The weather is heating up, and so are the performances of area athletes seeking to blaze a trail all the way to the state meet.
To do that, it’s simple — win.
While it’s simple, it’s hardly that easy. Challengers across all divisions converge at the Northern Section Track and Field Championships on Friday at West Valley High in Cottonwood. Field events starts at 4 p.m. Track events begin at 6.
Admission is $6 for adults and $5 for seniors, students with student ID and children kindergarten through eighth grade.
The four divisional winners and the next-best four marks qualified. The winner of each event qualifies for the state championships, which are at Buchanan High in Clovis. The high jump has a standard qualifying mark for anyone regardless of finish. Three boys qualified by reaching 6 feet, 5 inches last year, including the favorite this year in Hamilton High’s Chris Jaeger, who also won the section title as a sophomore.
No team scores are kept at the section finals.
Here’s a look at the events in order:
Field events
Girls high jump >> Corning junior Kaylee Shoemaker enters as the favorite with a qualifying mark of 5 feet, 2 inches. Las Plumas senior Cassandra Taylor is in the mix as one of a handful of entrants at 4-10.
Girls shot put >> Gridley’s Marisela Cardenas won the event as a sophomore and was second as a junior. She’s been the best as a senior. Her mark of 43-1.5 has some distance between second-place’s Makenzie Barnes of Pleasant Valley with a 35-11.5. Biggs’ Rachel Hedrick qualified by winning her division final with a throw of 30-9.
Boys discus >> Seniors Aaren Starr of Pleasant Valley and Andrew Jackson of Corning owns the third- and fourth-best marks at 137-1 and 136-10, respectively, but Anderson’s Grant Kingston leads at 156-7.
Girls triple jump >> Gridley’s Michael Curry is second at 34-7 behind Enterprise freshman Alyssa Burke at 34-8.5. Chico’s Madison Stevens is also in the field at 33-7.75.
Boys long jump >> Pleasant Valley sophomore Ryan Keables sits second at 20-9.5 behind West Valley’s Tyler Burson at 21-2.5. Fellow Viking Kevon Cunningham is also in the field, qualifying at 20-2.
Boys pole vault >> West Valley’s Burson, a senior, is one of the contenders for the Bob Russell award, which goes to the top athlete of the meet, one for boys and one for girls. He’s seeded first here. No area athlete is in this event.
Boys high jump >> Jaeger has the best mark at 6-8, but West Valley’s Marley Broeks is one of three with 6-4 qualifying marks and Broeks was one of the three who qualified for state last year along with Jaeger. Jaeger was second at 6-7 as a junior, and Broeks was third at 6-5. This could be one of the field events to watch. Pleasant Valley’s Keables (6-1) is also in the event.
Girls discus >> This had been Pleasant Valley’s Barnes’ event for much of the season before freshman Erica Grotegeer overtook the Vikings’ junior and leads the field with a 128-8 throw as she’s one of three Wheatland throwers scheduled to compete. Barnes is second at 124-7. Gridley’s Cardenas is third at 115-1, and CORE Butte senior Christy Campbell qualified by winning her division at 82-11.
Boys shot put >> Corning’s Alex Davila is seeded fifth at 45-8.5 as the lone area entrant with Enterprise’s Izzy Matthews atop the field with a 49-9.5 throw.
Boys triple jump >> Hamilton junior Derek Dowdy qualified fifth at 41-2.5 and Oroville senior Khaliel Wyatt is sixth at 40-7. West Valley’s Broeks leads at 42-10.5.
Girls long jump >> Las Plumas has more than one freshman looking to make a mark in track and field. One of them is Chava Rivers, with the fourth-best mark at 16-9.25. Gridley’s Curry is sixth at 16-5.5. Shasta junior Jessica Toombs leads at 17-4.
Girls pole vault >> Rebecca Graham is another LP freshman as she cleared 9-0, one of three qualifiers at that mark. Durham junior Carmen Lucena and Corning senior Grace Mora are both in with 8-6 marks. Mount Shasta’s Madeleine Moyer and Yreka’s Jade Permenter-Barnes top the field at 9-6.
Track events
Girls 400 relay >> Chico’s team of Arin Jenkins, Nashaia Nixon, Allisen Peterson and Sharlotte Sheffield holds the top time at 49.54 after winning the D-I finals. Shasta is second at 49.82, and Hamilton (51.50), Las Plumas (51.69) and Orland (51.92) are also in the field.
Boys 400 relay >> Pleasant Valley’s quartet of Kevin Richter, Jake Gildea, Aman Williams and Cunningham are seeded first at 43.81.
Cunningham isn’t lacking for confidence as he has one aim for Friday.
“Just to win,” Cunningham said. “Just like every other week.”
Sutter has the same time listed but is second as that was a hand time at its division final. Oroville (44.67) and Hamilton (45.61) are in the field as well.
Girls 1,600 >> This could be a competitive field if all the entrants participate. Chico junior Celeste Wilson has the area’s top time at 5:27.56 with Hamilton’s Kelly Koehnen at 5:29.52 and Paradise’s Talia Swangler at 5:33.33. West Valley’s Jenna Storms owns the best mark at 5:14.12. Then there are Shasta’s Hannah Davis (5:17.35) and Enterprise’s Natalie Ulloa (5:22.81). Ulloa is likely to focus on the 3,200. Storms could go either way.
Boys 1,600 >> Chico’s Jacob Graber is seeded third at 4:36.78 behind Mount Shasta’s Chris Morzenti (4:29.67) and Trinity’s Ben Harper (4:30.16), but this could be the event he focuses on outside of the 1,600 relay.
