06.21.08

All-Area Track Coaches of the Year

Posted in Profiles, Coaches, Schools, Kern Track Results, Centennial, Rankings, Track, Bakersfield at 7:23 am by Administrator

steve anderson photo by felix adamo

Originally uploaded by andynoise

Drillers’ Anderson honored as All-Area Boys Track Coach of the Year
The Bakersfield Californian | Friday, Jun 20 2008 8:35 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Jun 20 2008 8:52 PM

As an Idaho native who last worked in Iowa, Steven Anderson didn’t know a whole lot about Bakersfield High’s rich track and field history when he took the Drillers coaching job two years ago.

It didn’t take him long to learn.

“I knew a little bit of it last year because our athletes all the way from the ’70s would be coming to the meets,” Anderson said. “You’d find out who they are, and you’re like, ‘Wow, they still care.’”

After a lackluster year with a young boys team in his first year, Anderson decided he’d let his athletes in on what he found out. And so, the day before the league meets, Anderson gave his team an hour to spend perusing BHS’ little-known trophy room.

They responded with boys and girls titles in the Southwest Yosemite League and a top-five finish at the Central Section meet. For that, Anderson is The Californian’s Boys Track and Field Coach of the Year.

“A lot of people think track is about the individual, but all year we told them it’s about the team,” Anderson said. “And when you start having kids believe they can do it, it’s easy.”

– Zach Ewing

Renz, Jones honored as co-coaches of the year for All-Area girls track
The Bakersfield Californian | Friday, Jun 20 2008 8:35 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Jun 20 2008 8:37 PM

Track and field meets, espcially as they become bigger and more prestigious, are about the individual. Just two or three quality athletes can win you a meet.

That’s what makes a league meet so special — it takes a whole team to win it — and what made Centennial’s girls season great this year.

“We had a lot of kids come through that day,” said Ryan Renz, who with Randy Jones is a Californian Co-Girls Track and Field Coach of the Year.

Kids like Jessica Crowe, primarily a hurdler and runner, who was asked to pole vault that day. She responded with a personal-record eight-foot vault and a Southwest Yosemite League championship. Or April Cacuyog, who ran herself dizzy that day.

The result was an SWYL team title for the Golden Hawks.

“As a coach, that’s what you love to see,” Renz said. “They have their best meet at the league meet, and we’ve been fortunate to have kids who have bought into that, who enjoy the team part more than the individual part.”

The championship and Coach of the Year honor is also a cap to a great career for Jones, who’s retiring.

“Randy’s a really quiet guy, and he doesn’t want much said about him,” Renz said. “But he means a lot to the whole track and field community. It’s going to be tough. Centennial will never be the same.”

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2008 All-Area girls track and field selections

Posted in Profiles, Athletes, Schools, Kern Track Results, Foothill, Shafter, Taft, North, Golden Valley, Liberty, Stockdale, Centennial, South, Rankings, Track, Garces, Frontier, Burroughs, Bakersfield, Bakersfield Christian at 7:04 am by Administrator

BRUSHAY WANDICK by casey christie

Originally uploaded by andynoise

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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2008 All-Area boys track and field selections

Posted in Profiles, Athletes, Schools, Kern Track Results, Wasco, Shafter, North, East, Golden Valley, Liberty, Stockdale, Centennial, West, Ridgeview, Rankings, Track, Garces, Frontier, Tehachapi, Burroughs, Bakersfield at 6:37 am by Administrator

emanuel turner by casey christie

Originally uploaded by andynoise

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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05.13.08

jv championship?

Posted in Coaches, SEYL, SWYL, Rankings, Track, Noise Flash!!! at 6:53 am by Administrator

vaulting practice

Originally uploaded by andynoise

last night i went to my first track coaches meeting. we voted on the athletes of the year and all-league athletes. i wont reveal who won but several are no brainers.

other topics covered were the two new schools entering our leagues and the need for volunteers to work at the meets.

we discussed using episports or athletic.net for meet management too. marks fudging was another issue and as usual there are no real solutions.

lastly, we voted to make the frosh/soph league meet a junior varsity meet with unlimited entries. this meet will be held the week before the varsity one.

all class levels will be able to compete but juniors and senoirs who compete in the jv meet wont be allowed to compete in the varsity meet the next week.

of course all of the above has to be approved by the athletic directors.

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05.02.08

Chris Schwartz moves to #10 all time in the Central Section 3200.

Posted in Back in the Day, Schools, Athletes, Kern Track Results, Foothill, Rankings, Track, Noise Flash!!! at 4:55 pm by Administrator

800

Originally uploaded by andynoise

8:49.4 Peter Romero, Reedley ‘67
8:52.1 Felix Elieff, Highland- Bakersfield ‘77
8:53.66a Kyle Alcorn, Buchanan-Clovis ‘03
8:54.85a Billy Nelson, Taft ‘02
8:59.04a +Fernando Cabada, Buchanan-Clovis ’99
8:59.2 Eddie Granillo, East-Bakersfield ‘70
8:59.81a Mikel Thomas, Clovis ‘06
9:00.0 +Kasto Lopez , Sanger ‘70
9:00.7 +Juan Garcia, Redwood-Visalia ’74
9:01.45a +Chris Schwartz, Foothill-Bakersfield ’08

And #6 Junior all time

8:58.78a Kyle Alcorn, Buchanan ‘02
8:59.04a Fernando Cabada, Buchanan ‘99
8:59.81a Mikel Thomas, Clovis ‘06
9:00.0 Kasto Lopez, Sanger ‘70
9:00.8 Juan Garcia, Redwood ‘74
9:01.45a +Chris Schwartz, Foothill-Bakersfield ‘08
9:01.6 Peter Romero, Reedley ‘68
9:03.83a David Naranjo, Sanger ‘85
9:05.52a Kevin Davis, Clovis West ‘01
9:07.99a Scott Cole, Yosemite ‘87
9:08.4 Juan Chavira, Hanford ‘91

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04.11.08

how the driller girls rank in the valley

Posted in Schools, Kern Track Results, BHS, Rankings, Track, Epi Sports, Bakersfield at 9:30 am by Administrator

440 relay

Originally uploaded by andynoise

100

1 11.98 NWI Megan Del Pino 12 Clovis West CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08
2 12.06 NWI Jessica Willams 11 Bullard CE First Chance Meet 03/07/08
3 12.26 NWI Jessica Williams 11 Bullard CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08
4 12.27 NWI Lynn Williams 9 Bullard CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08
5 12.28 NWI Brushey Wandick 11 Bakersfield CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08

200

1 24.25 NWI Megan Del Pino 12 Clovis West CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08
2 25.23 NWI Brushey Wandick 11 Bakersfield CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08
44 28.47 NWI Jasmyne Jennings Bakersfield CE Liberty High School Fros… 03/28/08
45 28.48 NWI Hailey Moore Bakersfield CE Liberty High School Fros… 03/28/08

Womens 400 Meter
Rank Mark Name Grade School Section Meet Date
1 58.05 Donaldson Taylor 11 Reedley CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08
27 1:02.01 Keairra White Bakersfield CE Liberty High School Fros… 03/28/08
62 1:05.22 Jasmyne Jennings Bakersfield CE Liberty High School Fros… 03/28/08
69 1:06.03 Hailey Moore Bakersfield CE Liberty High School Fros… 03/28/08

Womens 800 Meter
Rank Mark Name Grade School Section Meet Date
1 2:20.54 Saylah Barserian Clovis CE Meet Of Champions 03/22/08
47 2:34.20 Sarah Baker 9 Bakersfield CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08

Womens 1600 Meter
Rank Mark Name Grade School Section Meet Date
1 4:42.50 Jordan Hasay 11 Mission College Prep CE Elks SLO County Meet 04/05/08
31 5:36.61 Sarah Baker 9 Bakersfield CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08

Womens Long Jump
Rank Mark Wind Name Grade School Section Meet Date
1 18′ 2″ NWI Jenna Prandini Clovis CE Easter Classic @ Sanger HS 03/18/08
41 15′ 0.25″ NWI Marlise Williams 11 Bakersfield CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08

Womens Triple Jump
Rank Mark Wind Name Grade School Section Meet Date
1 39′ 5″ NWI Elias Ruiz Golden Valley CE Clovis East Classic 03/29/08
22 33′ 7″ NWI Marlise Williams 11 Bakersfield CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08

Womens 4×100 Meter Relay
Rank Mark School Section Meet Date
1 48.23 Bullard CE First Chance Meet 03/07/08
2 48.40 Cesar Chavez CE Stanford Invitational 04/04/08
3 49.0 Tulare Western CE Easter Classic @ Sanger HS 03/18/08
4 49.2 Stockdale CE Kern Relays 03/08/08
5 49.25 Edison CE First Chance Meet 03/07/08
6 49.38 Clovis West CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08
7 49.4 Lemoore CE Golden West Invitational 03/15/08
8 49.81 Dinuba CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08
9 50.04 Bakersfield CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08

Womens 4×400 Meter Relay
Rank Mark School Section Meet Date
1 3:58.96 Cesar Chavez CE Stanford Invitational 04/04/08
2 4:01.2 Edison CE First Chance Meet 03/07/08
3 4:06.07 Stockdale CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08
4 4:06.13 Bullard CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08
5 4:06.29 Clovis CE Clovis East Classic 03/29/08
6 4:07.2 Lemoore CE Easter Classic @ Sanger HS 03/18/08
7 4:07.80 Buchanan CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08
8 4:08.27 Reedley CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08
9 4:08.3 Clovis West CE Easter Classic @ Sanger HS 03/18/08
10 4:08.91 Liberty CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08
11 4:08.94 Bakersfield CE West Coast Relays 04/04/08