The Masters Meet at Cerritos begins with field events at 4 p.m., followed by track finals at 6 p.m. You can find all the up-to-minute results by clicking the link.
By Keith Lair, Staff Writer
It’s the strangest track and field meet of the season.
When 16 Valley athletes gather at Cerritos College in Norwalk for today’s CIF-Southern Section Masters Meet, it will not be about winning. It will be be about qualifying for next week’s CIF state meet.
Fist place will be as good as sixth place. Twelfth place in distance events might be as good as first place, too. An event’s first six places or a qualifying standard set by CIF will decide who will be advancing to the two-day meet in Fresno on May 31 to June 1.
“My big goal is to achieve,” La Salle’s Daniel De La Torre said. “There’s a lot more room for improvement.”
Field events start at 4:30 p.m. with running events at 6.
The CIF-SS has been granted six spots, no matter the marks, into the state meet. As many as 10 Valley athletes could advance based solely on the standard.
Five athletes, two on a relay team, will try to qualify in two events, with three of those athletes having already equaled or bettered the qualifying standards for both events. But past successes, such as Bishop Amat’s Darren Andrews running a season-best 10.54 seconds in the 100 meters at last week’s CIF-SS Division 3 finals at Mt. SAC will not be enough. The senior must run a 10.65 or better today. Before last Saturday, his previous best time had been 10.73 at the Arcadia Invitational.
La Salle’s De La Torre (1,600 and 3,200) and South Pasadena’s Laura Anuakpado (400 and 1,600 relay) and Claire Kieffer-Wright (high jump and 1,600 relay) have previously hit their standards.
Bonita’s Marissa Scott and Rowland’s Devin Thompson have reached marks in only one event. Scott made the mark in the 1,600 and will try to make it in the 800. Thompson has jumped far enough in the triple jump and will need to go farther in the long jump.
“She’s at her peak right now,” Bonita coach said of Cal-bound Scott. “I know she’s going to run the 4:55 (1,600) standard and in the 800, she’ll be in the top six. She’s just tough.”
Kieffer-Wright, De La Torre and Bonita’s Dominique Wheatley all competed at state last year. Junior Kieffer-Wright won the high jump title and is the current leader in the event at 6 feet. She has the second-best jump in the nation.
“I came in and did what I wanted to do,” Kieffer-Wright said of last week’s Division 3 title. “My body feels ready to go despite injuries I’ve had recently. But all that’s in the past and I’m ready to keep going forward.”
Last year, De La Torre finished ninth in the 1,600 and Wheatley finished eighth in the triple jump, the same event she will try to qualify in today.
Having previously reached a qualifying standard and also competing tonight will be Muir’s Tierra Adams in the shot put and the South Pasadena girls 1,600 relay team, which includes Kieffer-Weight, Anika Renken, Kamia Rodil Willis and Anuakpado.
Also trying to qualify will be South Hills’ Josh Webster (a quarter-inch short of the standard in the triple jump), Arroyo’s Sam Garcia and South Pasadena’s Josh Wilson in the 3,200 (both need to be at least 11 seconds faster), Monrovia’s Sidney Mosley in the 100 hurdles (0.33 seconds faster) and St. Francis’ Caleb Simeth in the 110 hurdles (0.23 seconds faster).
keith.lair@sgvn.com
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