“It’s going to be real competitive,” Graber said.
Both Morzenti and Harper are in the 3,200 field and if either or both drop out that could open things up for the senior. But Las Plumas freshman Brian Hastings isn’t far behind either at 4:36.96. Orland sophomore Manny Valdivia is fifth, behind Hastings, at 4:37.17. Chico’s Jack Emanuel, another 1,600 relay leg, is also in this field at 4:40.81.
Girls 100 hurdles >> This event includes five from the area with Gridley sophomore Stephanie Cardenas seeded second at 15.93. Chico’s Sheffield (16.20) and Hamilton’s Mariana Gonzalez (16.20), Oroville freshman Selina Schillig (16.44) and CORE Butte’s Janna Glaspie (17.58) are scheduled to compete. Shasta’s Molly Ross has the top time at 15.06.
Boys 110 hurdles >> PV’s Brycen Seiler (16.10) and Oroville’s Taner Dubie (16.32) are in the field that’s led by Sutter’s Brandon Jackson (15.48).
Girls 400 >> Three from Chico are listed in Sheffield (1:00.64), Nixon (1:01.24) and Jenkins (1:01.72) but at least one of them, if not more, could drop this event to focus on relays. Paradise junior Keeley Wolfe is second at 59.90 behind Winters senior Sofia Evanoff (58.40).
Boys 400 >> Las Plumas’ Adham Rivers (52.03), Orland’s Trevor Zimmerman (52.03), Paradise’s Mason Jensen (52.67) and Chico’s Griffin Teague (52.82) are in the field that is led by Foothill’s Seth Garrison at 51.84.
Girls 100 >> Two from Hamilton in Emely Ramos (13.00) and Mariana Gonzalez (13,16) are in with PV’s Courtney Kermen at 13.10. Lassen’s Brianna Mendonca is seeded first at 12.96.
Boys 100 >> Willows’ Denzel Ibrahim enters with the top time at 10.94 but not much separates him from the field including fellow Honker Luis Dominguez (11.15). PV’s Cuningham (11.26) and Hamilton’s Qaday Robinson (11.27) are also in the field.
Girls 800 >> Chico’s Wilson was the lone area entrant at 2:28.48, but she said Tuesday she’ll forego the event to focus on others. West Valley’s Alexa Flagg has the top time at 2:23.46.
Boys 800 >> Chico’s Graber was considering skipping this event as well despite holding the top qualifying time at 2:00.21. West Valley’s Zach Baldwin, the defending section champion, is second at 2:00.84. Chico’s Rory Sprague is in the field at 2:06.60.
Girls 300 hurdles >> Gridley’s Stephanie Cardenas ranks third at 46.42, and Chico’s Gabi Mace (47.67), and Oroville’s Schillig (49.19) are in the field, too. Shasta’s Ross could win both hurdle events, seeded first here as well at 46.19.
Boys 300 hurdles >> Corning’s Davila leads at 39.90 with Gridley’s Taylor Miskin (41.03), Oroville’s Dubie (42.37), Willows’ Ibrahim (42.47) among those seeking the win as well.
Girls 200 >> PV’s Kermen leads at 26.55, a personal best. Chico’s Sheffield (26.75), Hamilton’s Ramos (26.79) and Gridley’s Curry (27.47) are in the field as well.
“I have been getting a little faster each time and I’ve been improving my starts,” said Kermen, noting her confidence is at an all-time high heading to Friday.
Boys 200 >> Willows’ Dominguez has the top listed time at 22.77, but PV’s Cunning ham is second at 22.96. Gridley’s Angel Santana (23.11) is also in the field.
Girls 3,200 >> Paradise’s Swangler (11:53.59) and Chico’s Jessalyn Ayars (12:00.47) are in the field, but Enterprise’s Ulloa is the prohibitive favorite at 11:26.19, a time that could go lower as she focuses on this event.
Boys 3,200 >> PV’s Shayne Morrissey has the third-best time at 10:14.32, and LP’s Hastings (10:19.54) and Chico’s Benton Miller (10:20.16) are also listed. Trinity’s Harper owns the top time at 9:55.32.
Girls 1,600 relay >> Chico’s team of Wilson, Jenkins, Mace and Nixon won the D-I finals at 4:10.60, a time only bettered by West Valley’s 4:09.31 in the field. Paradise (4:19.41) and LP (4:20.04) are also lined up to compete.
“I think we will definitely hit our peak not this Friday but the next at state,” said Wilson, noting that Nixon’s speed at anchor is a big bonus for the team.
The sophomore Nixon competed in the Kansas state finals as a freshman before moving to Chico.
Boys 1,600 relay >> The surprise of the D-I finals was the Chico team of Teague, Emanuel, Robert Scott and Graber overtaking overall section leader Paradise with a 3:32.56, a 4-second improvement over the team’s previous best. Now the roles are switched. Chico becomes the hunted, and Paradise (3:32.81) takes over as hunter. Oroville (3:37.22) is in the field as well.
“I didn’t know we were going to do that,” Scott said Tuesday of Chico’s win. “After I closed in on the lead on the third guy, Jacob got the baton and he did it. He did what Jacob does — comes in clutch.”
Scott said despite the result being surprising, the team isn’t done and can still even get better, and it helps the confidence hasn’t been higher.
“I think we can do it,” he said. “I know I can do it. I know Jacob can do it. Griffin and Jack can. We all can do it.”
Connect with Sports Writer Joseph Shufelberger at 896-7774.
