STATE TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS : Boykin, Pugmire, Caulkins Lead County Stampede Into Finals

The run for survival proved prosperous for Laguna Hills junior Tiffany Boykin.

The State preliminaries present a do-or-die situation for every athlete; only the top nine finishers from Friday’s competition advance to today’s finals, which start at 4 p.m. at Cerritos College.

Running with Fresno Central’s Kristie Johnson, who has the state’s fastest time in the 800, Boykin, the Pacific Coast League champion, positioned herself comfortably behind and ran a personal best for the second consecutive week.

Boykin ran 2:12.90, taking almost a full second off her previous best from last week’s Masters Meet of 2:13.83.

“I like running with Kristie,” Boykin said. “She makes me faster.”

Reaching the halfway mark in 65.8, Johnson and Boykin, both juniors, pulled away from the field, with Johnson eventually posting the fastest qualifying time of 2:11.06.

“I am just going to run my hardest tomorrow and no matter what place that gets me, I’ll be happy,” Boykin said.

Boykin’s time established a county-best by 0.09 seconds, narrowly edging Edison senior Julie Koudelka. Koudelka also qualified for the final, running 2:13.85 for second place in the third heat.

Esperanza’s Courtney Pugmire and Carrie Caulkins continued to roll; both qualified for the finals in the 1,600.

Running in separate heats, Caulkins finished fourth in the first, at a season-best 5:00.21; Pugmire finished fourth in the second heat at 4:59.59.

“What I expected to have at the start of the year was one girl in the State finals in the 800 and the other in the mile,” Aztec distance coach Rich Medellin said.

Caulkins finished third last season in the 1,600, and Pugmire finished sixth in the 800 at the Masters Meet, missing a chance to continue her season.

“I think Courtney was bound to make it in something,” added Medellin about Pugmire, who posted the county’s first sub-five minute race of the season.

Wade Tift, the Sea View League, county and Masters Meet champion this season, threw 57-8, the top qualifying mark in the shot put.

Although well off his personal best of 61-6 at the league finals, Tift’s motive was just to get through the prelims.

“It wasn’t a good day, but that doesn’t really matter today,” he said.

Foothill junior Tara Oettinger continued her consistency in the long jump, despite shifting winds.

“The wind was at my back on my first jump, then it switched for the other two,” said Oettinger, the second-leading qualifier for the finals.

She opened the competition with her best effort of the afternoon, jumping 18-11 3/4. Jernae Wright of Union City James Logan posted the day’s top mark, jumping 19-8 1/2.

Newport Harbor senior Gina Heads returned to familiar surroundings, advancing to the finals in the shot put and discus.

Heads, the reigning county champion, finished fourth in the shot put (43-3 1/2) and seventh in the discus (135-0).

Heads was fourth as a junior and sixth in the discus in the same meet as a junior last spring.

Woodbridge senior Gary Young was one of the county’s major casualties, missing a qualifying spot in the 100 after pulling up in the final five meters of the race.

“It’s not a tear that he can’t run (on it) . . . He feels it when he warms up,” Warrior Coach George Varvas said.

Young, who was diagnosed with a mild strain of the hamstring after a Wednesday practice session, ran 10.99 for seventh in his heat and was unable to contest the 200 later in the meet.

Mel Lete of Saddleback made his return to the meet count, running 38.54 for second in his heat of the 300 intermediate hurdles to advance to the final.

“I didn’t go out that hard at the start of the race, so my steps were a little off,” said Lete, who ran in last season’s preliminaries but did not qualify for the finals.

Corona del Mar senior Jason Boyce continued his first full track season with a 22-7 1/2qualifying leap in the long jump.

The all-county soccer selection advanced in the sixth, despite being unable to find his regular jersey and resorting to a spare girl’s uniform Coach Erich Moreno found in his car.

“I don’t know what happened to it,” Boyce said. “My room looks like a cyclone hit it.”

The Foothill boys’ 1,600 relay team of Dan Foote, Don Oliver, Mike Boyes and Ethan Taub shaved over three seconds off their county-best time this season, advancing to the final in 3:15.79.

Edison sophomore Kerry O’Bric advanced as the sixth qualifier in the triple jump (37-7).

Irvine senior Jeff Bodholdt qualified by taking the ninth and final spot with his first throw in the discus (168-1).