East County high school track and field student-athletes took on the best that the San Diego Section has to offer this season and came away holding their heads very high at last Saturday’s state-qualifying meet at Mt. Carmel High School.
Make that extremely high.
Helix Charter won the boys section title by a massive 61-point margin while Steele Canyon placed second among the 61 scoring girls teams.
An abundance of runners, throwers and jumpers from both schools, as well as other Grossmont Conference teams, earned the right to compete at this weekend’s elite state championship meet in Clovis.
State prelims are Friday, followed by finals on Saturday to end the 2024-25 scholastic year.
“This was our senior-laden team,” Helix coach Rodney Van said. “This was the year that we could get this done.”
“The girls are really excited about this,” Steele Canyon coach Charles Tyler said.
“Everybody showed up and did their part.”
A total of 18 athletes qualified from the section’s three divisional championship meets in each event to compete in last weekend’s section finals. Out of the 18 qualifiers, the top nine received medals while the top three place-winners earned the right for the once-in-a-lifetime chance to compete for a state title.
The Highlanders snared four individual qualifiers and two relay qualifiers from the boys meet to sit fairly comfortable entering Friday’s state prelims.
Senior Laurence Burston finished first in the boys 200-meter dash (21.55) and third in the 100 dash (10.69) as a double individual state qualifier for the Highlanders while junior Jackson Ellis was third in the boys 400 dash (48.20) and junior Aiden de Hoyos was third in the boys 300 intermediate hurdles (38.69) to also notch individual state-qualifying berths.
Burston qualified on both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays for four events total. He said he remained calm throughout the day.
“I was prepared,” he said. “I just wanted to go out and run them.”
Burston is joined on the section champion 4×100 relay (41.90) by teammates Harlem Harris (senior), Spencer Gray (senior) and Jeremy Robinson (freshman) and on the section runner-up 4×400 relay (3:16.62) by Ellis, de Hoyos and Gray.
“I’m all energized,” de Hoyos said. “Last year I didn’t even qualify for CIF and now I’m going to the state meet.”
Monte Vista junior Timyra Payne turned heads by winning the girls 200 dash in 24.35, a personal record, to help pace East County’s individual state meet qualifiers.
“It feels so amazing, I couldn’t believe it at first,” said Payne, who nipped University junior Joelle Frazier by 0.04 second to claim the 200 title in an explosive finish. “It’s amazing to see myself come this far.”
In a group effort, sophomore Evie Allison, freshman Aniya Scott, junior Ily Barclay and freshman Daylani Daniels combined forces to lead Steele Canyon to the section title in the girls 4×100 relay with the top time of 46.28. Each girl would end the day with multiple medals.
Scott finished second in the girls 100-meter dash (11.75 PR) to continue her season at the state meet in two events while reaping a third medal with a ninth-place finish in the 200 dash (25.18).
“That was a big win for us (in the 4×100),” Tyler said. “Devyn just keeps breaking her own records.”
There’s more:
Steele Canyon senior Da’Shaud Adair placed second in the boys shot put (51-3) to qualify for the state meet. Adair set a new personal record by more than two feet.
“I’m pretty thrilled,” he said. “I’ve put in a lot of work and I’m seeing the results.”
Sophomore Devyn Harper proved to be a double event state qualifier for the Lady Cougars with third-place finishes in both the long jump (18-7.75) and triple jump (37-7.25), both personal best marks.
“It feels great,” Harper said. “I know I can do it with a positive attitude.”
Helix senior Shani Ford finished third in the girls shot put (38-5.5) to punch her ticket to the state met while also placing fifth in the discus throw (118-0) as a double medal-winner.
West Hills senior Cameron Bishop finished third in the boys 200 dash (21.61) to grab a state qualifying berth after placing fifth in the boys 100 dash (10.75).
Steele Canyon senior Micah Senn placed third in the boys 1600 run (4:17.12 PR) to qualify for the state meet while placing eighth in the boys 800 run (1:58.58).
“I’m still recovering from my cough (and resulting congestion),” he said. “I just wanted to hang with the leaders as long as I could, the last lap was make-it or break-it.”
Grossmont sophomore Torin Sotelo, the reigning Division I champion, finished third in the boys pole vault by clearing 15-2 to qualify for state.
Santana senior Dainian Diaz was third in the boys discus throw (151-1) to qualify for state.
