High School Track and Field Preview: Throws and pole vault at center of attention again

The throwing events and the pole vault drove the news cycle locally during last year’s track and field season.

Some things never change.

Through the first month of the season, the area has established its strength in those disciplines once again.

Costa Mesa High twin sisters Felicia and Tayla Crenshaw return as seniors after reaching the CIF State championship meet together in 2017. Felicia wound up being a state medalist last year, taking fifth in the discus throw after setting her personal record at 156 feet 8 inches in the finals.

Felicia produced her biggest throw of the season at the Beach Cities Invitational last Saturday. Her mark of 153-2 is second in the CIF Southern Section and fourth in the state for the girls’ discus.

Felicia is also 18th in the section for the girls’ shotput at 37-3 1/4. The Mustangs’ star has eclipsed 40 feet in the event just once in her career, recording a 42 in an Orange Coast League tri-meet on April 6, 2017.

Tayla is tied for fifth in the section for girls’ discus (132-6), putting Costa Mesa’s throwing duo back on track to return to the state meet. She has topped out at 35-7 in shotput this season.

Marina sent Kyle Tsu (UC Irvine) and Jake Arnold (UC Riverside) to the state meet last year. A new face has surfaced for the Vikings, as Marina throws coach Mike Giron looks to build on the success of the previous campaign.

Sophomore Alejandra Rosales busted out a new lifetime best of 128-1 in the Beach Cities Invitational, propelling herself into ninth among the section’s girls’ discus throwers.

Giron said that Rosales transferred into the school from Los Amigos last year. Her work ethic won over the support of those who could help her, including Tsu and Arnold.

“She has a great attitude that other guys that I have coached in the past have noticed that they’re very invested in her,” Giron said. “Kyle and Jake just accepted her. To this day, they text me, ‘How’s [Alejandra] doing?’”

Rosales stands as the No. 2 sophomore in the state for the girls’ discus. The possibility exists that she could make the state meet. Giron said that once his athletes reach the Masters meet, he will not be concerned about placing. The at-large standard to qualify for state this spring is 134-5.

The throws remain a staple of the track and field program at Newport Harbor. Spencer Blake and Aidan Elbettar are two names to watch.

In the boys’ pole vault, junior Tommy Cook (13-8) is another Sailor trending upward. Freshman sprinter Zoe Bixby has been the most promising athlete for Newport Harbor on the girls’ side.

Marina’s Skyler Magula and Corona del Mar’s Morgan Simon lead the area’s pole vaulters.

Magula ranks third among section boys after winning the Beach Cities Invitational with a jump of 15-2. His brother, Michael (Long Beach State), qualified for the state meet last year, placing eighth.

Following his mark of 15-2, Skyler Magula is well ahead of his brother at the same point in their careers. Michael Magula topped out at 14 feet in his junior year.

Then there is Simon, who opened the season with three consecutive personal-record performances. She capped the streak with a 12-7 clearance at the Triton Invitational in San Clemente. That mark is currently tied for the section lead and ranks fourth in the state.

The area’s two leading pole vaulters have the credentials to qualify for their first state meets. The at-large standard for the boys’ pole vault is 14-9. For the girls’ pole vault, it is 11-11.

Huntington Beach’s Jack Wiseman also hopes to compete at the state meet for the first time. He fell one step short of that goal last year, losing out on the final state-qualifying position in a three-way jump-off with Cerritos’ Destin Flucas and Santa Barbara San Marcos’ Beau Allen at Masters.

All three competitors from that jump-off return this season. Allen has leapt in front of the group, posting a lifetime best of 6-10 at the Maurice Greene Invitational.

Wiseman and Flucas squared off at the Beach Cities Invitational, with the two of them matching the automatic state-qualifying standard of 6-6.

The Huntington Beach junior said that following the Arcadia Invitational on April 7, he will likely lighten the load the rest of the way. Wiseman cited “fresh legs” as the most important thing for a high jumper in the CIF postseason meets.

Edison junior Aiden Garnett also reached the 6-6 mark in a Sunset League tri-meet on Wednesday.

The Orange County record for boys’ high jump has already fallen this season, with the new mark of 7-3 belonging to Trabuco Hills senior and UCLA signee Sean Lee. Last year’s state champion has challengers, most notably, Folsom Vista Del Lago senior Jake Grimsman, who has cleared 7-2.

After a strong cross-country season, several of the area’s standouts from the fall look to continue putting up good times on the track.

Laguna Beach’s Ryan Smithers will try to build on an All-CIF State Division 4 showing in cross-country. The Breakers can also expect a big track season from a healthy Evie Cant.

Other candidates to make noise as distance runners include Newport Harbor’s Alexis Garcia and Costa Mesa’s Diane Molina, the reigning Daily Pilot Cross-Country Dream Team Runners of the Year.

Paige Damron, a junior at CdM, ranks 12th in the section for the girls’ 300-meter hurdles (45.96 seconds). Fountain Valley senior Donnie Marion may be the area’s best boys’ hurdler.

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