06.21.08
Posted in Athletes, Profiles, Schools at 7:04 am by Administrator
2008 All-Area girls track and field selections
The Bakersfield Californian | Friday, Jun 20 2008 8:35 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Jun 20 2008 8:51 PM
Athlete of the Year
ANNA JELMINI
Shafter, junior
– Dominated California with 169-4 discus and 48-3.5 shot put throws
– Could have won both state championships with any of her shot throws and three of her discus throws
– Despite the state’s best competition, easily won area and section meets
– Fired a 183-11 at Salinas for a provisional Olympic Trials qualifying mark
ALANA ALEXANDER
Centennial, junior
– Qualified for state finals in long jump and triple jump, finishing seventh and ninth
– Central Section champion in triple jump with 38-3.75
– Was top three in four different Southwest Yosemite League events: third in 100 hurdles, second in 300 hurdles, long jump and triple jump champion
ALEX COLLATZ
Stockdale, freshman
– Perhaps area’s most versatile athlete, she qualified for state in discus and triple jump
– Finished fourth in state discus finals with throw of 150-3
– Best discus mark of 159-4 ranked in nation’s top 10 and was No. 8 freshman throw in state history
– Ended state triple-jump run in 17th place
TAYLOR JACKSON
Frontier, sophomore
– Dominated hurdles in Kern County, with best time in 100 and 300 by nearly a second
– Was second in 300 hurdles and third in 100 hurdles at section meet and finished in state’s top 25 in both
– Double champion at league and area meets
AMANDA KLINCHUCH
Liberty, junior
– Area’s premier pole vaulter cleared season-best 11-6 at Central Section meet, finishing second in a vault-off
– Hit 11-3 in state prelims to finish in a tie for 13th, one spot from a vault-off for the finals
– Won South Area meet by nearly three feet
KAYLA KOVAR
Burroughs, junior
– Threw better than 150 in discus five times at state meet, finishing third with 154-10 in finals
– Finished second in Southern Section with 153-1
– Season-high throw of 157-8 in state prelims ranks top 10 in nation
ASHLEE THOMAS
Centennial, senior
– South Area champion in 800 and second in 400
– Fourth in section in 800 (2:19.77) and seventh in 400 (58.90)
– Southwest Yosemite League champion in both events
CAREY TUUAMALEMALO
Taft, senior
– Qualified for state meet in discus with 130-9 throw at section meet
– Finished 13th in state prelims with 128-1 throw
– Led Wildcats to South Sequoia League team title with top-three finishes in both throwing events
BRUSHAY WANDICK
Bakersfield, junior
– Triple champion at area meet, winning 400 relay, 100 and 200
– After narrowly missing state in 400 relay and 100 (fourth in both), finished third in 200 meters in 24.69
– Finished 21st in state, running a 25.60Second team
SECOND TEAM
Shanea Anderson, Stockdale
Sarah Baker, Bakersfield
Candace Carlson, North
Shinead McDonald, Bakersfield
Melissa Merrill, Bakersfield Christian
Monica Morley, Centennial
Cassandra Salazar, Shafter
Erica Wilcox, Liberty
HONORABLE MENTION
Boron: Morgan Frier
Foothill: Natalie Fernandez
Frontier: Kirby Ellis, Halle Meadows
Garces: Monica Guzman, Kelly Hosey, Victoria Riley
Golden Valley: Shanesha Epps
Rosamond: Jasmine Moore
South: Candice Nichols
Stockdale: Jenise Anderson
Taft: Bryanna Bacot
Shafter’s Jelmini named All-Area Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year
BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer
zewing@bakersfield.com | Friday, Jun 20 2008 10:33 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Jun 20 2008 10:53 PM
Everything Anna Jelmini did this year — from the undefeated season to the 183-11 discus throw to, of course, the double state championship — can be traced back to a crowded, noisy Body Xchange gym on Calloway Drive and the next set of weights.
