Track & Field's State Championships Begin Friday in Clovis

JSerra senior Katherine Delaney, who broke a 28-year-old record in winning the 1,600-meters race at the CIF Southern Section championships on May 21, then finished first in the event again at the Masters Meet on May 27 in 3:42.95, the third-fastest time among U.S. high school girls this season, will try to better her time in the CIF State Championships this weekend at Buchanan High in Clovis, located just north of Fresno.

Delaney, who has committed to California, leads a field of 19 qualfiers from seven different O.C. Patch cities, including four from El Toro High in Lake Forest, as well as the incomparable master of the mile, Trabuco Hills' Jantzen Oshier, who, after clocking the fastest mile in the country at the Arcadia Invitational, has not been defeated in the event.

In fact, it appears our local athletes are in it for the long run, as all nine of the qualifiers in the track portion of the track and field championships are in races of at least 800 meters.

Pole vaulter Adam Bragg is also a top-seeded competitor and will lead an area-best six state qualifers from El Toro High in Lake Forest. The Chargers' Jake Fraser is the only local athlete to qualify in two events, the discus and shot put.

Competitors come from each of the CIF's 10 sections throughout the state. The Southern Section, being the largest with 581 member schools, is allowed the greatest number of automatic entrants (five) in each event, though at-large entrants could come from among those athletes who have met the qualifying standards.

Preliminaries begin on Friday for the field events at 3 p.m. and the running events at 5 p.m. The nine competitors with the best marks will advance to Saturday's championships, which begin with field events at 4:30 p.m. and running events at 6 p.m.

The stadium will open for spectators on Friday at 2 p.m. and on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. General admission tickets are $10 for the prelims and $12 for the finals. For students with high school IDs, seniors age 65 and up and children age 13 and under, ticket prices are $7 for the prelims and $8 for the finals. There is a $5 parking fee at the stadium each day.

For detailed information about the state track and field championships, go to CIFstate.org.

If you can't make it to Clovis this weekend, you can catch all of the championship action on Saturday via webcast at FoxSportsWest.com.

2011 CIF State Championships Qualifiers from O.C. Patch cities

(Seeded position listed is where the athlete places among the competitors qualifying for the event headed into Friday's preliminaries. For complete seedings, check out the "State Performance List" by clicking here.)

BOYS

1,600-meter race -- Jantzen Oshier, Trabuco Hills (seeded No. 1); Connor Kaddatz, Dana Hills (seeded No. 5); Luke Decker, JSerra (seeded No. 10).

3,200-meter race -- Kevin Durham, El Toro (seeded No. 9).

High Jump -- Oscar Munson, San Clemente (seeded No. 8).

Pole Vault -- Adam Bragg, El Toro (seeded No. 1); Mark Sakioka, Newport Harbor (seeded No. 4).

Discus -- Jake Fraser, El Toro (seeded No. 3); Ethan Cochran, Newport Harbor (seeded No. 5); Steve Michaelsen, Newport Harbor (seeded No. 8).

Shot Put -- Jake Fraser, El Toro (seeded No. 2);  Ryan Andrews, Newport Harbor (seeded No. 5); Sullivan Parker, El Toro (seeded No. 6); Brad Bolton, El Toro (seeded No. 15).

GIRLS

800-meter race -- Hanna Edwards, El Toro (seeded No. 5).

1,600-meter race -- Katherine Delaney, JSerra (seeded No. 1); Sarah Paddon, St. Margaret’s (seeded No. 9); Nicci Corbin, Tesoro (seeded No. 10).

3,200-meter race -- Alaina Alvarez, Dana Hills (seeded No. 12)