County Athletes Ready for State Title Attempts

El Modena’s Santosh Swamidass, Trabuco Hills’ Darnesha Griffith, Marina’s Katie Rorem and Sunny Hills’ Stevie Nicholas are among the favorites in their events at the 80th state track and field championships this weekend at Cerritos College.

Swamidass cleared a personal-best 6 feet 9 inches in the high jump last Friday at the Masters Meet, the top qualifying mark going into Friday’s preliminaries, which begin at 2 p.m. Athletes with the top nine marks in each field event advance to Saturday’s finals, which also begin at 2 p.m.

“I think anyone who clears 6-6 on their first try will make it [to the finals],” Swamidass said. He expects to be challenged by Gardena’s Quincy Brown and Los Angeles Manual Arts’ Ricky Duff. Each cleared 6-10 this season.

Some of the state’s best have already been eliminated in their sectional finals, including Selma’s Gabriel Zarate, who cleared 7-2 this season and was fourth in last year’s state finals at 7-0.

Griffith qualified in the high jump, long jump and triple jump and has a good shot at a title in all three events.

At the Masters, Griffith joined Reseda’s Schquay Brignac as the only girl athletes in the state to clear 5-9 in the high jump this season.

Shortly after, she set another top qualifying mark of 19-4 3/4 in the long jump, the third-best mark in the state this season. Only Long Beach Poly’s Bumni Ogunleye (19-11 3/4), the defending state champion, and Chino’s Angela Williams (19-10 3/4) have gone farther.

Griffith also is a contender in the triple jump. She finished sixth in the event at state last season, when she was a junior at Vacaville High.

Rorem broke the Orange County record in the pole vault this season (12-1), which is the third-best mark in the state. Rorem will be competing against Rancho Bernardo’s Tracey O’Hara, who has the state’s best mark (12-8).

Nicholas, a sophomore, cleared 5-8 in the high jump last weekend, which is among the top five marks in the state.

Several county athletes have the potential to win state titles in the running events.

There will be three heats in each running event through the 400 meters. Each heat winner, plus runners with the next five fastest times, will qualify for Saturday’s final. In the 800, there will be three heats. The top two finishers in each heat, plus the runners with the next three fastest times, will advance.

There will be two qualifying heats in the 1,600, with the top three in each heat plus runners with the next three fastest times advancing. The 3,200 will be conducted as a final only for all entrants on Saturday. The girls’ 400 relay will begin Friday’s qualifying rounds of track events at 5 p.m. and Saturday’s championships at 4 p.m.

Al Williams of Irvine won the Southern Section Division II title in the 300-meter low hurdles in the state’s second-fastest time this season (37.51). Last year, he ran a 37.55 to finish third in the state finals.

Williams’ main competition should be San Jose Lehigh’s Guy McGowan, who has run a state-best 37.32 this season.

Mission Viejo’s Ashley Bethel has the third-best 100-meter hurdle time in the state this season (13.96) behind Riverside North’s Nicole Denby, who ran a wind-aided 13.83 while defeating Bethel for the section Division II title. Natasha Neal of Union City James Logan finished second at the state finals last season, two spots ahead of Bethel, and has run 13.93 this season.

Allyson Marquand of University finished sixth in the 3,200 in the state meet last year and currently has the state’s sixth-best time (10:43.35) in the event this season.