“Every time it got hard,” Jelmini said, “I thought of the state meet. Then I kept working harder.”
That singular determination in the fall made the spring’s competitions a formality. Jelmini went unbeaten — and never really was tested — in winning state championships in the shot put and discus.
The Shafter junior, who single-handedly lifted the Generals to fourth place in the state, is an easy choice for The Californian’s Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
Jelmini herself can tell you how dominant she was with a story of how other throwers treated her — if you don’t mind her blushing.
“Everyone was really nice, and they’re like, ‘If you want to see real throwing, look at her,’” Jelmini said. “It sounds weird hearing them say that.”
Competitors so impressed they turned into fans? Yowza.
“I didn’t expect to come out and dominate right away; I had to work after it,” Jelmini said. “But once I was up there, I just continued to work to stay up there.”
“Up there” meant having top-5 marks nationally in both events, and, after a mid-season trip to Salinas, the No. 1 mark in the discus, a spectacular 183-11 that sent her into the Central Section record books and allows her to compete in this month’s U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.
“It was unreal,” Jelmini said of the big throw. “It was amazing. I was like, ‘Was that me? Did that really go that far?’”
Salinas is famous for its windy discus arena, often propelling throwers to big marks, but Jelmini is no fluke. She won the state discus crown with a throw of 169-4 (no one within eight feet) and the shot put title with a 48-3.5 (winner by more than five feet). She had a discus throw well past 180 at state, but it was a foul by inches.
“She is very athletic, she’s very responsive, she picks things up well and she’s very quickly able to adjust,” Shafter throwing coach Matt Godbehere said.
Godbehere or his wife, former Bakersfield High and UCLA great Dawn Dumble, have been coaching Jelmini since she was in grade school. After she finished fourth in the discus and seventh in the shot at last year’s state finals, he primed for a breakout junior season.
“We sat down last summer and discussed goals and how we were going to get there,” Godbehere said. “Based on that conversation, we set a schedule for training. … Numbers I wanted in the weight room that I was shooting for this time of year, she was doing it in the fall.
“From the get-go, she stayed way ahead of the curve. It was exciting.”
Now, Jelmini has bigger meets in mind than even the state. She won the discus Friday at the USA Junior Outdoor Championships in Columbus, Ohio, and will compete in the shot put today. Next is the World Junior Championships July 8-13 in Poland — and the Olympic trials.
When she’s done with that, she’ll come back to Shafter, Bakersfield and Body Xchange and continue working on a career that already has her on the short list of Kern County greats.
“It seems like those other people are on a whole different pedestal,” Jelmini said. “But it’s pretty cool that I’m up there with them.”
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Posted in Athletes, Profiles, Schools at 6:37 am by Administrator
2008 All-Area boys track and field selections
The Bakersfield Californian | Friday, Jun 20 2008 8:35 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Jun 20 2008 8:53 PM
Athlete of the Year
Foothill, senior
– Area, Central Section and CIF State champion in shot put and discus
– Best marks were high throws of 203-7 in discus and 63-7.75 in shot put
– Two-time All-Area Athlete of the Year headed to Cal State Bakersfield
JOHNNY CARTER
Ridgeview, freshman
– State champion in triple jump as freshman with mark of 49-0.75
– Mark would have been a state freshman record if it hadn’t been wind-aided
– Section-winning mark of 48-3 was one inch from section freshman record
MATT DARR
Frontier, sophomore
– Finished second in the Central Section with 52-8.75 shot put throw
– Fourth in discus at section meet with 157-7
– Threw discus 180-5 in the wind in Salinas and recently had a postseason shot put mark of 55-3; both are second-best in the section
CHRIS KELLY
Ridgeview, senior
– Had season-best triple jump of 47-11 at state finals to finish third
