Locals perform in the clutch at Sunset League track and field finals

Two weeks ago, Newport Harbor High throws coach Tony Ciarelli commented, “Sooner or later, it’s now or never.”

He said that after his throwers had an off-day in the Mt. SAC Relays, the final invitational for most CIF Southern Section track and field athletes.

With the arrival of league finals, the elimination rounds have begun. Athletes must survive a series of four cuts — league finals, CIF preliminaries, CIF finals and CIF Masters — to achieve their ultimate goal of reaching the CIF State championship meet.

In the end, all Spencer Blake and Aidan Elbettar did was what they were supposed to do. The challenge of the CIF postseason is to be able to do it consistently.

The start of the road to state saw Blake establish a personal-best mark of 176 feet, 2 inches in the boys’ discus throw to win in the Sunset League finals on Thursday. Elbettar finished second with a throw of 168-7.

They traded places in the shotput. Elbettar won the event at 56-3, with Blake providing the runner-up mark of 52-11.

The “now or never” theme applied in a different way for one of Huntington Beach’s most versatile athletes on Friday, on the second day of the league finals. Xolani Hodel competed despite making just three appearances during the entire season.

In just her second outing in the girls’ shotput, Hodel produced a throw of 36-5, which gave her second in the event.

The top three in each event earn a spot for the CIF divisional preliminaries, with additional berths allotted for meeting at-large standards.

A surprised Hodel said her top throw was matched by a competitor right before her final attempt. It gave her all the motivation she needed to dig for a little extra.

“I’m ready to go in the ring again,” Hodel recalled. “I’m kind of smiling, happy to be there. I’m breathing, trying to get a little more calm.

“I go back, and this is the first time that I actually did a grunt while I threw, and that got me the extra foot. That’s pretty cool.”

Hodel also won the girls’ high jump at 5-4. The Oilers’ sophomore was able to do so with limited reps. Huntington Beach coach Kareen Shackelford said that Hodel has been at practice about once a week due to a busy schedule.

The Oilers also received a strong showing from Lars Mitchel, who intimated that he was tired of being just good enough to make CIF. He won his first 1,600-meter league title with a time of 4 minutes 21.11 seconds, despite looking over his shoulder to gauge his status against a stacked field that included Newport Harbor’s Alexis Garcia and Fountain Valley’s Esteban Prado.

“I hate glancing back, but I do it,” Mitchel said. “That look back just makes me want to work that much harder and go that much faster. Just seeing those guys there, Esteban and Alexis are great runners.

“This year, I was just tired of getting second or third.”

Edison’s Cori Hoffer qualified for CIF in three events, winning the girls’ 100 (12.56), the 200 (25.53), and serving on the Chargers’ second-place 400 relay team.

“My freshman year, I became really close with all the other girls [from] Los Alamitos, Fountain Valley and my own team,” Hoffer said. “I really respect every one of them. We all push each other, and I think that’s how I have improved my times this year.”

Fountain Valley’s Donnie Marion won the boys’ 300 hurdles (39.51), and Marina’s Skyler Magula won in the boys’ pole vault (15-3). Garcia paced the field in the 3,200 at 9:43.31.

On the girls’ side, Huntington Beach’s Alison Young took the pole vault competition (11-0), while Marina’s Alejandra Rosales won the discus throw at 128-5.

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BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD

Sunset League finals

At Westminster High

(Top three qualify for CIF)

100 – 1. Ballard (Los Alamitos) 11.21; 2. Hathcock (Huntington Beach) 11.30; 3. Marion (Fountain Valley) 11.31; 4. Williams (Edison) 11.32; 5. Harrigan (Edison) 11.34

200 – 1. Ballard (Los Alamitos) 22.46; 2. Williams (Edison) 22.48; 3. Hathcock (Huntington Beach) 22.78; 4. Harrigan (Edison) 22.86; 5. Luis (Los Alamitos) 22.96