Cross country state meet qualifier Harper Diaz from Santana placed third in the girls 800 run in 2:11.62 to help highlight her sophomore season as a dual sport state meet qualifier.
“I wasn’t able to do that last year,” she said.
Grossmont junior Gabrielle Thomas finished third in the girls 100 low hurdles (14.14) while tacking on a seventh-place medal in the girls 300 low hurdles (44.55).
Helix shaded Grossmont Hills League rival Steele Canyon in the boys 4×100 relay as the Cougars (junior Jacob Henton, freshman Adrian Campbell and juniors Rafiq Randal Jr. and Nico Jara) clocked third in 42.43 to also run in the fast lane to the state meet.
Next up
West Hills Daniel Vestemean just missed qualifying for the state meet with a fourth-place finsish in the boys 3200 run (9:29.45). He led the race for the first few laps before dropping back and then surging at the end. It was a deep field with 16 runners finishing under the 10-minute mark.
Monte Vista junior Elekana Taa (fourth in the boys shot put, 49-10.25) also just missed a state-qualifying berth.
Steele Canyon’s Daniels would go on to place fourth in the 200 dash (24.86) and fifth in the 400 dash (56.90).
Additionally for Helix, Gray was fourth in the 400 dash (48.90) and fifth in the 200 dash (21.61), Harris (10.76) was seventh in the 100 dash, Ellis was eighth in the 200 dash (22.03).
There were more medals to go around.
Lady Cougar junior Asia Broussard finished fifth in the girls long jump (18-3) while Allison was fifth in the girls 100 low hurdles (14.44).
El Capitan junior Spencer Chastang was fifth in the 300 intermediate hurdles (49.33) and seventh in the boys 110 high hurdles (14.67 PR) to double medal while El Capitan senior Noah Bolander was fifth in the boys 800 (1:57.16 PR).
Also medaling for Steele Canyon in the boys meet was Campbell in the 200 dash (sixth, 21.99) and 400 dash (ninth, 49.50) while Grossmont junior Taim Alobaidi was sixth in the boys 300 hurdles (39.45).
Sixth-place medalists also included Grossmont freshman Miley Christenson in the girls shot put (35-6.5), Santana sophomore Kai Brown in the girls discus throw (115-3) and Helix sophomore Kate Weaver in th girls 1600 run (5:00.23).
West Hills senior Marshon Mitchell was sixth in the boys triple jump (43-6) while Wolf Pack senior Isaac Cortez was eighth in the event with a 43-2.25 mark. Also for West Hills, junior Grayson Lewis was seventh in the boys pole vault by clearing 14-8.
Also medaling were Liberty Charter senior Haley Svendson in the girls 300 low hurdles (45.53) in eighth place and Helix freshman Dajah Herrod in the girls high jump (5-0) in ninth place.
The Lady Cougar quartet of freshman Milani Jackson, junior Kailey Fuller, Harper and Daniels finished seventh in the girls 4×400 relay to close out the meet with another medal.
In the distances, Helix junior Tyus Joseph was seventh in the boys 1600 run in 4:23.07 while senior Joel Nickerson was ninth in 4:23.76 to also pick up a medal.
Liberty Charter’s Division III champion boys 4×800 relay team finished eighth overall at the section finals in 8:14.33 through the efforts of senior Aiden Burr, sophomore Sam Rohrer, senior Luke Mapes and junior Caleb Acosta.
“It was a great experience all around,” Mapes said in regard to the Lions’ winmning the D-3 title.
“It was a good experience even though I didn’t do as well as I wanted in my individual event,” said Acosta, the team’s anchor. “But it was an exciting moment.
“I felt happy how we raced,” Rohrer said. “It was an important win for us, it was a great experience.”
West Hills finished 10th in the boys 4×400 relay in 3:26.60 to just miss a medal. Junior Thomas Koerner, senior Brayden Reed, senior Edgar Leon and Bishop each ran legs.
Mt. Carmel finished second in the team standings behind Helix with 110 points, followed by Rancho Bernardo with 101 points in third place, Mission Bay in fourth place with 96,5 points and Steele Canyon in fifth place with 86 points. West Hills was in a tie for seventh with 79 points.
Del Norte won the girls team title with 174.5 points ahead of the Lady Cougars (148 points.) Helix ws 16th with 54.5 points while Grossmont was 22nd with 39 points, followed by Santana in 29th place with 31 points. Monte Vista was 34th with 20 points.