– Also finished third at section meet with 46-10.5 jump
– Long-jump mark of 22-0.5 was sixth-best in section all year
ANTHONY MITCHELL
North, senior
– Fifth in the state in the 800 meters
– Central Section champion in 800; SWYL champion in 400 and 800
– Second-team All-Area selection last year had a top time in the 800 of 1:53.60
ISAIAH PURVIS
Liberty, junior
– Finished second in the Central Section in 200 (21.96) and 400 (49.13)
– Same time in 200 gave him 16th place in the state preliminaries
– Also ran anchor leg of Liberty’s 1,600 relay team, second in section and 13th in state
CHRIS SCHWARTZ
Foothil, junior
– Ran personal-record time of 8:58.50 in 3,200-meter state finals to finish second
– Central Section and South Area champion in 1,600 and 3,200
– Triple SEYL champion (800, 1,600 and 3,200) also was state Division I cross-country champion
TYLER THOMPSON
Shafter, senior
– Finished second in Central Section in long jump and triple jump
– State qualifier in both jumping events
– South Sequoia League champion in four events: 200, high jump, long jump and triple jump
EMANUEL TURNER
Bakersfield, junior
– Kern County’s fastest boy had times of 10.81 in the 100 and 22.05 in the 200
– Finished second in the 100 at the section meet, but focused on relays at state
– Ran legs in BHS’ 400 relay team (section champs, 14th at state) and 1,600 relay team (third in section, 17th in state)
SECOND TEAM
Isiah Griggs, Bakersfield
Daniel Lozano, Stockdale
Phillip McCullum, Garces
Eddie Morrow, East
Kevin Norwood, Golden Valley
Arturo Ramirez, Centennial
George Robbins, West
Matt Sumlin, Garces
HONORABLE MENTION
Bakersfield: Collin Ellis, Walter Hunt
Burroughs: Matt Johnson
Desert: Michael Vaughan
Golden Valley: Emmett Hodges
North: Cody Gragg
Shafter: Alex Thompson
Stockdale: Jay Garber, David Mitchell, Steve Silva
Tehachapi: John Roemer
Wasco: Robert Hernandez
Foothill’s Ragans honored as Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year
BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer
zewing@bakersfield.com | Friday, Jun 20 2008 10:33 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Jun 20 2008 10:52 PM
His high school state championships are behind him, but Foothill graduate Dayshan Ragans keeps throwing — and continues to amaze coach Wayne Brewer.
“I was practicing discus with him the other day,” Brewer said last week. “And he wasn’t turning his feet, just trying to throw it far.
“And his arm is just ‘WHOOOM!’ You cannot teach that, you cannot coach that. I’m standing way back, and I can feel his arm, feel the wind it makes.”
Say hello — or just stand back as he creates a nice breeze — to your Californian Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
Ragans finished his career with the Trojans by winning state titles in both the shot put and discus May 31. He was undefeated in both events this season — maxing out with a 63-7.75 shot put throw and 203-7 in the discus — and will throw for Cal State Bakersfield next year.
“It’s like everything we worked for from the beginning of the year to the end of the year,” Ragans said. “It even goes back to freshman all the way through senior year. Everything you worked for is right there. It comes down to that point — Who’s going to be a state champion?”
All of those accomplishments shine brighter when you consider that Ragans had never picked up a shot put until his freshman-year P.E. class came around to its track unit.
“(I said,) ‘All right, I’ll do track.’” Ragans said. “Went to a few track meets, then ‘OK, it’s kind of fun, I think I’ll keep doing it.’ Then a couple more meets, ‘OK, this is something I want to do.’”
Even with his career in its infancy, Ragans garnered attention at meets with his raw talent. Brewer, who was then at North High, remembers Ragans throwing the shot 50-plus feet without spinning, the favored technique by high-level throwers.
“That just tells you how remarkable of an athlete he is,” Brewer said. “You look at (other elite throwers), they’ve been throwing since they were little. Imagine if he’d been throwing that long.”
In fact, Ragans didn’t truly take the sport seriously — often skipping practices and being held out of meets — until late in his sophomore year, when he qualified for the state meet in the shot put and finished 13th.
