It was a decidedly golden moment for the San Diego Section at this year’s track and field state championship meet in Clovis with a combined 10 gold medals. Tack on one silver medal, four bronze medals and four copper medals (fourth place) and it was a veritable treasure trove of shiny hardware coming back south from the May 24-25 event.
Mt. Miguel sophomore Brandon Arrington helped the section’s contingent bask in its golden moment by winning state titles in both the boys 100- and 200-meter dashes. He captured the 100 sprint in a near record 10.33 and returned to the oval to capture the 200 meters in 20.55.
Arrington entered the 200 final with the top time in the nation after winning the section title the preceding week in 20.40, a new section record.
Madison’s Kenan Christon had posted a 20.55 time in the 200 dash in 2019.
Earlier in the day, Arrington won the section title in the 100 sprint in 10.50 as part of a golden double to make a personal statement. Christon posted a 10.30 time in the event in 2019.
The Mt. Miguel transfer (from Helix Charter) began his quest for California double gold by placing first in the state prelims (May 24) in both the 100 dash (personal record 10.27) and 200 dash (20.55).
He bettered Bakersfield sophomore Jalen Ford by 0.07 seconds in the 100 and Granada Hills senior Jordan Coleman by 0.28 seconds in the 200.
In the finals (May 25), Arrington set a PR in the 100 with his winning time by eclipsing Coleman (10.43) by 0.10 seconds and came back to beat Coleman (21.04) in the 200 by 0.09 seconds for the state title.
There were no other San Diego Section runners in either event.
Arrington had the historymaking moment all to himself. Eastern exposure Both the 110 high hurdles and 300 intermediate hurdles events featured East County medal-winners.
El Capitan senior Jonathan Tseko-Biffle collected a bronze medal in the boys 110-meter high hurdles (13.98) while placing seventh in the 300 intermediates (38.37).
Helix Charter senior Shon Martin copped a fourth-place medal in the 110 high hurdles (14.07).
The El Capitan hurdler had posted the fourth-best time (13.99) in prelim qualifying while Martin had the eighthbest time (14.20).
Tseko-Biffle posted the top qualifying time of 37.48 in the intermediate prelims while Martin was 12th in 38.70. The Vaquero hurdler made the cut to the finals while Martin did not.
Martin also competed in the boys long jump, placing 24th in a field of 34 entrants with a jump of 21-10.5
There was more from East County qualifiers.
Steele Canyon senior Lilian Cook turned in some strong times in the prelims— a 14.24 PR for sixth-best in the 100 low hurdles and 43.96 for 12th best in the 300 low hurdles.
Steele Canyon senior Nicoletta Burkhardt posted the sixth-best time (55.45) in the girls 400-dash prelims behind eventual finals champion Payton Smith (53.39), a senior from La Jolla. Steele Canyon sophomore Ily Barclay was 28th in the 200 prelims in 26.98, an event won by Madison senior Amirah Shaeed (23.53).
Mt. Miguel senior Vincent Jones just missed the boys 400 dash finals after running a 48.02 PR in the prelims to place 10th. Jones later joined teammates James Gross, Garrett Cloyd and Dason Hege in the boys 4×400 relay, placing 20th out of 28 teams in 3:28.56.
Steele Canyon (ninth, 47.00) and Helix (13th, 47.97) were represented in the girls 4×100 relay. Steele’s unit was comprised of Kailey Fuller, Barclay, Brionna Dickens and Burkhardt while Helix’s quartet included Aaliyah Payne, Asia Brouchard, Shaelynne Swift and Chanel Burton.
San Diego Section Track & Field State Champions
BOYS RUNNING EVENTS
100 dash: Brandon Arrington (Mt. Miguel) 10.33
200 dash: Brandon Arrington (Mt. Miguel) 20.55
800 run: Cain Evans (Carlsbad) 1:50.21
BOYS FIELD EVENTS
Pole vault: Kai Anderson (University City) 16-8
GIRLS RUNNING EVENTS
200 dash: Amirah Shaheed (Madison) 23.53
400 dash: Payton Smith (La Jolla) 53.39
800 run: Tessa Buswell (Poway) 2:06.51
3200 run: Jaelyn Williams (Eastlake) 9:57.11
100 low hurdles: Anisa Bowen- Fontenot (San Diego) 13.59
300 low hurdles: Morgan Herbst (Carlsbad) 41.26
