight 1: Riley Costales, Central, 18-05.25; Sydnie Vanek, Clovis, 19-11.25.
Triple jump
Flight 1: Ashlyn Reed, Tulare Western, 37-00.000; Vivian Moore, Central, 37-08.75; Alyssa Murillo, Clovis East, 38-00.50.
Girls shot put
Flight 1: Nailea Fields, Caruthers, 40-00.75.
Girls discus
Flight 1: Brooklyn Epperley, Central, 135-01; Loie Madsen, Clovis North, 138-05; Nailea Fields, Caruthers, 167-08.
Boys high jump
Kamoni Reams, Central, 6-03.00; Jermaine Schexnayder, Fresno, 6-05.00.
Boys pole vault
Flight 1: Mason Lalanne, El Diamante, 13-06.00; Hilton Green, Buchanan, 16-01.00.
Boys long jump
Flight 1: Jabari King, Central, 22-07.75; Kyle Hughes, Bullard, 22-11.50.
Boys triple jump
Flight 1: Samuel Agbakoba, Central, 46-05.50; Josh Dunu, Buchanan, 47-01.25.
Boys shot put: McKay Madsen, Clovis North, 55-03.75; Jose Soto, Tulare Western, 55-10.00.
Boys discus throw
Flight 1: Julian Ramirez, Dinuba, 172-02; Derek Smith, Buchanan, 179-01; McKay Madsen, Clovis North, 191-03.
Mixed 100 wheelchair para
Angelina Garcia, Yosemite, 34.55
Mixed 200 wheelchair para
Angelina Garcia, Yosemite, 1:09.82.
Mixed 400 wheelchair para
Angelina Garcia, Yosemite, 2:28.72.
Girls 100 ambulatory para
Bethany Wong, Fresno Christian, 14.41; Bayley Wong, Fresno Christian, 15.81.
Girls 200 ambulatory para
Bethany Wong, Fresno Christian, 30.04; Bayley Wong, Fresno Christian, 31.68.
Girls 400 ambulatory para
Bayley Wong, Fresno Christian, 1:14.22.
Girls shot put wheelchair para
Angelina Garcia, Yosemite, 9-10.75.
Boys shot put wheelchair para
Mathew Rodriguez, Tulare Western, 22-00.00.
Boys shot put unified
Daniel Clayborn, Hoover, 66-10.25; Tre Mobley, Hoover, 66-10.25.
Girls 100 unified
Ameya Anderson, Clovis East, 30.54; Sydney Flynn, Clovis East, 30.54.
