Bay League to be well represented at State Track and Field Championships
Senior Shante Robinson will represent Mira Costa in two events at the CIF State Championships after placing second in 300 hurdles and fourth in the 100 hurdles. File photo
Redondo’s Tate Curran holds the top pole vault mark in the state this season. Photo
Redondo senior Tate Curran will have one last shot at reaching two of his season-long goals when the pole vaulter competes at the CIF State Track & Field Championships held Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
Curran is favored to win the state title and achieve his first goal, holding the top mark in the state this season clearing the bar at 17 feet, 3 inches at the CIF Division 1 preliminaries. His mark is nine inches better than that of Newport Harbor’s Ryan Fegan.
Curran’s second goal is to eclipse the mark set by his father, Anthony, who cleared 17 feet, 4 1/4 inches while setting a national high school record in 1978.
“I have had so many goals in the past and almost every single one of them had to do with beating my dad,” Tate said. “Every year I’ve been jumping toward his high school records, having said that my biggest goal this year is to jump 17 feet 4 and 1/2 inch to top my old man. When I accomplish that ‘impossible feat’ as my dad would say, I want to go on to hold the state meet record because both my uncle Tim and my dad once previously held that record while competing at Crespi High School.”
Competing in last weekend’s CIF-SS Masters Meet in Arcadia, Tate barely missed his attempt of 17-4 1/2 after winning the competition with a mark of 17 feet.
Mira Costa’s Dane Thomasson missed the cut, finishing 10th (14-6) after winning the CIF-SS Division 2 pole vault title the previous week with a personal best of 15 feet.
Palos Verdes junior Ian Irish claimed the 800-meter championship with a personal-best time of 1:55.21 and Mira Costa’s Caleb Llorin also advanced to the State meet placing second in the 3200 (9:06.30).
Kaitlin Heri will represent Redondo at the State Championships for the fourth consecutive year. Photo
Bishop Montgomery’s Jordan Baylis also advanced in the high jump, finishing fourth at 6-5.
In girls competition, Shante Robinson will represent Mira Costa in two events after finishing second in the 300 hurdles (41.96) and fourth in the 100 hurdles (14.13). Her time in the 300 hurdles is the fourth fastest in the state this year.
Mira Costa’s Melia Chittenden placed fourth in the 3,200 with a personal-best of 10:24.86, the seventh fastest time in the state this season. Chittenden is familiar with performing under pressure, winning the State Cross Country Championship in the fall with a dramatic finish.
Redondo will send three girls to the State Meet. Kennedy Williams placed fifth in 100 (11.83) while Kaitlin Heri (12-4) and teammate Amari Turner (10-0) finished fifth and ninth, respectively in the pole vault. Heri will be competing in her fourth State Championship and her personal best of 12-9 ranks eighth-best in the state this season.
Two other girls will represent the Bay League in the pole vault. Peninsula’s Jacqueline Ahrens placed fourth (12-4) and Mira Costa’s Brigette Grau finished 11th at 10-0.
Camille Hines, of Palos Verdes, qualified in the 800 finishing sixth with a time of 2:11.24 and Peninsula’s Olayinka Braimah placed sixth in the long jump (18-10 ¼).
Seeding are available at cifstate.org.