Ray DeBolt of Granite Hills, a new school at the east end of Madison Avenue in El Cajon, won the San Diego Section mile championship on May 27, 1961.

The victory gave DeBolt, who passed away in the recent months in Reno, Nevada, at age 75, the distinction of being the first section champion in his event.

DeBolt, who outran the field in 4:28.2 on a gusty afternoon at Kearny High, was one of 12–only event winners advanced–who went on to the state championships at East Los Angeles College the following week.

DeBolt did not place among the top five in the state meet but his 4:26.8 time was a personal best and was the fifth fastest ever by a San Diego-area runner.

Thanks to Buzz Thom for letting us know.

Some of the best performances by San Diego Section athletes at the 100^th state track championships last week at Clovis Buchanan were provided by those who should be back for another shot in 2019.

Alysha Hickey, second in the high jump at 5 feet, 8 inches, and the first area champion since 2015 with a 19-9 ¾ long jump, returns to Coronado for another season.

Madison’s Kenan Christon, sixth in the 100 and 200 and Orange Glen’s Moray Steward, fourth in the 100, could be prime contenders next season.

LIKE BROTHER LIKE SISTER

La Costa Canyon’s Kristin Fahy, who ran the all-time second fastest 3200  meters in County history, with a fourth-place 10:16.45, will attempt to gain some ground on her brother, Darren, who distance-doubled in 4:08.78 and 9:03.29 in 2013.

Perhaps most impressive in Clovis was the second-place finish in the 1600 by Jaden Rosenthal, who proved to be savvy and tough after competing through high school under most radars.

Rosenthal represented San Diego High Tech of the Liberty City address and had to motor (well, maybe he jogged up the hill) to neighboring Point Loma to find a track on which to get in his work.

GOES TO THE WHIP

Rosenthal moved out with the pack, forced the issue by taking the lead on the second lap, and then did not flinch when he seemed to fall out of it and in fifth place at the gun lap.

The UCLA-bound senior recovered with a strong stretch run and finished second to favored Liam Anderson of Larkspur Redwood, who won in 4:09.31 to Rosenthal’s 4:09.63.

Eastlake’s Jaylyn Jackson did not get a horizontal double but he was more than competitive, finishing second in the triple jump and third in the long jump.

Winners and San Diego finals entries with schools in parenthesis:

GIRLS

100—Nowling, Calabasas, :11.47. 8. Shaheed (Madison), :12.00.

200—Robinson-Jones, Oakland Bishop O’Dowd), 23.66.

400—Robinson-Jones, Oakland Bishop O’Dowd, :52.37.

800—McIntosh, Loomis Del Oro, 2:05.22.  8. Morales (Scripps Ranch), 2:12.92.

1600—Denner, El Dorado Hills Oak Ridge, 4:42.77. 11. Riedman (La Costa Canyon), 4:55.28.

3200—Denner (El Dorado Hills Oak Ridge), 10:10.32.  4. Fahy (La Costa Canyon), 10:16.45, Section No. 2 all-time. 20. Brown (La Costa Canyon), 10:51.68.  25. Miessner (Eastlake), 11:03.17.

100 HURDLES—Hicks, Upland, :13.35.

300 HURDLES—Joseph, Eastvale Roosevelt, :41.76.  7. Scott (Vista), :43.05.  8. Thomas (Torrey Pines), :43.56.

4×100 Relay—Gardena Serra, :45.69.  6. Olympian, :47.32.

4×400 Relay–Bonita, 3:42.62.

HJ—Tie, Burke, Riverside Poly; Glenn, L.B. Wilson, 5-10.  4. Hickey (Coronado), 5-8.

LJ—Hickey (Coronado), 19-9 ¾, Section No. 5 all-time.

SP—Budwig, Fowler, 46-1.

TJ—Fisher, S.J. Silver Creek, 41-07w.

DISCUS—Grotegeer, Wheatland, 174-9.

PV—Wong, Monterey Santa Catalina, 12-6.  4.  Cervantes (Poway), 12-0.  9. Thomson (Poway), 11-6.

BOYS

100—Allen, Tulare, :10.44. 4. Steward (Orange Glen), :10.66.  6, Christon (Madison), :10.67.  9. Ellis (Mt Carmel), :10.86.

200—Shakir-Ricks, Murrieta Mesa, 20.98.  4.  Ellis (Mt. Carmel), :21.31. 6. Christon (Madison), :21.51.  9. Smith (Westview), :21.91.

400—Glasser. Kentfield Marin Catholic, :46.97.

800—Gomez, Campbell Westmont, 1:50.21.

1600—Anderson, Larkspur Redwood, 4:09.31. 2. Rosenthal (S.D. High Tech), 4:09.63, Section No. 11 all-time.

3200—Strangio, Carmichael Jesuit, 8:56.18.  9. Martinez de Pinillos (Cathedral), 9:05.34.  20. Rasmuson (Mira Mesa), 9:15.36.  23.  Labra (Bonita Vista), 9:22.46.

110 HURDLES—Ellis, Moreno Valley Vista del Lago, :13.97.

300 HURDLES—Roberson, Upland, :36.61. 5. Farmer (Rancho Bernardo), 38.02. 9. Lieu (Valhalla), :38.96.

4×100 Relay—Temecula Great Oak, :40.99.

4×400 Relay–Murrieta Mesa, 3:10.86.

HJ—Lee, Trabuco Hills, 7-2.

LJ—Clemons, Berkeley St. Mary’s, 25-1w.   3. Jackson (Eastlake), 23-8 ½.

TJ—Stevenson, Temecula Great Oak, 49-11 ¾.  2. Jackson (Eastlake), 49-1 3/4. 10. Mbamo (Rancho Bernardo), 45-3 ¾.  11. Ruth (Oceanside), 45-1 ½.

