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Murray, Molina look to clear Masters Meet obstacle

La Cañada High’s Claire Murray won the Division III girls’ 100-meter hurdles at the 2017 CIF Southern Section Track and Field Division Championships at Cerritos College in Norwalk on Saturday.
(Raul Roa/Staff Photographer)
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On one hand, the St. Francis High and La Cañada track and field programs aren’t in unfamiliar positions.

It was only last season when the Golden Knights and Spartans advanced athletes to the CIF Southern Section Track and Field Masters Meet en route to the state championships in Central California.

Yet last season, St. Francis and La Cañada qualified a pair of veterans in Jasher Foster and Katie Scoville, respectively. Both racked up multiple CIF Southern Section and league championships before making deep postseason runs last year.

This time around, the programs are represented by up-and-comers.

La Cañada junior Claire Murray and St. Francis sophomore Matthew Molina have their sights set on personal records and on advancing to state as the fresh faces enter Friday’s Masters Meet at nearby Arcadia High.

For Murray, the 100-meter hurdler has fond memories at Arcadia.

On April 8, the youngster finished sixth in the open competition at the Arcadia Invitational in a time of 14.85 seconds.

“I actually love the chance to run at Arcadia again,” Murray said. “I have run on that track, so it’s nice to have some experience. I also like that it’s close, so I will have family and friends in attendance. I like that people I know will be there to support me and watch me. That gets me excited and makes we want to do better not just for myself, but for those people who came out for me.”

Murray was in suspense on Saturday after she won the Southern Section Division III championship 100 hurdles in a time of 14.71 seconds. The mark was off the pace of her school record time of 14.60, but wasn’t bad given a strong headwind that knocked several other competitors well off their marks.

By the time the Division I competition ended, Murray finished with the seventh-fastest time among any competitor and will enter Friday’s competition at 6:40 p.m. as the No. 6 seed.

“I wanted to get a PR on Saturday, but obviously with the wind, that was kind of impossible,” said Murray, her school’s first girls’ hurdles champion. “But the good news is I don’t think anyone did [hit personal records], so I was happy with the results, with first place. I had a feeling that I would probably advance and I looked at the times, but I wasn’t sure until the end.”

The No. 6 is important in terms of advancing to the CIF State Meet in Clovis, which begins June 2.

There are two ways to advance, the first being that the six top athletes out of the nine competitors earn an automatic berth to the state preliminaries. That would be preferable for Murray, who would have to turn in a difficult state at-large mark of 14.14 to advance should she finish seventh or further back.

St. Francis High sophomore Matthew Molina tied for second in the CIF Southern Section Division III championship high jump with a mark of 6 feet, 6 inches at Cerritos College on Saturday.
(Raul Roa/Staff Photographer)

As for Molina, the versatile leaper isn’t a shoe-in in the high jump, but showed a different type of versatility Saturday.

At the Division III championships, Molina tore up a shoe during competition but still managed to tie for second place with a mark of 6 feet, 6 inches, which tied him for fifth place across all four divisions.

To advance to state, Molina needs to place in the top six or hit the at-large mark of 6-7, which is the sophomore’s personal best.

“We want to go 6-8, 6-9 on Friday so we don’t have to worry where he finishes,” St. Francis Coach Mike Russell said. “The wind was tough out there on Saturday, but Matt is a tough kid and he’s prepared.

“Even with his shoes, he found a way to borrow another kid’s shoe to finish off his jumps. His shoe split and God bless that other kid. The lesson learned for him was to bring two pairs of shoes, which he’ll have Friday.”

The girls’ high jump will go first at 4:30 p.m. with the boys following at the conclusion of the competition.

andrew.campa@latimes.com

Twitter @campadresports

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