Area Teams to Compete in Track Preliminaries

The Southern Section Divisional track and field preliminaries begin today and Saturday at three sites.

The Division III prelims begin today at 4 p.m. at Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills High. The remaining prelims begin at noon Saturday. The Division I meet is at Trabuco Hills, the Division II meet is at UC Riverside and the Division IV meet is at Arcadia High.

The top qualifiers in each division will advance to the divisional finals May 22 at Cerritos College.

The top title threats among South Bay schools are expected to come from the Morningside boys’ and girls’ teams in Division III and the Torrance girls in Division III. Hawthorne, Peninsula and Inglewood are expected to make strong showings in the Division I meet.

Morningside’s teams finished second in the state last year. The Monarchs are led by Edward Turner in the long jump and the 100 and 200 meters. He is the top-ranked long jumper in the state with a best of 24 feet, 1 inch.

The Morningside girls are led by junior sprinter Tai-Ne Gibson in the 100 and 200 and freshman Nicole Thomas in the 100 and 300 hurdles. Thomas is ranked first in the state in the 300 hurdles with a best of 43.86 seconds.

Torrance is led by Fiona Mason in the 100 hurdles and Kim Blankinship in the high jump. Blankinship is ranked second in the Southern Section with a top leap of 5-8.

In boys Division I, Inglewood will be led by Brandon Crockett in the 100 and 200 and Leandrew Childs in the 100, long jump and triple jump.

Marquise Jones of Hawthorne in the 100 and 300 hurdles and Peninsula’s Dan Minami in the 1,600 and 3,200 should also be among the leaders.

Peninsula’s Jamie Artzner in the 800 and 1,600, Meshana Mays of Hawthorne in the 300 hurdles and long jump and sprinter Keisha Wallace of Leuzinger in the 100 and 200 are expected to make strong showings.