COTTONWOOD - The Northern Section Finals this year were conducted under mostly sunny skies with temperatures starting out in the mid 90s with south winds that were initially quite breezy making for a crosswind for most track and field events. Athletes from 39 schools were present for the competition. Most of those competing were just happy to be there while some of the favorites were expecting more than one state berth by the meet's conclusion. Only event winners are guaranteed a state berth, others must meet CIF at-large standards to advance to the state championships, a very unlikely occurrence since these marks are near or more often better than Northern Section records. At the conclusion of the meet the Bob Russell award is given to the most outstanding girl and boy performance based on a point system that considers both the quantity and quality of their wins.
This year meet records fell in the boys 4x800m relay where West Valley surprised two-time defending champion Trinity by taking the state berth with a 7:53.24 mark. Trinity also broke 8 minutes and the previous meet & section record but had to settle for the runner up position. The girls 100m hurdles also saw the section record rewritten as Trinity sophomore Anica Kormeier posted a time of 14.52, eclipsing Chico's Haley Fune mark of 14.58 set in 2019. Weed sophomore Ahmani Collins set a section record in the 100m with her 11.85 and came back to set a meet record in the 200m where she ran 24.64. She started her day by winning the long jump. These three wins, two in very impressive fashion, the female winner of the Bob Russell award. CORE Butte's Brianna Hayes ran her 800m in meet record time with her 2:13.09. On the boys side one other section record fell as Foothill's Blake Lema reset both the meet and section records in the 300m hurdles with his 38.01 time. He previously won the 110 high hurdles and capped his day by running a leg on the winning 4x400 relay. This made him an easy choice to be named the male winner of the Bob Russell award.
Other top performers include Chico's distance phenom, Taylor Wellersdick, who quadrupled at the meet as she won 1600m and 3200m races (5:03/11:16) after anchoring her team's winning 4x800m relay (2:21) and before closing out her day anchoring 4x400 relay (61.5) to a third place finish. West Valley junior Elijah Anderson had the breakout performance of the meet as he upset two-time section 1600m and cross country champion Jackson Poburko after playing a big part in breaking open the 4x800 relay battle with Trinity a few hours earlier. West Valley sophomore Kelsey Morton was a double winner by dominating both the discus and shot put. The 4x100 relay battle between Chico and Pleasant Valley produced another high quality performance as the Viking came within a hundredth of a second of their section record set at the division championships while Chico, left in second again, does have the statisfaction that their time would have been the section record if not for the two superior performances of their crosstown rivals in the last eight days. it was a school record after all. Pleasant Valley's performance did net them the meet record set by Chico in 2015.
Here are a listing of the girls that made the podium at NSCIF track and field championships:
GIRLS TRACK EVENTS
100: Weed sophomore Ahmani Collins runs the fastest auto-timed race in section history (11.85) to reset both the meet and section record. PV school record holder Katherine Marinello takes second (12.16) and Chico sophomore Ahdyamond Owens, running her best time of the season, takes third (12.60). Yreka's Dessa Whipple closes well to place fourth with Chico's Grace Puterbaugh fifth.
200m: Marinello is runner up to Collins again as both go under Kelli Enos' long standing meet record (24.86) with their 24.76 and 24.64, respectively. 400m winner Choi places third as she also runs under 25 seconds (24.96) easily making this the fastest 200m race in section history. Panther Owens runs her second personal best on the day (25.86) to place fourth with Colusa's Kendall Marengo fifth with a time (26.13) that would have won many years.
400m: Enterprise's Aliyah Choi (56.94) claims her third straight 400m title by dispatching a valent effort by WV's Josslyn Vengley (58.53) by opening up most of her lead coming down the homestretch. Durham's Hailey Heyland is a more distant third (61.52) a little ahead of Colusa Itzel Cruz in fourth and Red Bluff's Kayla Troberg in fifth.
800m: CORE Butte's Brianna Hayes is challenged for a lap by PV sophomore Avery Hankins before pulling away significantly during race's final circuit as she takes down Kody Atkins meet record with her 2:13.09 to win her second straight section title. Hankins is five seconds back in second with Vengley another five seconds back in third. Chico freshman Holly Konkin in next with Lassen's Kimberlee Mckernan fifth, the last three all run personal bests.
1600m: Chico's Taylor Wellersdick, despite temperatures running quite warm, runs a fairly even paced race to come home with a comfortable win. Behind her Anna Gist outbattles Rogue Cutler and Tea Kaizen for second as all three come home with personal bests.
3200m: Wellersdick wins her third race by running a very evenly split seven laps before kicking in a relatively fast closing lap. Teammate Molly Shewey pulls away in the second half of the race to take second over Foothill's Ryah Kellogg as both run personal bests.
