CIF Finals, Poway 29 May
Home

      

It’s very tough to get into the “A” heat of the CIF Track and Field finals and even tougher to advance to the state meet. After the smoke cleared from the various league meets and CIF prelims around the county only 9 athletes from Division 1 and 9 from Division 2 advanced to the CIF finals in each event. The top 9, regardless of which division they were from, were put in the “A” heat, the remaining 9 in the “B” heat. Only the top 3 finishes in the “A” heat would advance to the state meet. The “B” heat exists to determine divisional champions for individuals and teams with the order of finish ranked by mark out of both heats. For Coronado the “A” heat finalists were Katherine Wingert in the 1600, Jamie Klages and Adam Munns in the high jump, Reid McLean in the 300 hurdles and Wingert and Beth Wittry in the 800 meter run. Jake Ruzevick just missed the “A” heat in the 1600 as ran as the top seed in the “B” heat and McLean was in the “B” heat of the long jump.

This is a very tough year for the girls 1600 meter run. Wingert’s race was won by San Pasqual’s Claire Rethmeier in 4:52.42 with the top 4 finishers under the 5 minute barrier. Her 6th place finish in 5:08.88 placed her 2nd in D-2 behind UC’s Rebecca Bostwick who was 4th in 4:59.39. Katherine also placed 5th in the 800 in 2:19.63, good for 3rd place among the D-2 finishers. Beth Wittry was the 8th D-2 finisher in 2:31.45.

In the girls high jump, after all attempts at 5-4, the only girls left were Klages, Mt. Carmel’s Lindsey Whetstine and Eastlake’s Esha McDowell, so the state meet qualifiers were known before the individual champions were determined. McDowell failed to clear 5-6. By mutual agreement between Klages and Whetstine, the bar was set at 5 feet 7 and one quarter inches. Klages’ best this year was 5-7 with Whetstine right behind at 5-6.25. This was for bragging rights for the section’s best mark of the year. Klages had already won the D-2 title. This time Whetstine came out on top. They’ll meet again this Friday at the state meet.

The boys high jump was won by Serra’s Desi Burt at 6-8 with two others at 6-6. Adam Munn’s 6-4 wasn’t enough to advance to the state meet this year but it placed him third in D-2.

Ruzevick PR’d in the 1600 while winning the “B” heat in 4:23.21 placing him 2nd among D-2 runners behind UC’s Riley Booker who ran 4:22.52 in the “A” heat. Jake’s time out of the 18 contestants from both heats was the 6th fastest out of a very strong group of runners.

Junior Reid McLean has been looking for his best event for the last three years. He may have found it in the 300 meter hurdles. After running in the low 40 second range all year he made a breakthrough at the CIF prelims to qualify as the 3rd seed for the finals in 39.50. The finals promised to be one of the most contentious races of the day with 5 runners in the 39’s and 4 in the low 40’s. After crashing their way over 6 of the 8 hurdles it was still anyone’s race with less than 100 meters to go. Reid pulled away to win in 38.94 over top seed Kevin Ott-Wright from Scripps Ranch who ran 39.22. Reid’s time is a new school record and the only section mark under 39 seconds this year. He’ll go to the state meet this Friday as the top San Diego seed and of course won the D-2 title for this event. Earlier in the day he long jumped 21 feet 6.5 inches to place 3rd in D-2.