Jamie Klages and Reid McLean finally got through their track seasons last weekend at the state meet in Sacramento. Reid went into the preliminary heats in the 300-meter hurdles as San Diego’s top seed. Although he didn’t make the finals, he was the only San Diego section runner to break 40 seconds by placing 5th in his heat in 39.37. He finished the season with the top time in San Diego of 38.94, which was a new school record.
The high jump prelims on Friday featured the top 30 girls in the state to narrow the field down to the top 9 who would compete in the finals on Saturday. The opening height of 5’ 3” eliminated only 9 girls. After 5’ 5” there were still 16 in contention but it was obvious that the next height would determine the final contestants, as several girls had required 3 tries to clear. Jamie cleared both 5-3 and 5-5 on her first try. She cleared 5-7 on her 3rd try to advance to the finals with 7 other girls who also cleared 5-7. The 9th qualifier was determined by a jump-off.
The next day at the finals Jamie was easily clearing 5-5 during her warm-up so high jump coach, Kerry Elders, elected to start her at that height instead of the opening height of 5-3. She cleared both 5-5 and 5-7 on her first try. Since only 4 girls cleared 5-7 the bar was raised to 5-8 where she went out. Three girls made 5-8 and one made 5-9. Based on misses Jamie tied for 5th place with Khristina Curtis from Tustin. She was the only San Diego high jumper for either boys or girls to medal at state.
"We're number Five, we're number Five."
Coach Elders and Jamie.
Jamie and Reid
Prep athletes of the week
Jamie Klages
Track
Coronado
A junior, the multisport standout made major improvement in the section
championships and proved she'd taken her high jumping to a new level when
she duplicated her season-best effort of 5 feet, 7 inches to finish fifth
in the state championships.
Jamie was one of the Union Tribune
"Prep Athletes of the week" in the June 9th issue.
I don't know how long it'll work but her part is duplicated
to the left.