100hh: Trinity's Anica Kormeier pulls away in the second half of the race in a hotly contested race with Hope's Iris Severne, PV's Amari Simms and Chico's SiSi Marinescu to come away with a new section, meet record in the event. Last year's champion Severne just holds off Simms as the both run personal bests as they come up just short of dipping under 15 seconds.
300h: Kormeier wins another close battle with Sims in the longer hurdle race as they exchange the lead more than once coming down the homestretch. The Trinity sophomore bests the Viking senior 44.80 to 44.90, another personal best for Kormeier but not for Sims. Chico's Grace Puterbaugh, after disappointing race in the short hurdle race earlier, takes third with her best mark ever in the event. Orland's Candance Kremer takes fourth with West Valley's Melayia Barron fifth.
4x100 relay: Chico had opened up a small gap over Pleasant Valley coming into the third and final exchange. The gap enlarged a little more after that pass was made but once Viking's closer Marinello reached her high end the deficit closed then used that momentum to take the lead and win in the closing meters of the race. An outstanding race by both teams, now ranked 1-2 all-time in the section. West Valley was third with a time under 50 seconds.
4x400 relay: A comfortable win by the Vikings despite six of the remaining seven teams in the race haven run seasonal bests. An impressive anchor leg by WV workhorse Josslyn Vengley puts the Eagles into second over Chico.
4x800 relay: Chico had a big lead over crosstown rival Pleasant Valley through two legs, loses much of it in the third before the lead balloons once again thanks to their anchor Taylor Wellersdick. Pleasant Valley takes second with more distant West Valley third.
GIRLS FIELD EVENTS
Shot: West Valley sophomore Kelsey Morton, the section leader coming into the event, improves upon her personal best while the rest of the field doesn't to win by almost 5 feet. Filling out the rest of the podium Mt Shasta's Savannah Henson takes second, LP's Leila Younger third, Modoc's Katie Erquinaga fourth and Anderson's Payton Ford fifth.
Discus: Morton, clearly in a class by herself, wins again. This time by over 20 feet as the top four finisher all toss the plater to a new personal best. Weed's Audrey Mayberry second, Colusa Abigail Coronado third, CV's Meridian Smutz fourth and CORE Butte's Apple Bolton fifth.
High jump: Eleven girls over the course of the season clear 5' 0, eight of whom qualify for this meet. Trinity sophomore Anna Bunce out duels the only others to clear 5' 0 or better, Shasta's Naia Kristoffersen and Foothill's Theresa Barlow, by being the only one of the three to clear a personal best with a winning mark of 5' 5. Kristoffersen takes second just like last year, Barlow is third while fourth & fifth, Weed's Libby Michels and Wintrer's Ava Muir-Vickery respectively, both clear 4'10 but fewer misses separate their places.
Pole Vault: Orland junior Addison Bernstein becomes a three time section champion by being the only one in the field to clear 10' 0. Anna Bunce and West Valley's Keara Woods take second and third respectively as both go out after clearing 9' 6.
Long jump: Five of the six in the field leap over 17 feet making for a relatively small but quality field. Ahmani Collins wins her first of three events on the day by being the only one of the five to best 18 feet. This leaves Yreka's Dessa Whipple in second, Paradise's Desirae Miller third, PV's Kate Enos fourth and Red Bluff's Maya Slaugenhaupt fifth. Not sure why fourth ranked Iris Severne scratched prior to the meet.
Triple jump: Shasta's Naia Kristoffersen, despite having a bit of an off day, still prevails by over a foot and a half with her 36' 8 mark to successfully defend her section title in the event. Paradise's Desirae Miller edges Teresa Barlow for second, 35' 0 ¾ to 35' 0.
Here are top boys from the NSCIF track and field championships:
BOYS TRACK EVENTS
100m: U Prep's Asher Williamson strong mid race gives him enough of a margin to hold off a late charge by Corning's Kaleb Flournoy to win 11.75 to 11.85 the only two in the race to run personal bests. Division I champion Peyton Foss edges PV's Rowan Fragoso for third, 10.94 to 10.95.
200m: U Prep's Williamson needed to run a personal best & stadium record (21.65) and usesd almost the entire length of the race to overcome Corning's Flournoy's explosive start and impressive midrace to garner his second state berth on the day. Once again Foss out runs Fragoso for third, this time 22.05 to 22.29
400m: Impressive racing by the two fastest 400m runners in the section. Burney's Liam von Schalscha opening 200m easily gaps all but Mt Shasta's Jackson Chase who was able to muster a strong enough close down the homestretch to pass and subsequently hold off his motivated opponent. It was the third time in section history where two runners ran under 49 seconds. Yreka's Garrett Baker was a distant third coming home in a personal best of 50.46
800m: West Valley Isaiah Larceval hot opening lap stretches out the field and maintains a healthy gap on the rest of his competitors in lap two to come home with a comfortable win with his 1:56.28. A spirited competition develops among a large chase pack in which Hudson Bailey (1:59.57), PV's Lucas Jimenez (1:59.61) and a late charging Eli Cleek (1:59.92) all sweep by a fading WV's Derek Rulon (2:00.58) to place 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th..
