Delaney Leads Pack Qualifying for State Track & Field Finals

She did it again.

A week after taking down a 28-year-old record in the 1600 meters at the CIF Southern Section championships at Cerritos College, JSerra senior Katherine Delaney was back in Norwalk Friday for the Masters Meet and turning heads again, this time by chalking up the third-fastest current mile mark in the United States, a 4 minute 42.95-second gem, good for first place overall by a wide margin.

Having to meet a qualifying mark of 5:00.19 to automatically move on to next weekend's CIF State Championships at Buchanan High in Clovis, Delaney led from wire-to-wire, setting a blistering pace that saw her pass the bell at 3:33, and lead almost the entirety of the pack to the state meet as well.

Besides Fountain Valley's Catherine Martinez, who injured herself during the race and had to pull out, every single runner to follow Delaney to the finish line qualified for state, including St. Margaret's Sarah Paddon, who finished in seventh place with a mark of 4:54.41, and Tesoro's Nicci Corbin, who was literally a step behind Paddon at 4:54.43, good for eighth.

For Corbin, who came into the day as an alternate, her third straight sub-five-minute mile after accomplishing the feat for the first time ever at the Division 1 preliminaries was another personal best, and carried an added significance. With her qualification, Corbin became the first Tesoro track athlete in history to garner an invite to the state championships.

"Oh my gosh, I couldn't have asked for a better race," Corbin said. "Last week at finals, I was over by the tennis courts just bawling because I was so upset I didn't make it. So I said I was going to redeem myself today, and I don't even know what place I got, but I saw the clock as I was getting closer and closer and I told myself, 'I'm going to state.'"

Corbin shaved three seconds off her personal record and said that a lot of it had to do with a decision to kick a little early.

"Not [with] 400 [meters left], but 500 this time," she said of the start of her kick. "And that made a big difference."

When asked about Delaney and the pace she set throughout the run, Corbin smiled.
"She's crazy. She's awesome, I love it," Corbin said of Delaney, who scratched out of Friday's 800. "She's always in the front, so I figured, you know, let her do her thing, I don't know if I could risk it and go crazy like that, there's no way. I know her a little bit, she's going to Cal and I think that's awesome. We'll have a chance to compete in college."

Corbin has signed with the University of Arizona, so the two will be Pac-12 rivals a year from now.

Also headed to Berkeley is another mile monster, Jantzen Oshier of Trabuco Hills, who continues to make it all look far too easy.

With Dana Hills senior Connor Kaddatz turning on the heat during the boys mile run at the 600-meter mark, Oshier slipped a step behind -- but only for a moment. After realizing Kaddatz, a good friend, was turning in a fabulous state-qualifying race of his own (4:11.44), Oshier simply shifted into another gear and outlegged the field to the finish line with a first-place time of 4:09.06.

Starting at the Arcadia Invitatinal, where Oshier clocked the fastest mile time in America this season, the Trabuco Hills senior has not been bested in the event, finishing first at the O.C. Championships, Division 1 prelims, the section finals and now the Masters, in succession.

Joining both Oshier and Kaddatz in Clovis will be Division 4 champion Luke Decker, the senior from JSerra who finished seventh Friday with a time of 4:14.01.

Also headed to Clovis will be El Toro's three-headed throwing beast, namely seniors Jake Fraser, Sullivan Parker and Brad Bolton, who all qualified for state Friday.

Fraser, who finished third in the discus with a toss of 185-09, will be joining Newport Harbor's Ethan Cochran (182-11) and Steve Michaelson (176-06), who finished fourth and sixth, respectively.

In the shot put, there was a little bit of drama for the boys in gold and blue, as both Fraser (61-04, 2nd) and Parker (58-06, 4th) qualified early on, but Bolton waited until his final toss of the day to turn in the state qualifying mark of 55-8, good for eighth and a spot beside his buddies in Clovis.

"I feel pretty good, but I know I can throw farther," Fraser said. "There's certain things in the warm-ups and the meet that I felt I did right, but there's other things I didn't. Next week, I'm going to go huge, I can feel it."

Fraser said that having Bolton qualify late was a bit of a relief, because now nothing will change this week at practice, other than a possible shift to a lighter workload in preparation of the year's biggest meet.

"Sully did great and Brad, last throw, he just pulled it out," Fraser said. "It's great for training, and now all three of us get to go, so it should be fun."

Speaking of fun, perhaps no one had more fun at Friday's Masters than San Clemente senior high jumper Oscar Munson, who, less than a year ago, was sitting at home with a pair of broken feet.

After winning the O.C. Championships by clearing a career best 6 feet 6 inches, Munson captured the Division 1 championship last Saturday with a playoff leap of 6-5. On Friday, Munson upped the ante, clearing 6-7 and finishing second overall to move onto the state championships.

"I couldn't even fathom being where I am right now [when I was hurt]," Munson said. "And now, starting to peak here at the end like I wanted to, it's overwhelmingly exciting."