400 – 1. Martin (Los Alamitos) 50.82; 2. J. Blockburger (Los Alamitos) 50.91; 3. Garrett (Los Alamitos) 51.21; 4. Galloway (Fountain Valley) 51.88; 5. Hass (Edison) 52.18

800 – 1. Bandley (Los Alamitos) 1:54.61; 2. Sutherland (Marina) 1:56.66; 3. Schwarz (Edison) 1:57.92; 4. Pavloff (Marina) 2:01.85; 5. Ferris (Fountain Valley) 2:03.38

1,600 – 1. Mitchel (Huntington Beach) 4:21.11; 2. Garcia (Newport Harbor) 4:24.21; 3. Prado (Fountain Valley) 4:27.23; 4. Watanabe (Fountain Valley) 4:31.95; 5. DeBassio (Newport Harbor) 4:32.58

3,200 – 1. Garcia (Newport Harbor) 9:43.31; 2. Prado (Fountain Valley) 9:51.82; 3. Groom (Edison) 9:54.22; 4. Quinonez (Los Alamitos) 9:55.06; 5. Watanabe (Fountain Valley) 9:58.36

110HH – 1. Scott (Los Alamitos) 14.72; 2. Lotfy (Los Alamitos) 14.98; 3. Jevon Hill (Fountain Valley) 15.38; 4. Himes (Huntington Beach) 15.70; 5. Spradlin (Edison) 16.08

300IH – 1. Marion (Fountain Valley) 39.51; 2. Scott (Los Alamitos) 39.67; 3. Lotfy (Los Alamitos) 40.19; 4. Hill (Fountain Valley) 40.60; 5. Schneider (Newport Harbor) 42.37

400 relay – 1. Edison 43.10; 2. Los Alamitos 43.30; 3. Marina 44.35; 4. Newport Harbor DQ

1,600 relay – 1. Los Alamitos 3:28.24; 2. Fountain Valley 3:29.50; 3. Marina 3:31.65; 4. Huntington Beach 3:31.74; 5. Edison 3:34.77

HJ – 1. Schmitt (Los Alamitos) 6-9; 2. Wiseman (Huntington Beach) 6-4; 3. Garnett (Edison) 6-4; 4T. Scott (Los Alamitos) 6-2; 4T. Straw (Fountain Valley) 6-2

LJ – 1. Bandley (Los Alamitos) 22-0; 2. Ayale (Los Alamitos) 21-10¾; 3. Campbell (Edison) 21-9; 4. DeGracia (Los Alamitos) 21-0¼; 5. Greene (Fountain Valley) 20-11¾

TJ – 1. Galloway (Fountain Valley) 44-4½; 2. Diaz (Marina) 42-9; 3. Campbell (Edison) 42-7¼; 4. Straw (Fountain Valley) 42-2½; 5. DeGracia (Los Alamitos) 41-9½

PV – 1. Magula (Marina) 15-3; 2. Parsons (Los Alamitos) 14-0; 3. Virga (Los Alamitos) 13-8; 4. Phi (Marina) 13-0; 5T. Gandara (Los Alamitos) 12-6; 5T. Cook (Newport Harbor) 12-6; 5T. Cook (Edison) 12-6; 5T. Do (Fountain Valley) 12-6

SP – 1. Elbettar (Newport Harbor) 56-3; 2. Blake (Newport Harbor) 52-11; 3. Howard (Los Alamitos) 52-3; 4. Yukihiro (Los Alamitos) 48-9; 5. Wells (Los Alamitos) 44-5

DT – 1. Blake (Newport Harbor) 176-2; 2. Elbettar (Newport Harbor) 168-7; 3. Nasrallah (Los Alamitos) 139-9; 4. Brach (Newport Harbor) 136-4; 5. Hall (Marina) 133-2

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GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD

Sunset League finals

At Westminster High

(Top three qualify for CIF)

100 – 1. Hoffer (Edison) 12.56; 2. D. Limp (Los Alamitos) 12.67; 3. Paculba (Marina) 12.69; 4. Kolster (Los Alamitos) 12.84; 5. Poland (Los Alamitos) 12.91