SP—Viveros (Bakersfield Liberty), 62-5 ½.

DISCUS—LaValle (Mission Viejo), 182-7.

PV—Guttormsen (Davis), 17-10.

The San Diego Section has not had an individual champion in the state meet since 2015 or a double winner since 2012.

Eastlake’s Jalyn Jackson has a chance to reverse the trend this week in the 100^th championships at Clovis Buchanan High.

Jackson, fourth in the long jump and second in the triple jump in 2017, is seeded first in each event entering Friday’s trials, off his performance in the Section meet at Mt. Carmel.

Seedings are not based on individual seasonal bests but on performances in last week’s 10 section finals throughout the state.

Numbers in parenthesis in the table below reflect seeding positions.

Madison’s Kenan Christon (long jump), Jessica Riedman (800), And El Centro Southwest’s Tyler Saikhon (300 hurdles) have withdrawn to concentrate on other events.

Mt. Carmel’s Quoi Ellis had the fastest time in the state last week with a wind-aided: 21.19 200 and Christon was second at: 21.20.  Coronado’s Alysha Hickey was the leader with a 19-10 ½ wind-aided long jump.

Ellis was third in the 200 in 2017 at: 21.25w.  La Costa Canyon’s McKenna Brown was fifth in the girls’ 1600 in 4:51.74.

Several others who competed at Clovis last season, including San Dieguito’s Kevin Ward, ninth at 14-10 in the pole vault, and Vista’s Alia Scott, ninth at: 45.28 are back and among the higher seed this year.

SINGLES AND DOUBLES

The last two-time winner in girls competition was Morse’s legendary Monique Henderson in the 200 (:23.19) and 400 (:50.74) in 2000.  Darren Fahy of La Costa Canyon doubled in the 1600 (4:08.78) and 3200 (9:03.29) in 2012.

The last individual winners were Cathedral’s Hannah Labrie Smith in 2015 in the 300 hurdles (:41.67) and Oceanside’s Charles Lenford in the discus (195-4).

SPIKE MARKS

Josh Farmer, Rancho Bernardo’s Section-winning 300 hurdler, is a third generation standout, following grandfather Dixon Farmer and father Matt Farmer…Dixon Farmer was the state champion from Orinda Miramonte in the 440 in 1958 and ’59 with winning times of:48.6 each year…he also was a leading 180-yard low hurdler with a best of :19.1 and later was head coach at San Diego State…Matt Farmer was a decathlete and high jumped 6 feet, 10 inches at Monte Vista… Karson Lippert, who sustained a leg muscle injury in the San Diego Section trials, reportedly is taking part in some 7-on-7 football passing drills at La Costa Canyon…Lippert is expected to be one of the better running backs in the Fall if he can avoid hamstring issues or knee contusions…La Costa’s Jessica Riedman is said to be transferring and would compete next year for Irvine Woodbridge…a rattlesnake was spotted in the area of the discus competition at Mt. Carmel last week…officials with shovel and bucket removed the critter….

GIRLS

There still are a couple weeks before league trials for most San Diego Section athletes, but distance runners are setting themselves up for the big meets in May.

McKenna Brown of La Costa Canyon was beaten by Mariah Castillo of Saugus in a hot 1600-meter race in the Mt. San Antonio meet at El Camino College in Torrance last week, but Brown, while displaced as the state leader, still lowered her best time to 4:45.46.

Brown moved into a San Diego Section all-time third-place tie with Santana’s Tina Allen, who covered the same distance in 1982 in the same time as Brown, who trails only Alli Billmeyer of Torrey Pines, 4:41.71 in 2011, and Darcy Arreola of Grossmont, 4:42.77 in 1986.

La Costa’s Jessica Riedman advanced to 11th all-time with a 4:51.47 effort at Mt. Sac and teammate Kristin Fahy climbed to 17th with a 4:54.54. Fahy’s 10:22.53 earlier in the month at Arcadia moved her to No. 3 all-time.

GIRLS BEST MARKS TO 4/25

San Diego Section boys’ 2018 best track and field performances through last week’s Mt. San Antonio meet, which was not held on the once-bucolic junior college campus in Walnut, instead moving about 40 miles West to El Camino College in Torrance.

San Diego marks and their rankings in parenthesis are compared below to the best in California, as supplied by Athletic.net.  Listed all-time San Diego marks are for meters, which the U.S. went to in the early 1980’s.

Some of the “all-time” metric performances were bettered by performances measured in yards and feet, such as races from 220 yards to 2 miles, which  are longer than those from 200 meters to 3,200 meters.  The 100-meter distance in decidedly longer than 100 yards, by almost 10 yards.

Girls marks will be published later this week.

San Diego Section girls turned in season highs in five events and the boys in two at last week’s Arcadia Invitational.

The section can boast the best mark or tie for the best mark in the state in one boys and four girls events.

Torrey Pines’ McKenna Brown, who took the state lead in the1600-meter race at 4:47.61 at the Stanford Invitational the week before, won the mile at Arcadia by almost five seconds in 4:49.63.

Ellie Talius of Eastlake won the pole vault at 13 feet, 1 inch, to take the state lead, although another vaulter earlier cleared 13-3 indoors.

Alysha Hickey of Coronado moved into a tie for first with a 5-foot, 9-inch high jump at Arcadia and contiues to lead with a 19-foot, 5 1/4 long jump.

Brown ranks fifth all-time in the 1600 and Hickey is tied for fifth in the high jump.  Eastlake’s Jalyn Jackson, who hopped, skipped, and leaped 49-10 1/4, is eighth all-time in the tfiple jump.

Section competitors ranked in the state top 10:

BOYS

GIRLS

*Second.

w—wind-aided.

+–Indoors.