Munson was joined Friday by fellow Orange County Patch representative Sage Stone, a sophomore alternate from Mission Viejo who just missed out on a trip to state after failing to clear 6-05, and settling for a 6-03 performance.

After Munson hit his state qualifier, Stone congratulated him with a high-five.

"I at least want to hit 6-7, and, of course, I want to win state," Munson said. "I want to beat Miles [Poullard of Colony] whose jumping great right now. But most of all, I just want to get up there for the Southern Section and represent us."

Poullard, who broke two personal records Friday, won the high jump with a leap of 6-11.

It may not have been a personal record for El Toro senior Hanna Edwards, but her fifth-place finish in the 800 (2:10.14) was good enough to earn a repeat trip to the state meet.

Edwards, who will continue her running career at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo next season, was a little disappointed with her time.

"I think my kick needs a little work," she said. "Down the stretch I was looking at the clock, and I knew I had qualified. I was still pushing, but I don't know, I should've gone harder than that down the stretch."

Despite her disappointment, Edwards did make up about six yards of ground on fourth-place finisher Arielle Stevenson of Long Beach Poly down the home stretch, but Edwards was convinced that the better part of her run came at the outset.

"I started pretty well. I wanted to get out hard, that was my goal," she said.

Edwards said she'll train hard on Sunday and Monday of next week before cooling down before state.

In the pole vault, the usual suspects were up to their old tricks Friday at Cerritos College, as Adam Bragg and Mark Sakioka went head-to-head once again for the Masters crown.

Bragg ended up taking home the bragging rights, as the El Toro senior turned in a meet-best mark of 16-03, five inches better than Sakioka (15-08), who finished third overall on jumps to Evan Barr of Loyola.

Sakioka's teammate at Newport Harbor, junior Fritz Howser came up just short of a qualifying mark of 15-02, finishing with a final clearance of 14-08, good for seventh overall.

There was a bit of a surprise in the girls pole vault, as reigning Masters champion, senior Carissa Culver of Los Alamitos, failed to qualify for the state meet, turning in a final clearance of 11-03.

Also failing to qualify was Culver's teammate Josh Caiquo, the Division 1 triple jump champion, who came up just short of a state qualifying mark Friday with a seventh-place leap of 45-4.

2011 CIF Southern Section Masters Meet Local Results

(Athletes in bold qualified for state championships next Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High in Clovis)

BOYS
100-meter race -- Herbert Gamboa, San Clemente -- 10.82, 6th place.

1,600-meter race -- Jantzen Oshier, Trabuco Hills -- 4:09.06, 1st place; Connor Kaddatz, Dana Hills -- 4:11.44, 4th place; Luke Decker, JSerra -- 4:14.01, 7th place.

3,200-meter race -- Kevin Durham, El Toro -- 9:06.82, 9th place; Nicholas Plumb, Trabuco Hills -- 9:34.28, 12th place. 

High Jump -- Oscar Munson, San Clemente -- 6-07, 2nd place; Sage Stone, Mission Viejo -- 6-03, 9th place.

Triple Jump -- Joshua Caiquo, Los Alamitos -- 45-04, 9th place.

Pole Vault -- Adam Bragg, El Toro -- 16-03, 1st place; Mark Sakioka, Newport Harbor -- 15-08, 3rd place; Fritz Howser, Newport Harbor -- 14-08, 7th place.

Discus -- Jake Fraser, El Toro -- 185-09, 3rd place; Ethan Cochran, Newport Harbor -- 182-11, 4th place; Steve Michaelsen, Newport Harbor -- 175-02, 6th place. 

Shot Put -- Jake Fraser, El Toro -- 61-04, 2nd place;  Ryan Andrews, Newport Harbor -- 58-07, 4th place; Sullivan Parker, El Toro -- 58-06, 5th place; Brad Bolton, El Toro -- 55-08, 8th place; JB Salem, Newport Harbor -- 53-09, 11th place.

GIRLS

400-meter race -- Brierra Winfrey, Trabuco Hills -- 56.11, 7th place.

800-meter race -- Hanna Edwards, El Toro -- 2:10.14, 5th place.

1,600-meter race -- Katherine Delaney, JSerra -- 4:42.95, 1st place; Sarah Paddon, St. Margaret’s -- 4:54.41, 7th place; Nicci Corbin, Tesoro -- 4:54.43, 8th place; Catherine Martinez, Fountain Valley -- DNF.

3,200-meter race -- Alaina Alvarez, Dana Hills -- 10:40.90, 9th place.
Triple Jump -- Cassandra Smith, Trabuco Hills -- 38-03, 8th place; Chelsie Churchill, St. Margaret’s -- 37-10.75, 9th place.

Pole Vault -- Carissa Culver, Los Alamitos -- 11-03, 12th place.

Shot Put -- Karléh Wilson, Corona del Mar -- 39-09, 8th place.