Authentic.com the go-to, on-line entity for all things track and field, posted several outstanding marks from the Mt. Carmel invitational two weeks ago and then deleted them last week.

Dennis McClanahan, the retired coach of the Sun Devils and the meet director for the invitational and honcho at the San Diego section trials and finals, is attempting to get the marks returned.

No real reason was given for the deletions.  Someone apparently convinced the on-line service that several results were not legitimate.

We’re leaving the marks from Mt. Carmel in until we hear further.

It may be a moot point, because many of the San Diego Section’s leading performances and those from throughout the state will be in trouble when more than 700 athletes, a few hundred coaches, and thousands of fans clog old U.S. 66 and surrounding venues as they make their way toward Arcadia High Friday and Saturday for the annual Arcadia invitational, a midseason event that generally is considered the official start of the track season.

Action was light in the San Diego Section last week, save for the Willie Banks Invitational and the usual menu of dual meets. A few athletes competed in the Stanford Invitational and at the annual Texas Relays in Austin.

Marks below in parenthesis are where the San Diego Section competitors stand in the state.

W–Wind aided.

GIRLS

BOYS

A raft of marks, including a United States-leading 4:48.34 in the 1,600-meter run by Kristin Fahy of La Costa Canyon, punctuated the 40^th annual Mt. Carmel Invitational.

Fahy’s four-lap sizzler topped three Southern Section runners, whose chase of Fahy resulted in the nation’s No. 2, 3, and 4 best performances.  No. 5 is a 4:52.4 effort by a runner from Pine Crest, Florida.

Fahy, now ninth all-time in the San Diego Section 1,600, joined two other girls entries who, in preceding weeks, took state leads.

The Scripps Ranch 4×100 relay team is No. 1 in California at :46.95, although the Falcons’ girls have been beaten by Long Beach Poly and Calabasas, Poly for the second time at Mt. Carmel.

Coronado’s Alysha Hickey leads state high jumpers at 5-feet, 10 ½ inches, and is tied for third all-time in the San Diego section.  Her 20-foot, 2-inch long jump is second in the state and fourth to Gail Devers’ 20-7 in 1984.

Noah Tellez-Velasquez of San Pasqual took the boys state lead in the 800 after running 1:52.56 in a meet at Azusa Pacific.

Madison’s Kenon Christon was second in the 100 meters to Christian Grubb of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.  Grubb ran :10.42 and Christon :10.45 but both marks were aided by a 2.8 wind, over the allowable limit of 2.0.  Grubb was clear of any breeze as he ran :20.93 to Christon’s :21.5 in the 200.

Marks below in parenthesis are where the San Diego Section competitors stand in the state.

w–Wind aided.  *–No wind gauge.

GIRLS

BOYS

Kenon Christon of Madison, Altan Mitchell of Point Loma, Alysha Hickey of Coronado, and Camryn Thomson of Poway are state track-and-field leaders from the San Diego Section, which got down to some serious competition last week after a few February and early-March meets.

Christon ran a personal best :10.52 in the 100 meters at the Elmer Runge excercise, moved to West Hills because the Patrick Henry track is being rebuilt.  There was no wind reading on Christon’s 100 or his :21.32 200, second best in the state.

Thomson cleared 13 feet, 4 inches in the girls’ pole vault at the first University City “Classic”, and Hickey took the state lead in the high jump at 5-10 1/2 and moved to second in the long jump at 20-2.

Mitchell went 48-6 in his home jumping pit in a Western League dual meet against Mira Mesa.

The annual Mt. Carmel Invitational will be held Saturday on the campus of the Rancho Penaquitos school, where Dennis McClanahan stepped down after 40-plus years as head coach but still will coordinate the meet, as well as the San Diego Section finals in May.

Mt. Carmel and Arcadia, a couple weeks later, are two of the premier attractions for area competitors before the big meets in May.

San Diego Section and State leaders, with Top 10 rankings in parenthesis:

BOYS

GIRLS

The San Diego Section’s Big 4 of Open Division teams became a Big 5, when La Jolla Country eclipsed all with a dominating run through the state Division III playoffs.

The Torreys (23-13) were the only area squad to make it to the state level, where they defeated San Francisco University, 67-39, after Foothills Christian (24-7) was eliminated in the second round of the Southern California Open Division regional and Torrey Pines (25-7), Mission Bay (18-13), and St. Augustine (22-8)  were dismissed in the first round

The respected Cal-Hi Sports newsletter acknowledged two in its final Top 40:  Torrey Pines finished 19th and Foothills Christian 21st.