1600m: In likely the biggest upset of the meet, race favorite and two-time champion in the event Trinity's Jackson Poburko pays the price for letting the pace doddle for the opening two and a half laps. A late third lap acceleration does give Poburko the lead as he drops two of his three closest competitors but not his most dangerous one, WV's Elijah Anderson. Anderson accelerates past the Trinity senior as they pass the finish line for the penultimate time to open up a sizeable gap that Poburko mostly closes with a little less than 200m to go. Unfortunately for him Anderson has one more gear and pulls away again and this time Poburko has no answer. Chico's Nathan Gist is the best of the rest in taking third in personal best of 4:32.61.
3200m: Another case of would of, could of, should of. U Prep's Noah Gaddy with a personal best significantly better than anyone in the field but instead of setting a pace that would be uncomfortable for his closest competitors, he takes the opening 1600m out in something more manageable for his nearest rivals. This leaves Anderson, Lugo and Girt still in the mix with Gonzalez hanging around. Anderson gets antsy and rachets down the pace and takes the lead in lap six but fades big time a lap later allowing Gaddy to repass him with a lap to go. Lugo shadowing the action in front of him passes the fading Anderson and sets his sights on the U Prep senior. He blows by him coming off the penultimate turn, Gaddy attempts to respond and closes for a time until realizing Lugo has more in the tank. His pace visibly slows rounding the final turn leaving Lugo unchallenged as he sprints to the finish line. With his state dreams shattered Gaddy is passed right before the line by a reinvigorated Anderson.
110HH: Section leader Foothill's Blake Lema (15.00) reasonably clean race holds off a spirited challenge by Casey von Schalscha (15.73), who dips under the 16 second barrier for the second time, something that Lema has done repeatably over the season. WV's Alex Barfield takes third (16.09)
300h: Another win by Lema (38.01) as he breaks the section record despite not being serious pressed by his opposition and by surviving a hard hit of the final hurdle. WV;s Barfield is second (40.43)and Willow's Isaac McDonald is third (40.63), all three are personal bests.
4x100m relay: Shasta, peaking at the right time, run their fastest time of the year (42.59) by whole second to put up a time that is the seventh fastest in section history. West Valley, also running a school record (42.84) place a close second with EAL champion Foothill (43.07) a more distant third.
4x400m relay: Foothill, the section leader, lead wire-to-wire while running a season best (& school record) 4:23.62 a time nearly 5 seconds clear of runner up West Valley. Mt Shasta comes from behind to edge Trinity for third.
4x800m relay: A tight competition between defending section champion Trinity and West Valley. The Wolves had the edge at the halfway point but WV's Anderson aggressive third leg gave the Eagles the lead they would not give up as their closer, Isaiah Larceval is the section's fastest in the 800m. He did not disappoint. West Valley strong second half of the race got them the win and a new section record (7:53.24). Trinity also broke the previous section record in placing with their 8:59.02. Pleasant Valley was a very distant third (8:34.42).
BOYS FIELD EVENTS
Shot: Section leader Joseph Martin was the only one in the field to toss the iron ball over 50 feet, to win by nearly 4 feet. Conner Fryer placed second and Lucas Leaverton third over Grayson Drake thanks to a better next best toss.
Discus: Gavyn Moore, out of Winters, wins with a personal best that was over a 13 foot improvement to replace runner up Chico's Luke Schabert atop the section leader board. Redding Christian's Brodie Ogden took third.
High jump: Chico's Shamar Riley was the class of the field as he added 4 inches to his personal best to win by half a foot as the next three places were based on the number of misses before topping out at 6' 2.
Pole Vault: West Valley's David Irwin, a runner up last year, takes the title this year with a personal best of 13' 9. Foothill's James Messenger was second at 12' 6 while Corning's Gavin Dutra & Durham's Carter Schmid tied for third at 12' 0, having fewer misses than three others in the field who cleared the same height.
Long jump: Good time to pop a good one as Shasta's Kosi Iwualla (ne Iwvallla), struggling most of the season to find the form he won with last year, soared to a seasonal best of over 23 feet on his penultimate jump to turn a close competition he wasn't leading into a rout. Runner up Anderson Bushey was nearly a foot back with PV sophomore Colton Jackson in third, the only other one in the field jumping over 22 feet.
Triple jump: PV's Colton Jackson, after failing to win the long jump, wins here by besting his previous best by two feet while his closest competitor (Thomas Sweet) only improved his by an inch. This left Zahmir Martin third with a mark over two feet short of his best.