“If I knew then what I know now,” Ragans said, “I would have never missed a day of practice.”
Imbued with Brewer’s love of the sport, Ragans has made up for it since then.
“Everything he’s done, he’s really worked hard for and he really deserves,” Brewer said. “He deserves being a state champion. He deserves setting all the records he has. He deserved getting that 3.5 GPA. Everything.
“He’s worked hard, he’s put in the extra time. We throw, we lift, we go in the weight room after practice to jump boxes. Everybody else tries to get out of there; not Dayshan. He doesn’t care. He goes and does it. Those medals he has around his neck, he deserves every single little bit of that.”
The gold medals could increase at CSUB — Ragans, the sixth of seven children in his family, is the first to attend a four-year college, and he said he refuses to waste this opportunity.
“It’s somewhere he never thought he’d be, and he wants to take full advantage of it,” Brewer said. “He’s excited to start this chapter in his life.”
One look in Ragans’ eyes will tell you that’s true. He’s become a standout (a Central Section meet record in the discus and several school records), thanks to determination, hard work and a little bit of WHOOOM! to go with it.
“People can have a love for football, basketball, baseball, anything,” Ragans said. “I just have a love for track. I don’t know where I’d be right now if it weren’t for track.”
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06.01.08
Posted in Athletes, Profiles, Schools at 8:34 pm by Administrator
Ridgeview freshman stuns field with state record triple jump
BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer
e-mail:zewing@bakersfield.com | Saturday, May 31 2008 11:39 PM
Last Updated: Sunday, Jun 1 2008 12:05 AM
The most amazing part of Johnny Carter’s performance wasn’t his impromptu jig after his final triple jump at the CIF Track and Field State Championships on Saturday.
Photos:
Ridgeview’s Johnny Carter is congratulated by Ryan Swafford, the second-place finisher, after his final jump failed to best Carter’s top leap. Carter won the state title Saturday, setting a Freshman all-time state record in the process.
Photo by John Harte / The Californian
Johnny Carter of Ridgeview made big news as he soared to the state championship in the triple jump with a jump of 49 feet, 1 inch.
It wasn’t, believe it or not, that the jump won him a state championship as a freshman or that it set a new rookie record for the Central Section.
No, the most amazing part might have come afterwards, when Carter asked his club throwing coach, Kim Jenkins, what the world record in the triple jump was.
“About 61 feet,” Jenkins told him (it’s actually 18.29 meters, about 60 feet, 1 inch).
Carter’s response? “Only 12 more feet to go.”
Seems farfetched, but not if you watched Carter, a 15-year-old at Ridgeview High, land his winning 49-1 jump at Falcon Stadium.
“I thought about it all night long,” Carter said. “I couldn’t get to sleep. I kept thinking, ‘I know what I’ve got to do tomorrow.’ Thought about it, and it came true.”
The freshman, who entered the event with the top seed mark in the state, struggled with nerves in Friday’s preliminaries but appeared to be past that problem for the finals. He landed a 48-0 — just three inches off his old personal record — to get within 3.75 inches of the lead, held by Vista Murrieta’s Ryan Swafford.
That was still the margin before Carter’s final jump. He needed a new PR.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘If I don’t get this, it’s over,’” Carter said. “When I hit the dirt, I said ‘Yes!’”
Freshman state champions are the stuff legends are made of, of course. It puts Carter in the same category as very few others, among them Olympic great Marion Jones.
Jenkins used Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial jumper David Tucker, who had held the section’s freshman record from 1968 until Saturday night, as an example.
“(Tucker) went on to do big things, national marks and whatnot,” Jenkins said. “At least now Johnny’s surpassed that.”
For now, Carter is going to enjoy Saturday night’s performance.
“I feel blessed,” Carter said, clutching his gold medal. “And this, this feels really good.”
Ridgeview finished 1-3 in the event, with senior Chris Kelly capping his career with a third-place finish. It was a sweet finish for him after he missed making the finals by less than an inch as a junior.
