William-Nensah a highlight in meet

COSTA MESA — Going into Thursday, Persis William-Nensah said she had won every 100-meter event in the Orange Coast League this season.

She still felt nervous in her final one.

William-Nensah had never raced in the league track and field finals. She is a freshman at Estancia High, but she shook the jitters and left everyone behind in the 100.

Racing on her home track helped.

William-Nensah placed first in the 100 in 12.54 seconds and she won the 200 in 26.11 at Jim Scott Stadium, helping her qualify for the CIF Southern Section Division III preliminaries on May 14.

Good thing for her is that meet is at Jim Scott Stadium.

Joining William-Nensah at the section preliminaries is another youngster in Costa Mesa’s Jennifer Daley. The sophomore swept the 400 (1:00.90) and triple jump (32 feet, 10 1/2 inches) events.

Ashley Tupailesa also was a two-event winner for the Mustangs. The junior set a personal-best mark of 103 in the discus throw and recorded a 34-0 1/2 in the shot put.

“It’s a big improvement,” Tupailesa said of her throw in the discus event.

William-Nensah, Daley and Tupailesa were the only three local girls advancing to the section prelims. The first-place finishers in each event in league automatically qualified while the second- and third-place finishers had to hit the section qualifying mark in their respective event to advance. Estancia junior Diana Guido finished third in the 300 hurdles with a qualifying time of 49.67.

No boys from Costa Mesa or Estancia made it out of the league finals to the section prelims.

The Laguna Beach girls finished first as a team with 141.20 points, followed by Godinez (134.40), Costa Mesa (76), Estancia (57), Saddleback (43) and Calvary Chapel (7.40).

In the boys’ competition, Godinez won with 183.3 points. Saddleback was second (99), followed by Laguna Beach (90.66), Calvary Chapel (56), Costa Mesa (30) and Estancia (4).

Estancia also saw Daley finish second in the 200 (27.24), Mariah Chapin second in the 800 (2:31.91) and Guido third in the 100 hurdles (18.35). The Eagles’ 4x100 relay took second and their 4x400 relay was third.

Costa Mesa thrower Catalina Lay was second in the discus (98-11) and third in the shot put (31-3 1/4).

Luke Daley of Costa Mesa placed third in the boys’ high jump (5-8).