The Islanders’ track and field team has advanced one girl and nine boys to the CIF San Diego Section Finals at Mt. Carmel High School on May 20.
The 10 Coronado athletes are double the number who qualified last year, according to Coach Cameron Gary.
This year’s qualifiers include four individual event athletes plus two relay teams, and for all but one athlete this was their first experience at a CIF championship-level competition, according to Gary.
Gary notes that “every athlete at this point represents the best athletes from their respective leagues,” and individual event placings are irrelevant at the preliminaries.
“As we tell the athletes, one cannot win a championship at CIF prelims,” Gary said. “But one certainly can lose one. It is all about ‘surviving and advancing.'”
Headed to CIF finals
Here are the athletes competing in the CIF finals following the May 13 preliminaries.
Sophomore Sean Groeneveld advanced in the boys 400m, with a time of 52.85.
Sophomore Reif Souder advanced in the boys 300 hurdles with a personal record time of
44.02.
Senior Saxton Sylvester advanced in the discus throw with a heave of 119’ 7”.
The Islander boys’ 4×400 relay (Groeneveld, senior Jaden Banner, junior Marco Velarde,
and freshman Nathan Ayan) advanced with a time of 3:40.29.
And the Islander boys’ 4×800 relay (Ayan, juniors Jack Shumaker, Rafael Roos, and Detrik
Heidt) advanced with a time of 8:48.66.
Junior Lindsey Balsley was the lone girls competitor to advance, with leap of 17’ 3” in the
long jump and a 300 hurdles personal record time of 47.95.
Other female athletes who scored personal records but did not advance were junior Tatiana Potter in the 200m (27.28), and senior Emma Slaughter in the discus with a heave of 85’ 3”.
Submitted by George Green.
