Whipple completes distance triple and sweeps the Russell & Mackenzie awards too
Hein, Brennan, Chambers, Johnson & five relay teams state bound from Chico schools

Friday, May 17, 2024
By Tom Cushman
photos by Tom Cushman (TC)

COTTONWOOD - Once again the track at West Valley High School was the scene of the Northern Section Track and Field Championships. Conditions were sunny and unseasonably warm with very little wind. Early competitions, primarily field events and the 4x800m relays, saw temperatures in the lower 90s. By the end of the meet, around sunset (quarter till eight), readings had declined into the lower 80s

Thirty-four berths to the CIF State Meet were on the line over the course of the six hours of competition, 17 for the boys and 17 for the girls. Additional qualifiers are possible if those athletes finishing in the runner-up position met stiff qualifying standards set by the CIF prior to the season. Most are superior to the Northern Section all-time records. This year only two athletes in one event have met the standard in the boys 800m (Jackson Hein, Logan Borg) but not in the same race. Yet to get to the state meet in the 800m, they both must do it again at this meet.

For the first time since the pandemic, and only the fourth time ever, Yreka's Mattie Whipple was attempting to complete a distance triple. Not exactly a huge surprise since she tripled successfully four times this spring but at this meet the time between events was significantly less (the JV track season ended last week and no heats on the day, so all events were finals).

Whipple in her first race (1600m) was aided by competitors with the second, third fastest times in the event scratching to take their chances against the Yreka senior in their preferred race, the 800m. So, Whipple wins the 1600m without too much difficulty but still runs a time only she has matched or bettered. Would she sit and kick in the 800m against her chief section rivals (Csutoras, Alchin) who had seasonal or personal bests not that inferior to her own and were fresh. Nope. She goes out hard, running an opening lap 65 forcing everyone else to play catch-up. It works to a tee as she maintains her pace on the second circuit of the track better than anyone else in the race. In fact, she just missed Kody Atkins meet record by a scant tenth of a second while running a time that was no. 7 all-time. Her aggressive race plan drew seven of the nine finishers to personal or seasonal bests as all but one ran under 2:30. It was arguably the highest quality girls 800m in section history. And Whipple still had one more distance race to go, the 3200m.

Only one runner in the field of the eight lap race, Shasta junior Elle Merrill could potentially make Whipple work to complete the distance triple with a PB within five seconds of the Miner senior's best. Yet she is content to shadow Whipple even when the paces doddles during the second 1600m. Merrill is fresh, Whipple's second, very fast race was only forty minutes prior. No attempt to force the issue and consequently it came down to the last lap and Merrill is easily dispatched by Whipple's well-known kick and loses by twelve seconds.

PV's Jackson Hein had no trouble returning to state in the 800m as section rival Logan Borg scratches after his impressive win in the 400m. Trinity sophomore Jackson Poburko prevailed in a very competitive 1600m, which he did a couple hours after anchoring his team to victory in the rarely run but now state meet event, the 4x800 relay. In the race Poburko, after getting the baton in third place behind Yreka and Chico, followed the Panther's anchor (Carter Murphy) around the Miner's anchor in the race's penultimate lap. Catching Chico proved to be a more difficult task as he wasn't able to make the pass until the closing meters of the race. His strong close proved decisive in allowing his team to achieve the state qualifying standard by the slimmest of margins.

The girls 4x800m relay was run first. It was much less competitive than the boys proved to be. Nevertheless the Chico girls, while their lead was never threatened, remained focused enough to dip under the qualifying mark and will represent the Northern Section at state. Pleasant Valley boys and girls sweep the shorter relays (i.e. 4x100m, 4x400m). In doing so, both Viking 4x100m relay teams set school records in their winning efforts that were also among the top five on the all-time section list for the event.

The other outstanding performance by a girl at the section was by Shasta junior Jaiden Lynn. She won the high jump with a personal best 5' 5 and the long jump with a leap of 18' 2, also a personal best before cruising to the win in the 100m. She also ran the anchor leg on the runner-up 4x100 relay.

So both Lynn and Whipple won three times on the day. Thus, the winning the Bob Russell Most Outstanding Performance (MOP) came down comparing being a team member on the second place relay finish to the quality of Whipple's performance in winning the 800m. According to the ranking schedule that has been in place for years, each athlete gets 10 pts for winning an individual event with Lynn getting an additional 2 pts for the second place in the short relay while Whipple gets an additional 3 pts for running a time in the top ten all-time list. Thus, Whipple wins the Bob Russell Award (33-32). Shortly after the conclusion of the meet's last race (boys 4x400 relay), meet director (& field) announcer Scott Fairley initially declared Lynn the winner but was quickly corrected by other meet officials that Whipple was the winner instead and promptly informed the crowd as such.

The boys winner of this MOP was much easier to determine as there was only one double winner, Corning's Jordon Morrow (100m, 200m) whose late charge in the 4x100 relay garnered his team into a virtual tie with Pleasant Valley. His performance in the 100m was no. 3 all-time in the Northern Section and his team's time in the 4x100 relay no. 5 all-time.

In a vote of section coaches after being nominated by their school, Mattie Whipple and Henry Baun of Yreka were named recipients of the Norm Mackenzie Sportsmanship award.

Here are top girls from the NSCIF track and field championships:

GIRLS TRACK EVENTS
100: 100m: Shasta's Jaiden Lynn (12.56), PV's Kaylie Atteberry (12.76), Enterprise's Kajya Mello (12.96)

200m: Mello (26.35), Atteberry (26.57), Foothill's Kyra Jones (26.70).

400m: Enterprise's Aliyah Choi (59.30), East Nicolaus' Rylee Gillespie (60.07), Hope's Naava Kroop (61.76).

800m: Yreka's Mattie Whipple (2:13.60), Chico's Ava-Marie Csutoras (2:16.75). PV's Holly Alchin (2:20.24). Second win

1600m: Whipple (5:07.63), Orland's Paulina Martins (5:22.03), Lassen's Kimberlee Mckernan (5:27.98). First win

3200m: Whipple (11:28.08), Shasta's Elle Merrill (11:40.02), Mckernan (12:02.59). Successfully completes the distance triple

100hh: Burney's Dayanara Vega (16.50), Winter's Lucie Obrist (16.57), Mt Shasta's Madeline Towner (16.79).

300h: Gridley's AnaGloria Leuvano (47.17), Gillespie (47.42), Hope's Iris Severne (48.74). Wins after disasterous crash in short hurdles

4x100 relay: Pleasant Valley (49.41), Shasta (49.94), Foothill (50.64).

4x400 relay: Pleasant Valley (4:05.56), West Valley (4:14.25), Chico (4:14.65).

4x800 relay: Chico (9:59.39), Yreka (10:50.35), Red Bluff (11:06.23). Panthers meet state standard by .61 seconds.

GIRLS FIELD EVENTS
Shot: PV's Chloe White (36-00 ½), Shasta's Faith Ferguson (35-05 ½), PV's Trinity Gomez (34-08)

Discus: West Valley's Shelbie Rogers (128-01), Trinity's Daily Whitchurch (122-00), Foothill's Evie Turner (177-11).

High jump: Shasta's Jaiden Lynn (5-05), Mt Shasta's Savannah Henson (5-02), Foothill's Theresa Barlow (5-00)

Pole Vault: Orland's Addison Bernstein (9-06), Corning's Elise Toste (9-06), Weed's Kylene Mitchell (8-06)

Long jump: Lynn (18-02), PV's Kayla Johnson (17-08), Yreka's Dessa Whipple (16-04)

Triple jump: Johnson (35-01 ¾), Shasta's Naia Kristoffersen (34-11 ½), Barlow (34-09).

Here are top boys from the NSCIF track and field championships:

BOYS TRACK EVENTS

100m: Corning's Jordon Morrow (10.67), Foothill's Ryan McNally (10.87), Shasta's Nic Wilkes (11.08)

200m: Morrow (22.30), Las Plumas' Jayden Newkirk (22.40), Yreka's Aiden McFall (22.53).

400m: Foothill's Logan Borg (48.81), West Valley's Isaiah Larceval (49.93), Mt Shasta's Jackson Chase (50.46).

800m: PV's Jackson Hein (1:55.25), Willow's Tristan Bobadilla (2:02.13), Trinity's Bill Kormeier (2:02.35).

1600m: Trinity's Jackson Poburko (4:21.33), Providence Christian's Kyle Cleek (4:23.20), PV's Austin Hein (4:25.41).

3200m: Chico's Charlie Brennan (9:23.61), PV's Quenten Clarke (9:40.41) and Nolan McLaughlin (9:52.51).

110HH: Fall River's Carter Kroschel (15.43), Enterprise's Tristan Young (15.45), Gridley's Shmaas Khan (15.74).

300h: Young (39.86), Shasta's Warren Newsome (40.50), Khan (40.61).

4x100m relay: Pleasant Valley (42.56), Corning (42.56), Las Plumas (44.03). Doesn't get any closer than this.

4x400m relay: Pleasant Valley (3:24.80), Yreka (3:27.99), Foothill (3:30.59). Hein's 48.5 anchor was the difference.

4x800m relay: Trinity (8:13.78), Chico (8:14.94), Yreka (8:18.64). Trinity meets state standard by .22 second.

BOYS FIELD EVENTS

Shot: Orland's AJ Schykernec (52-01.50), Nielsen (50-01.75), Chambers (49-07).

Discus: PV's Van Chambers (164-04), Mt Shasta's Nathaniel Mero (145-04), Chico's Magnus Nielsen (142-00).

High jump: Yreka's Trevan Crane (6-02), Foothill's Tre Coleman (6-00), Etna's Ean Davis (6-00) & Gridley's Brian Brown (6-00).

Pole Vault: Orland's Logan Meredith (14-07), Las Plumas' Chase Reinhardt (11-00), Etna's Ethan McDonald (11-00).

Long jump: Foothill's Chris Hall (22-02), Red Bluff's Kayden Leaf (21-03) & Hunter Keeler (21-02).

Triple jump: Las Plumas' Zahmir Martin (42-08 ½), Chris Hall (42-00 ¾), Shasta's Joe McGowan (41-09)