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Fryer: Orange County Championships track meet will feature intriguing showdowns

April 14, 2023

The CIF Southern Section Track and Field Championships are only a month away, and that should add to the intensity and intrigue at the Orange County Championships on Saturday at Mission Viejo High.

The meet starts at 8:30 a.m. with the freshman girls 1,600 meters. The final event is the boys varsity 4×400 relay at 5:30 p.m.

Here is a look at some of the events and athletes to watch Saturday, based on the subject-to-change heat sheets released this week:

Sophomore Devin Bragg, Los Alamitos: He won the CIF-SS Division 1 championship in the 100 meters last year with a time of 10.35 seconds. Bragg ran a 10.56 at the Trabuco Hills Invitational two weeks ago.

Senior Roman Mendoza, Santa Margarita: He won the Invitational Division 400 at last week’s Arcadia Invitational with a state-leading time of 37.39.

Senior Brendon See, JSerra: See is the county leader in the shot put (65 feet, 11.75 inches) and discus (192-5) and is entered in both events Saturday.

Senior Jada Gatlin, Mission Viejo: Gatlin is entered in the long jump and the triple jump and might run a leg for one of the Diablos’ relay teams, too. She is No. 3 in the state in the triple jump with her mark of 39-4 set at Arcadia last week.

Sophomore Holly Barker, Laguna Hills: Barker is entered in the 1,600. This could be the race of the day with its deep field that includes Dana Hills senior Allura Markow, who is the O.C. leader in the event (4:42.79), Dana Hills sophomore Annie Ivarsson, Newport Harbor’s rapidly rising sophomore Keaton Robar, Huntington Beach junior Makenzie McRae and JSerra’s junior Georgia Jeanneret and freshman Kaylah Tasser.

Sophomore Jackson Kollack, Laguna Beach: He is not competing in a varsity event, but is entered in the frosh-soph 100 and the frosh-soph shot put. He might be the meet’s athlete with the most interesting future. Kollock (6-5, 215) is a great quarterback and has received football scholarship offers. He has been invited to football camps this summer at Notre Dame and Stanford.

Team championships will also be awarded at the Orange County Championships.

JSerra’s track and field program is good enough to win the boys and girls championships and might do so at the CIF-SS Championships on May 13 at Moorpark College. Mater Dei’s boys team is capable of scoring enough points to win a team title at the O.C. Championships.

Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for students without valid student identification and for senior citizens, $3 for students with valid student identification and $2 for children 9 and younger. GoFan.co is the place to get tickets. Parking is free but limited, which is why this meet should be considered for Trabuco Hills High School next year.

NOTES

It’s not a “good look,” as the phrase goes, that the next CIF-SS Commissioner, ML King principal Mike West, is a white male like the nine CIF-SS commissioners that precede him. The CIF-SS announced Thursday that West has been chosen to replace outgoing commissioner Rob Wigod. West has all of the required credentials, having served in high positions in CIF State and CIF-SS governance along with his experience as a principal, assistant principal, athletic director and athletic trainer. Another leading candidate with equivalent credentials was Irvine principal Monica Colunga, but being a few years older than West, 55, might have come into play against Colunga. The CIF-SS Executive Committee might have preferred a younger person who would likely serve as commissioner for a longer tenure. …

Whoever got the commissioner job was going to benefit from following Wigod, who is retiring at the end of this school year. Wigod’s leadership helped improve the Southern Section’s financial picture, even through the COVID-19 challenges. He also supported changes to CIF-SS playoff structures even if he was not always in agreement with changes created by the advisory committees. Wigod, too, benefited from the work of his predecessor, Jim Staunton, who benefited from his predecessor, the late Dean Crowley, who righted the CIF-SS ship at a difficult time. …

Yes, Wigod did not stop transfers from happening. The CIF constitution’s rules and bylaws limit what the commissioner can do on that topic and others. Students and their parents will move to what they evaluate as a better opportunity, just like the coaches and athletic directors who themselves have moved from school to school for what they evaluate to be a better opportunity.

Orange County Register

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Fryer: Orange County Championships track meet will feature intriguing showdowns

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