“I told (Carter) in the beginning that we had to take top three, both of us,” said Kelly, who jumped 47-11. “I’m happy for him, and I’m happy I placed.”
Even Kelly could only watch as Carter — who had to pull up his grades at the start of the semester just to be eligible for track — came from the frosh/soph team to the top of the state podium in only his second year of jumping.
“He jumped up, and I said, ‘OK, that must be 48-4 or better,’” Jenkins said. “They flipped up a 49, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, he did it.’”
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Posted in Athletes, Profiles, Schools at 12:05 pm by Administrator
Competition nowhere near Shafter junior’s shot put, discus marks
BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer
e-mail:zewing@bakersfield.com | Saturday, May 31 2008 11:39 PM
Last Updated: Sunday, Jun 1 2008 12:04 AM
Shafter throwing coach Matt Godbehere found some shade Saturday afternoon and sat in his lawn chair, a pleasant day at Cerritos College’s Falcon Stadium gone exactly as planned.
Anna Jelmini smiled and posed for pictures, pleased but trying to look like she wasn’t sure what the big fuss was about.
The rest of Jelmini’s entourage, however, gave it away: The buzzing, handshaking and congratulating was the result of Jelmini’s long-awaited state championship.
“I feel great right now,” said Jelmini, her gold medals swinging from her neck. “I worked so hard this whole year, and it paid off. … I try not to look too conceited, but I feel really extremely happy.”
A couple of big early throws in the discus gave Jelmini a cushion no other competitor could touch, and her top mark of 169 feet, 4 inches beat the next-closest Californian by nearly nine feet.
Later, the shot put brought more of the same. All six of Jelmini’s throws were better than the best throw from the rest of the field. She threw a 42-9 on her first attempt, something that ended up good enough to win a state title, but used a 48-3.5 on her fourth throw as her best mark.
“That’s it, it’s over,” said Anna’s father, Rick Jelmini, a camera in hand beside the shot pit.
The double state championship, which single-handedly gave Shafter 20 team points and a share of fourth place in the state, capped an undefeated season for Jelmini, one in which she dealt with being the favorite week in and out.
“I try not to think about the pressure,” Jelmini said. “I feel really excited and relieved.”
Jeanette DeWitt of Nipomo finished second in the discus in 160-10, followed by two more of Kern’s finest: Kayla Kovar of Burroughs took third in 154-10, and Stockdale’s Alex Collatz placed fourth with 150-3.
“I felt like I did what I came here to do,” Kovar said.
Jelmini’s double title has only been done four times before in CIF history, and not since Stephanie Brown of Arroyo Grande did it in 1998. Fullerton’s Natalie Kaaiawahia turned the trick in 1981 and ‘83, and Bakersfield’s Melisa Weis doubled in 1989.
“She did what she needed to do,” Godbehere said. “She focused on herself, and by doing that, it took care of business.”
The feat deserves celebration. And despite outward modesty, there was no shortage of just that in the Generals’ camp — you couldn’t have wiped the smile off Jelmini’s face with a scrub brush, Mom and Dad beamed with pride, and Godbehere’s eyes welled up at the thought of the two-time state champion he had guided.
“She’s a wonderful girl,” Godbehere said. “She works really hard, and this is very deserved.”
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Posted in Athletes, Profiles, Schools at 11:17 am by Administrator
Foothill senior answers call with roar heard ’round Cerritos College
BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer
e-mail:zewing@bakersfield.com | Saturday, May 31 2008 11:39 PM
Last Updated: Saturday, May 31 2008 11:55 PM
Dayshan Ragans used a few bunny hops to dispel some early drama on championship Saturday. He saved the dancing for later, when his double state championship was sealed.
Foothill’s Dayshan Ragans lets it all out as he twirls following his state-winning throw in the shot put Saturday afternoon.
Ragans took his last throw Saturday to something he may have never heard before — wild cheering from his competitors in the event. With the title already in hand, they wanted to see him launch a monster throw, and he obliged with a toss over 203 feet.
