After setting section records almost every weekend of the season, it seems unusual that the divisional championships held Saturday had zero.
That’s not to say there weren’t any good marks. There were a handful of section yearly bests, and when Del Norte’s Paige Echsner soared over 13 feet, 10 inches in the girls pole vault at the Division 1 championships at home, she improved her state-leading mark by an inch.
She missed three tries at 14-1.
On the other hand, Mount Miguel’s Brandon Arrington was unable to overcome a hamstring pull and did not run. He was the state leader in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes.
San Diego High freshman Jasir Fontenot dropped the 300-meter hurdles, where he had the section’s fastest time at 37.75 seconds, to focus on the 110 hurdles, where he is the state leader and section record-holder at 13.62.
Fontenot zipped to a time of 13.70 in the Division 2 meet at University City despite cool, overcast weather. That is the second-best time in the state this season.
With high-quality runners like La Jolla’s Chiara Dailey jumping into four events, outstanding performances took a back seat to potential team championships. Still, all four events produced gold medals for the Vikings at the Division 3 meet at Valley Center.
But relays are not something teams approach strategically, especially the 4×100 relay, and both the boys and girls recorded season-best times.
For the girls, multi-event state leaders and twin sisters Makenna Herbst and Morgan Herbst jumped into the 4×100 and lowered their section-best time to 46.60, the eighth-fastest time in the state.
The foursome of Susmitha Jayanthi, Danica Denison, Makenna and Morgan Herbst moved to No. 7 all-time in section history.
Cathedral Catholic’s boys improved almost a full second when the Dons’ foursome of Honor Fa’alave, Aiden Smith-McGlynn, P.J. Johnson and Gianluca Busalacchi clocked a time of 41.53, moving past Helix, which had gone 41.79 a week ago.
Cathedral Catholic’s Steven Evans-Glynn jumped to No. 3 in the state when he hit 24-3 in the long jump at UC.
Oceanside discus thrower Jayden Gibbs climbed to the top of the list in the boys discus with a heave of 162-8 — well beyond his previous mark of 155-6.
Canyon Crest Academy’s Amaya Estes, already No. 1 in the long jump, improved that mark to 18-9 ¾ in the Division 1 meet at Del Norte.
Mt. Carmel’s boys, led by 1-2 400 finishers David Slaughter and Harrison Caulfield, took more than two seconds off the season 4×400 best with a 3:17.51.
State leaders, with the exception of Arrington, moved into next Saturday’s section championships at Mt. Carmel. The top three finishers advance to state.
For the boys, Sage Creek junior Josiah Bowman cruised to the fastest time of the day in winning his heat of the 800 in 1:52.02, and University City’s Kai Anderson, who led the state in the pole vault most of the season at 17-1, qualified at 15-8 and called it a day.
Both Herbst sisters easily advanced, with Morgan running the fastest 300 hurdle race in 40.96 and Makenna posting an easy 2:10.56 in the 800.
Dailey, the state leader in the 1,600 and 3,200, moved on; so did defending state 3,200-meter champion Jaelyn Williams, who doubled in 4:48.42 and 10:27.92.
USC-bound Anisa-Bowen Fontenot, No. 1 in the 100 hurdles at 13.16, won her short hurdle race in 13.66 and doubled back in the 300 hurdles in 41.82.
