Sophomore Jasir Fontenot of Mater Dei won his second consecutive 110 hurdles championship and Chiara Dailey of La Jolla won her first, in a final try, after a second in the 1600 preceded victory in the 3200.  State season leaders Josiah Bowman and Dylan Yarbrough came up short and Ava Parker, 15-year-old ninth grader from Helix, showed resolve and toughness over four races in two days in the 106th state meet at Clovis Buchanan High.

Parker was third in the 400 (:53.70) and sixth in the 200 (:23.93).  Bowman, the state leader at 1:49.54 in the 800, was third in 1:50.72.  Yarbrough cleared 16 feet in the pole vault for fourth, below his best of 17-2, Among those ahead of Yarbrough was Otay Ranch’s Dane von Guenthner, second at 16-4.

The  season officially is over but Fontenot, whose winning time was a wind-aided :13.3,  told writer Steve Brand that he would compete in additional events during the summer.  There maybe more competition for others.

There were nine places of at least fifth in Girls and eight in Boys from the 38 total that qualified in Friday’s Trials, plus four more entries in the boys’ and girls’ 4×800 and six in the boys’ and girls’ 3200, which did not have Friday trials.  A tie in the girls’ pole vault was  settled by the difference in the number of misses.
Two San Diego Section gold medals, compared with five in 2025 and 10 in 2024.

Not expected was a strong effort in the Boys’ long jump by Patrick Henry’s Kymani Joseph, who added a half foot to his career best and became the 38th to reach 24 feet in the long jump, first negotiated when the event was called the broad jump and Lincoln’s Luther Hayes spanned that distance in the 1956 state meet.

Joseph finished third at Clovis, Hayes fourth at Chico.

^{*Junior. **Sophomore. ***Ninth-grader.}

106^th STATE TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS, @CLOVIS BUCHANAN HIGH
GIRLS

BOYS

At Clovis Buchanan High.

Non-qualifiers places noted with —.  Places determined by times in events with more than one heat.
^{*Junior. **Sophomore. ***Ninth-grader.}
GIRLS

BOYS

Can the Steele Canyon 4×100 relay team hang with the favorites?  Can Ava Parker hold her own in a possible four races in two days?  Is this the year that Chiara Dailey wins a state championship?

Those are among the questions this week as San Diego Section qualifiers head to Buchanan High in Clovis for the 106^th state meet and the 51st in which girls are involved since their first in 1974.

Dailey, a dominant runner for four years at La Jolla High, will try for a 1600 or 3200 championship.

Helix’ Parker is a threat in the 200 and 400 but can the young ninth grader hold up physically amid the Clovis heat and the stiff competition?

The Steele Canyon ladies set a San Diego Section of :45.78 last week and will try to match strides with Fullerton Rosary (:44.23), Calabasas (:44.78), and several others in the stacked event.

The answers will begin around 5 p.m. Friday and resume at the same time Saturday.

San Diego Section athletes in state top 25 are noted in Athletic.net, except any with the — designation.  *Junior. **Sophomore. ***Ninth-grader. Bold indicates season best achieved last week.

Best marks as of May 27:

GIRLS

Three state leaders will lead a San Diego Section Boys contingent into the 106^th state track championships Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High in Clovis:

Sage Creek’s Josiah Bowman, the section record holder at 1:49.54 in the 800 and No. 8 this season in the U.S.; pole vaulter Dylan Yarbrough, whose best of 17 feet, 1 inch, is No. 2 all-time in San Diego and 14^th in the nation, and Rancho Buena Vista’s Justian Richardson, with a 49-7 triple jump.

Many Section qualifiers possess very good marks, but they are pitched tough in ultra-competitive events. Mater Dei’s Jasir Fontenot, who won the 100 hurdles in :13.31 as a freshman at San Diego High in 2025, has battled back from an ankle injury but is tied for the fourth best time going in at :13.67.

Oceanside’s Jayden Gibbs, the Section leader at 59 feet, 4 inches in the shot put, and No. 3 in the state at 189-8 in the discus, was the most significant casualty in the Section championships.  Gibbs’ three preliminary round attempts were fouls when he could not stay in the ring.

San Diego Section athletes in state top 25 are noted in Athletic.net, except any with the — designation.  *Junior. **Sophomore. ***Ninth-grader. Bold indicates season best achieved last week. Girls’ marks tomorrow.

BOYS

Chiara Dailey has won three state cross country championships but never a state track title.

The all-time great San Diego Section competitor has the option of trying to win three Section championships at Mt. Carmel this week, but what will the Stanford-bound La Jolla senior do?  She has a deadline Thursday  to determine if she’ll go in the 800, 1600, or 3200 races, or all three, with an eye on a last opportunity for a gold medal in the 106th state track meet at Clovis Buchanan May 29-30.

Dailey is the state leader in the 1600 (4:39.31), second in the 3200 (9:53.8), and 19th in the 800 (2:10.95), is first in each event locally and  would be favored in all three at Mt. Carmel, where she would bolster La Jolla’s hopes in team point standings.

Competition will stiffen up and down California’s 10 CIF Sections this week. Other outstanding middle-distance and distance runners also will be deciding what events to enter in respective section showdowns, all eyeing the state meet and the grueling two-day event in Clovis.

Dailey warmed up for the section championships by winning the  800 (2:16.40), 1600 (4:47.44), and 3200 (10:15.01) in the Division III meet at Canyon Hills last week.

Will she try for the triple at Mt. Carmel, or choose one or two events, setting herself up for the battles that await in Clovis?

San Diego Section athletes in state top 25 are noted in Athletic.net, except any with the — designation.  *Junior. **Sophomore. ***Ninth-grader. Bold indicates season best achieved last week.

GIRLS

His wasn’t the best mark of the day, but Oceanside’s Javen Buchanon continued a family tradition, a couple generations removed, in the San Diego Section Division I track championships at Del Norte’s magnificent facility Saturday.

Buchanon, the grandson of former NFL and San Diego Chargers star cornerback Willie Buchanon, triple jumped 47 feet, 8 inches, almost a foot better than his previous best of 46-7 ¾ at the Mt. Sac Relays April 18, and elevated to fifth in the event in California this season.

Willie Buchanon ran the 120 high hurdles in :14.5 and the second leg for an Oceanside 440-yard relay team that clocked :41.5 in 1968 and was a prime contender for a state championship in the event until anchorman Ed Johnson was slowed by a pulled leg muscle.

Season’s top marks  at Del Norte included Rancho Bernardo’s :41.51 in the 4×100 Relay and Scripps Ranch’s 3:17.19 in the 4×400, and the 23-foot, 10 ¾-inch long jump by Mekhi Oluwa of Mater Dei in the D-III meet at Canyon Hills.

Top two finishers at Del Norte, Canyon Hills, and University City (D-II) automatically qualified for the Section championships this Saturday at Mt. Carmel.  Fields will be filled by the next best performances.

San Diego Section athletes in state top 25 are noted in Athletic.net, except any with the — designation.  *Junior. **Sophomore. ***Ninth-grader. Bold indicates season best achieved last week.

BOYS