With the CIF State Track and Field State Championships at Cerritos College under way for less than an hour, Ragans was locked in a tense shot put battle, the favorite from Foothill actually trailing Los Gatos’ Colin Quirke’s 62-foot throw by about eight inches.
“Oh man,” Ragans said later with a laugh. “That one was not going very well at the beginning.”
With Foothill throwing coach Wayne Brewer urging him on, Ragans, a burly senior headed to Cal State Bakersfield next year, answered the call. He unleashed a screaming 62-10 that gave him the lead and left him bouncing in the ring.
But Ragans wasn’t out of the woods. Quirke threw a 63-6 in the preliminaries Friday.
“It’s such a mental sport,” Brewer said. “You never know what can happen, especially with that kid, Colin. You never know what he’s going to do.”
The tension wasn’t released until Quirke’s final throw — and the final throw of the competition — resulted in a foul and gave Ragans a state championship to cap his high school career.
“I’m thinking, ‘Oh man, I screwed up, and he’s gonna pop a 63, 64 and win it,’” Ragans said. “To my surprise, he didn’t have such a good throw, and I’m like, ‘Did he just foul? Did I just win?’”
Ragans added a second, more lopsided victory and state title in the discus. He had about a three-foot lead with an early 196-10, but that was a subpar throw — for him — that might have soured the state title a little.
No problem. Ragans, who normally only screams when he lets a shot put go, took the advice of one of his defeated competitors and screamed on his last discus throw to the tune of a 202-6.
“I’m kind of speechless,” Brewer said. “It’s one of those things coaches dream about.”
He’s the first male in California to pull off the shot-discus double championship, and, along with Chris Scwartz’s second-place finish in the 3,200 meters, gave Foothill 28 team points and a fourth-place finish in state.
Ragans’ championships conclude a career that has several marvelous story lines.
First, he’s continued the line of Kern County greats in throwing. A list of names like Jeff Buckey, Van Mounts and Leon Patterson must now also include Ragans.
“It’s good to be up there, and it’s good to bring that state title back to Bakersfield,” he said. “It’s been coming back to my head more and more: I want to be on that list too.”
The other story line is how Ragans has defied the odds to get to this point. He comes from a nearly broken home, one that has struggled with finances and drugs and one from which he’s used throwing to distance himself. He started throwing as a freshman and might have won a state title last season, but he fouled out in the shot put finals and settled for second in the discus.
“It’s been a long three years,” Brewer said. “There’s been a lot of obstacles to overcome. To finally be here and be put in this situation, everything just came together. It was a perfect situation.”
This year, everything came up roses. Even Ragans’ grade-point average for his final quarter of school was a 3.5, his highest ever. And his two gold medals, up on the podium at Falcon Stadium in front of a throng of 10,712? Those look pretty good, too.
“That was a little embarrassing, because I’m a shy person,” Ragans said. “That’s a lot of people cheering. I was like, ‘Hey, did I do that?’ But I feel honored. So honored.”
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05.31.08
Posted in Athletes, Coaches, Profiles, Schools at 11:40 pm by Administrator
Local throwers take center stage at State Track qualifying
BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer, e-mail: zewing@bakersfield.com | Friday, May 30 2008 11:19 PM
Last Updated: Friday, May 30 2008 11:23 PM
NORWALK — It was Kern County’s own little game of “Can you top this?” right here at the wide world of the CIF State Track and Field Championships outside Falcon Stadium at Cerritos College.
Kayla Kovar of Burroughs High was one of three Kern County girls to qualify for today’s state finals at Cerritos College.
Burroughs junior Kayla Kovar started things off Friday with an impressive discus toss of 147 feet, 10 inches. Shafter’s Anna Jelmini, the state’s leader in the event, calmly took the lead with a 155-9 — mediocre by her lofty standards. Then Stockdale freshman Alex Collatz threw in a 150-10.
“It’s pretty cool,” Kovar said. “It’s amazing, because you hardly ever see three girls from the same county do so well.”
Things got really interesting when Kovar unleashed a personal record 157-8 with her final throw — and taking the lead on the second-to-last throw of the day.
The last belonged to Jelmini — and she wasn’t about to go into today’s state finals with anything but the top seed. So she arced out a beautiful 166-4 to reclaim her spot atop the leader board.
“I had in my mind what I needed to do before she went,” Jelmini said. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, she passed me, I need to pass her right now.’ … But I kind of keep in my mind what everybody else is doing. I like it when other people are coming close to me. It just pumps me up more.”
Or, as Kovar said with a laugh: “Anna’s very competitive. She didn’t (say anything), but I could just tell.”
When the dust settled, three of the top four throwers in the event were from Kern County, not to mention Taft’s Carey Tuuamalemalo, who finished 13th. The top nine in each event advance to the finals, which begin at 2 p.m. today for field events and at 4 p.m. for running events.
Jelmini also reached the shot put final on just one throw, a 47-1 that beat anyone else by more than four feet. She has the state’s best mark by a wide margin in both throwing events.
“The marks don’t even count (today); they just get erased,” Jelmini said. “So I just passed on those last two. I did what I needed to do.”
Also into the finals is Foothill’s Dayshan Ragans, who took it easy on qualifying day. He threw a 60-2 on his first throw in the shot, then passed on his final two to qualify in third.
In the discus, he forgot to change his shoes and missed nearly all of his warm-up time, but then tied his PR with a 203-7 on his first throw.
“I was standing in line (for warmups), I look down, and someone says, ‘You’re throwing in New Balances?’” Ragans said. “I was like, ‘Oh. My. God.’ That’s exactly what I said. So I ran all the way down to the fence and changed my shoes and … had like four minutes left to warm up.”
The forgetfulness didn’t cause Ragans any problems. After his big first throw and a foul on his second, Ragans passed on the third to rest up for today.
“Throwing takes so much out of you mentally and physically,” Foothill throwing coach Wayne Brewer said. “There’s no reason to wear yourself out when you’ve already qualified.”
Inside the stadium, in front of 8,542, Centennial’s Alana Alexander also reached the finals in two events. In one, the triple jump, she came with the fourth-best seed and reached the final in eighth place (38-1).
The other, the long jump, was a bit more of a surprise. Alexander had the 22nd seed and was nowhere to be found on the list of top-25 marks in the state this year. But Alexander, jumping in the first heat, put up an 18-1 that stood up in eighth place.
Also in the jumping pit, Ridgeview’s Johnny Carter and Chris Kelly qualified with the exact same mark — 47-10.5, tying them for fifth heading to the finals.
“It’s kind of strange that we would get the same mark,” said Carter, a freshman who entered with the top seed. “But I’m happy with what I did today. I was real nervous through the whole process. I should come out better (in the finals).”
The happenings on the track weren’t nearly so prosperous for the Bakersfield area, at least until North’s Anthony Mitchell took off his jacket. Not a single local runner qualified until Mitchell won his heat in the 800. That performance, a 1:53.77, will give him the No. 2 seed in the finals. He had the eighth-best time in the state coming in.
“I could see myself winning it,” Mitchell said. “We’re all right there. It could be anybody’s race.”
He will be in one of only two races that involve locals today. The other is the boys 3,200, where there is no qualifying and where Foothill’s Chris Schwartz carries the third-best time in the state.
But while Mitchell and Schwartz will have to carry the local torch on the track, the girls discus outside the stadium will have a distinct southern San Joaquin Valley flavor. And this time, “Anything you can do, I can do better” will be played with a state championship at stake.
“It’s kind of interesting,” said Collatz, who has the state’s second-best mark this season. “I’m number two to Anna, and she’s right close to me (in Shafter). It’s all I know.”
