Burroughs’ Valles hits peaks at Masters Meet
A mixture of fear, excitement and slight disappointment produced a state-worthy result from Burroughs High’s Christian Valles at the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet on Friday evening.
The junior pole vaulter was nearly eliminated before rallying to become the area’s only qualifier to the CIF State meet by hitting an at-large mark of 15 feet and finishing seventh at Arcadia High.
“I’m excited to make it to state and I’m hoping to go on and hopefully hit higher marks and just [set a personal record],” Valles said. “It was a little scary today because of 15 feet, but I got it.”
Valles entered Friday’s 13-person competition needing to finish in the top six or hit the state at-large mark of 15 feet, which was his seeded and personal record.
Valles opened with makes on his first attempts at 14 feet and 14-6.
However, the junior added quite a bit of drama to his qualification process by missing his first two attempts at 15 feet.
On his third and final try at 15 feet, Valles not only successfully sailed over the bar but earned a spot to the CIF State Meet at Clovis Buchanan High, which begins Friday, June 2.
Valles’ near elimination before qualification nearly mirrored what took place on Saturday at the Southern Section Division I Championships. The junior needed three attempts at both 14-6 and 15-0 to eventually qualify to Masters by taking third in Division I at Cerritos College.
The only disappointment for Valles on Friday came at his subsequent height of 15-6.
As was the case at Cerritos College, Valles found the mark too high as he missed on three attempts, kicking the bar on his first two tries.
“The wind was great, the pole was great and I just blew through it,” Valles said. “We’ll just have to make it work next week, make sure everything is on and just go for it. I’d love to get a PR or a double PR. That would be great.”
In qualifying to state, Valles became the third Burroughs vaulter to advance to Clovis over the last four seasons, joining All-Area Track and Field Athletes of the Year Matthew Schwartz (2014) and Sarah Prystupa (2016).
“This is my third state qualifier in four years, so it means a lot to me,” Burroughs vault coach Mike McHorney said. “I’m very excited for Christian because he’s a great kid. He’s been looking forward to going to state and hopefully he’ll get over that 15-6 hurdle.”
Valles was the city’s only qualifier to the Masters Meet.
Twitter: @campadresports
