Hours of workouts and months of preparations have all led to one event.
The CIF State Track and Field Championships are Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High in Clovis.
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The meet begins with prelims on Friday. The finals are Saturday with field events starting at 4:30 p.m. and running events at 5:45 p.m.
It could be a great meet for JSerra senior Alden Morales. He is the Orange County leader in the 800 meters with a time of 1 minute, 50.24 seconds, which he ran at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 16.
Morales won 800 in Division 3 at the CIF Southern Section Finals two weeks ago. Last week he finished in the 800 at the CIF-SS Masters Meet with a time of 1:51.93.
“I’m feeling good,” Morales said Thursday. “I’ve built up some good confidence these past few weeks.”
His competition in the 800 at Buchanan High will be outstanding. The state leader in the 800 is senior Josiah Bowman of Sage Creek, a CIF San Diego Section school. Bowman’s best time is the 1:49.54 he ran to win at the Arcadia Invitational on April 10.
Morales ran the 800 that day in 1:52.23, the 11th-best time in the loaded field that is typical of Arcadia.
“There’s a big boost in competition this week,” Morales said. “But I’ve raced all these guys before. I know that I’m strong and I can close hard and if I race smart I can get out there.”
Morales also is on the JSerra 4×800 relay team that has this season’s best time in the state at 7 minutes, 38.13 seconds.
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“If we all show up, we definitely can walk away with a win,” Morales said. “That would be a great way to end the season.”
Aliso Niguel senior Jaslene Massey is the favorite in the girls shot put and discus. She is the state leader in both events with her season bests of 53 feet, 2 inches in the shot put and her Orange County-record 188 feet, 7 inches in the discus.
The Rosary and Servite relay teams and individual sprinters look ready to win plenty of medals at the state meet.
Servite’s 4×100 relay team this season became the first 4×100 team in state history to run it in less than 40 seconds with a state-leading time of 39.70 at Arcadia.
Rosary’s 44.23 in the 4×100 is the best time in California this season and is a county record.
Mater Dei’s Eden Murray will be one to beat, too, in the girls 100 and 200.
JSerra’s girls 4×800 relay has California’s best time this season of 8 minutes, 50.32 seconds, established at Arcadia. On the relay is Reese Holley, who will also run in the 800. Holley qualified for the state meet in the 1,600, too, but this week she will only run the 800 and the relay.
Clovis is notorious for having hot weather at the time of the CIF State meet. The forecast is actually good, by Clovis standards – a high of 76 degrees Friday, and a high of 84 on Saturday. Sunday begins a seven-day stretch of highs at 90 and above.
The CIF State website – cifstate.org – has links to heat sheets and to a website that will post live results as they happen Friday and Saturday.
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