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Posted in Athletes, Coaches, Profiles, Schools at 11:20 pm by Administrator
Ridgeview’s Carter, Stockdale’s Collatz ahead of the curve
BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer
zewing@bakersfield.com | Thursday, May 29 2008 9:01 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, May 29 2008 9:10 PM
Johnny Carter could see this coming.
No, not the entire explosion of freshman and sophomore talent headed to this weekend’s CIF State Track and Field Championships. But at least his part of it.
“When I was around eight years old, I would get (an empty) TV box and jump into it,” said Carter, a freshman phenom in the triple jump for Ridgeview. “Then I would tell my mom that I was born to run and jump.”
To even Carter’s surprise, it didn’t take long for that prediction to come to fruition. He landed a 48-foot, 3-inch triple jump at the Central Section Championships on May 14 to win the event and head to the state meet with the best seeding mark in California. The meet begins with qualifying today at Cerritos College in Norwalk.
Carter’s 48-3 jump was an inch shy of the section’s freshman record, which was set in 1968 by David Tucker of Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial.
“Nobody really knew he was going to do that,” Ridgeview coach Adam Setser said. “He just didn’t look back. He continued to be real consistent all during the latter part of the season, and then, going into that Valley meet, I kind of thought he might have a really big jump.”
Carter already has passed his right-hand man, Wolf Pack senior Chris Kelly, who finished third at the section meet and has also qualfied.
Even more amazing: Carter has only been jumping since last summer.
“My coach (club coach Kim Jenkins) put me in the California state games, and he said, ‘Go out and try it and show me something big,’” Carter said. “I was like, all right, I’ll go out and try, but I never knew I’d get where I am right now.”
And Carter isn’t the only young phenom headed to Cerritos from Kern County.
Stockdale freshman Alex Collatz is qualified in both the girls discus and triple jump, showing off the versatility of her father, Cal State Bakersfield track coach Alan Collatz.
“Isn’t that amazing?” Stockdale coach Dave Losinger said. “You don’t see hardly anybody doing that. That’s an incredible double.”
Throw in Fresno-Central sprinter extraordinare Brendon Bigelow, and you’ve got a trio of fabulous Central Section frosh.
“For these young kids to be hitting the marks they’re hitting, I have no answer for that,” Garces coach Phillip McCullum said. “It’s just amazing.”
There are sophomores to watch too — Garces sprinter Matt Sumlin, Bakersfield high jumper Isiah Griggs and Frontier shot putter Matt Darr and girls hurdler Taylor Jackson.
“It’s the year of the young athlete,” McCullum said.
The old ones, of course, haven’t given up on their dreams. Kern County’s best chance for state championships comes from Foothill senior Dayshan Ragans and Shafter junior Anna Jelmini, both of whom have the top marks in the state in the shot put and discus. Last year, Ragans was second in the diuscus and fouled out in the shot put finals. Jelmini was fourth in the discus and seventh in the shot.
“We’re looking for big things,” Foothill coach Arron Rietz said of Ragans. “He was disappointed he didn’t win both events last year. … If he doesn’t get hurt and he wants to, he’ll be in the Olympics someday.”
Also of note:
* Foothill junior Chris Schwartz dropped out of the 1,600 to rest up for the 3,200, his stronger event. He’s already won the Division I cross-country state championship and has the state’s third-best time in the 3,200.
If Schwartz can post a top-three finish — German Fernandez of Riverbank is the event’s heavy favorite — and Ragans can win both throwing events, Rietz thinks Foothill will finish in the top three of the team race. Long Beach-Poly is the favorite.
* Alana Alexander, a junior at Centennial, and Tyler Thompson, a Shafter senior, both qualified for state in the long and triple jumps.
* Likewise, Bakersfield High pulled Emmanuel Turner out of the boys 100 so he could focus on the 400 and 1,600 relays, and Liberty’s Isiah Purvis is out of the 400 so he can rest for the 200 and 1,600 relay. All three of those relay teams are capable of reaching Saturday’s finals.
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