Foothills was ranked 13th by the Max Preps computer service and Torrey Pines was 29th, St. Augustine 41st, Country Day 52nd, and Mission Bay 86th.

Cathedral Catholic, the last team to beat La Jolla Country Day, in the San Diego Section playoffs, was 60th with a 24-10 record.

La Jolla Country Day’s state championship, the first by a San Diego Section team since 2015, served as the denouement for a basketball season that ended in disappointment for the big four of Torrey Pines, Foothills Christian, St. Augustine, and Mission Bay.

The manner in which ‘Day finished its season, routing San Francisco University, 67-39, for the state Division III crown and winning its five regional and state playoff games by an average score of 70-51, would lend support that the Torreys may have been the best team in the area.

There would be little argument with that premise except the Torreys’ last loss was to Cathedral in the Section D-I playoffs, 64-55.  That was their fifth consecutive and not long after 14-season coach Ryan Meier’s team, which fought injuries to important players during the season, was out of The San Diego Union-Tribune final Top 10 and entering the state playoffs with a 16-12 record.

The Torreys rolled, beginning with their next contest, a Southern California regional, 66-55 victory over Carlsbad that was followed by wins of 73-57 over Los Angeles University, 73-62 over Anaheim Fairmont Prep, 71-43 over La Crescenta Crescenta Valley, and the final against S.F. University.

POINTS AND BOARDS

Ryan Langbord, who will be shooting 3-pointers next season at Princeton University, led the Torreys with 23 points and 17 rebounds, and plugged a possible rebounding deficit with 10 in the first half, when 6-10 Jayson Taylor was in foul trouble.

“I do whatever is needed most,” Langbord told John Maffei of the Union-Tribune.  “Most important was winning the state championship.  It’s awesome.  Winning state is a priceless moment.”

That the Torreys went by air to Sacramento on the day of the game instead of leaving a day earlier and traveling by bus seemed significant.  Maffei wrote that the Torreys were “looking fresh, fast, and fit.”

‘Day was 1-2 during the regular season against two of the Union-Tribune poll’s final top 4.  They dropped a 73-67 decision to No. 1 Torrey Pines and split with Coastal League rival and No. 2 Foothills Christian, winning, 72-67, and losing, 63-52.

Torrey Pines, St. Augustine, and Mission Bay all were eliminated in their first Southern California regional tests and Foothills Christian was sidelined in the quarterfinals.

INTERSECTIONAL SUCCESS

San Diego teams were 26-24 in competition against schools from out of the section and out of state.  Foothills Christian (24-7) was 8-4, La Jolla Country Day (23-13) 6-5, Mission Bay (18-13) 6-7, St. Augustine (22-8) 4-5, and Torrey Pines (25-7) 2-3.

The Torreys’ state title was the ninth for the San Diego Section in boys’ competition and the first since 2013, when St. Augustine was a D-II winner over San Francisco Sacred Heart, 59-52, in overtime, and Horizon defeated Alameda St. Joseph Notre Dame, 47-44.  There have been 11 championships in girls’ competition, beginning with the Terry Mann-led Point Loma Pointers, who dominated from 1984-87.

San Diego Section Boys and Girls champions and runners-up in state tournament competition, which resumed in 1981; the CIF did not hold championships on the state level from 1928-80:

La Jolla Country Day’s Boys Division III team will try to become the ninth San Diego Section squad to win a state championship Friday afternoon against San Francisco University High in Sacramento.

The Torreys, who were 5-5 in the Coast League but have won eight in a row on the section and regional level, are 22-13.  They’ll face the North Coast Section champion Red Devils, who have won 10 of their last 11 and are 27-9.

Torreys are ranked 73^rd in the state by Max Preps, University 89^th.

The 8 seed La Jollans roared past 6 seed La Crescenta Crescenta Valley, 71-43, in the Southern California final.  University topped Monterey, 44-41.

The two other San Diego Section teams that reached the Southern championship were knocked off by higher seeds.

The 2 seed San Diego Southwest boys fell to No. 1 Bakersfield Foothills, 69-55, in D-V and the 5 seed La Jolla Country Day girls were eliminated by No. 2  Fullerton Rosary, 62-53 in D-I.

The last San Diego Section boys to win a state championship was in 2013, when St. Augustine defeated San Francisco Sacred Heart, 59-52, in overtime, and Horizon topped Alameda St. Joseph Notre Dame, 47-44.

The most recent San Diego champion was in 2015, when the La Jolla Country Day girls defeated Palo Alto Eastside Prep, 40-36.

Past San Diego Section Boys champions and runners-up in state tournament competition, which resumed in 1981; the CIF did not hold championships on the state level from 1928-80: