Trio ready for state meet

The local prep track and field community will have representation this weekend in Clovis at the California CIF State Track and Field Championships.

The final meet of the season begins Friday with qualifying meet and ending with finals competition Saturday, both at Buchanan High.

Marina will be represented at the State meet by senior Jett Gordon and junior Jake Arnold who will compete in the boys’ pole vault and shot put, respectively. Carrying the banner for Huntington Beach is senior Cassie Durgy who is in the girls’ 800-meter run.

Each qualified through the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet May 27 at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

“Entering the [CIF] Masters meet, the first thing we had on our mind was to qualify for state first,” Marina Coach Carlos Castellanos said. “After that, our guys could take a breath and go for farther marks, if they wanted to.”

Gordon, a senior, captured the Masters boys’ pole vault championship with a vault of 16 feet, 6 inches. He was runner-up in the event at last year’s Masters competition and will be returning to the CIF State meet.

Gordon set the Marina boys’ pole vault record two weeks ago with a 17-2 vault to win his second CIF-SS Division 2 title in the event.

He is the top seed in the boys’ pole vault for the State meet.

Arnold, a junior, placed fourth at Masters in the boys’ shotput with a throw of 58-7 and is advancing to the State meet for the first time. The automatic qualifying mark for the State meet was 56-00.

Arnold, who holds the Marina records for shotput (59-6) and discus throw (168-9), is the No. 9 overall seed in the boys’ shot put at the State meet.

Also making a return trip to Clovis is Durgy. A Huntington Beach record-holder in four girls’ events, the senior placed fifth in the 800meter run at last week’s Masters meet with a time of 2 minutes, 09.56 seconds.

Durgy, who owns Huntington school records for the girls’ 400 meters (56.90), 800 meters (2:08.85), 1,600 meters (4:56.83) and one mile (4:55.52), reached the State meet last year but was disqualified due to a false start.

She ranks among the top-12 800 times in the state heading into the weekend.

“She is in good position to race well at Friday’s qualifying meet, bringing her closer to her State meet finals goals in the 800 meters,” Huntington Coach Kareen Shackelford said.

Two other local athletes, Kristian Crabb of Huntington Beach and Michael Chadwick of Edison, also qualified and competed May 27 at the CIF Masters Meet.

Crabb, a senior, hit a 51-8 3/4 mark and placed 12th in the boys’ shot put. Chadwick, a junior, had a “no height” result in the boys’ pole vault. Neither advanced to the State meet.