200 – 1. Hoffer (Edison) 25.53; 2. Limp (Los Alamitos) 25.56; 3. Kolster (Los Alamitos) 25.88; 4. Smentkowski (Huntington Beach) 26.26; 5. Poland (Los Alamitos) 26.27

400 – 1. A. Blockburger (Los Alamitos) 57.84; 2. Bixby (Newport Harbor) 58.63; 3. Ngo (Fountain Valley) 1:00.74; 4. Hardin (Marina) 1:02.13; 5. Peters (Newport Harbor) 1:02.23

800 – 1. Sanacore (Los Alamitos) 2:15.53; 2. Velasco (Los Alamitos) 2:19.62; 3. Feitz (Fountain Valley) 2:20.83; 4. Ellis (Marina) 2:21.57; 5. Gallegos (Edison) 2:24.02

1,600 – 1. Sanacore (Los Alamitos) 5:05.62; 2. Faller (Fountain Valley) 5:17.34; 3. Feitz (Fountain Valley) 5:17.66; 4. Guerra (Fountain Valley) 5:27.67; 5. Bacon (Newport Harbor) 5:37.56

3,200 – 1. Dorff (Edison) 11:25.20; 2. Glassen (Newport Harbor) 11:26.54; 3. Faller (Fountain Valley) 11:42.39; 4. Guerra (Fountain Valley) 12:04.13; 5. Bacon (Newport Harbor) 12:06.76

100HH – 1. L. Willingham (Los Alamitos) 15.17; 2. C. Moreno (Fountain Valley) 15.32; 3. Kenefick (Huntington Beach) 15.71; 4. Schrader (Edison) 16.53; 5. Sheeks (Fountain Valley) 16.67

300IH – 1. L. Willingham (Los Alamitos) 46.26; 2. Arambula (Los Alamitos) 48.48; 3. Kenefick (Huntington Beach) 48.56; 4. Schrader (Edison) 48.85; 5. Sheeks (Fountain Valley) 51.13

400 relay – 1. Los Alamitos 48.02; 2. Edison 49.59; 3. Fountain Valley 50.14; 4. Huntington Beach 50.67; 5. Marina 50.81

1,600 relay – 1. Los Alamitos 4:04.50; 2. Fountain Valley 4:08.58; 3. Newport Harbor 4:11.44; 4. Edison 4:13.03; 5. Marina 4:21.11

HJ – 1. Hodel (Huntington Beach) 5-4; 2. McMahan (Los Alamitos) 5-0; 3. Wright (Los Alamitos) 5-0J; 4. Hart (Edison) 5-0J; 5. Chin (Huntington Beach) 5-0J

LJ – 1. B. Moreno (Fountain Valley) 17-11¼; 2. Smentkowski (Huntington Beach) 17-8½; 3. C. Moreno (Fountain Valley) 16-9½; 4. Shatsky (Los Alamitos) 16-8; 5. Forest (Edison) 16-3½

TJ – C. Moreno (Fountain Valley) 35-11¾; 2. B. Moreno (Fountain Valley) 35-0¾; 3. Pham (Huntington Beach) 33-10½; 4. Ngo (Fountain Valley) 33-9½; 5. McMahan (Los Alamitos) 33-3¼

PV – 1. Young (Huntington Beach) 11-0; 2. Espeleta (Huntington Beach) 9-6; 3. Millar (Los Alamitos) 9-0; 4. Peterson (Fountain Valley) 9-0J; 5. Prevratil (Edison) 8-6

SP – 1. Sale (Los Alamitos) 42-9; 2. Hodel (Huntington Beach) 36-5; 3. Togafau (Fountain Valley) 35-7; 4. Liu (Fountain Valley) 35-5; 5. Rosales (Marina) 33-1

DT – 1. Rosales (Marina) 128-5; 2. Rayburn (Marina) 113-9; 3. Villagram (Los Alamitos) 111-1; 4. Liu (Fountain Valley) 107-0; 5. Zayerz (Marina) 104-9

andrew.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner