Deer Valley’s Shawn Simms, seen here running a track event at the BVAL Championships battling Antioch’s Eddie Robinson, qualified for the state meet after placing second at NCS in the long jump.
Photo by Angelo Garcia Jr.
Photo by Angelo Garcia Jr.
Freedom, Heritage and Deer Valley have all qualified at least one athlete for the statewide competition.
Deer Valley sends two athletes – junior LaValle Hamlin and senior Shawn Simms – as well as its 4x400- and 4x100-meter relay teams to the CIF State Championship. Simms is seeded fourth in the long jump after his jump of 23 feet, 6.5 inches at NCS earned him second place. Hamlin finished fourth in the 300-meter hurdles event at NCS, clocking in at 39.41 seconds.
Senior Darius Cooper, Hamlin, Simms and junior Tajae Smith White comprise the Wolverines’ 4x100 relay team. Senior Isaiah Reed, Simms, Hamlin and Smith White make up the 4x400 relay team. Both squads finished fourth at the NCS Meet of Champions.
Heritage will be represented by three athletes: senior Clifford Obodo (high jump), senior Kyle Thacker (discus) and sophomore Zoey Millington (high jump).
Of the trio, Odobo and Thacker finished ahead of their teammates at the Meet of Champions. Odobo, who is seeded 13th in the state meet, took to the air at a height of 6 feet, 6 inches, good for second place. Thacker’s discus traveled 163 feet, 2 inches, also meriting a second-place finish at NCS.
Millington finished tied for third at NCS with Campolindo’s Hadley Swanson. Both girls cleared the bar at 5 feet, 3 inches.
“Qualifying three people – that was unbelievable,” said Heritage head coach Kevin Bain. “This meet is a very difficult meet to get to. … We’re still growing as a program. We’re still thriving. The kids are still learning to perform at a high level.”
Freedom’s Adrian Perez qualified for state in the 200- and 400-meter dashes. The Falcon senior claimed third in the 400 and fourth in the 200, edging out Heritage’s Frank Kurtz, who finished a close fifth.
Though only the top four finishers at NCS made it to state, the BVAL boasted several outstanding performances in the section final.
Antioch’s boys 4x100-meter relay team of senior Josh Oseguera, senior Eddie Robinson, junior Darrian Jones and senior Syree High narrowly missed moving on to Clovis. The team finished a scant .07 seconds behind fourth-place Deer Valley.
Deer Valley’s LaShall Hamlin was active in Berkeley. As a member of the girls 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams, she placed seventh in both events. The junior also finished sixth in the 200-meter dash and eighth in the 100-meter dash. Anthony Bowman, a Heritage senior, finished sixth in the pole vault event, tied with Washington’s Kyle O’Hollaren. Both athletes reached a height of 13 feet, 6 inches.
Liberty junior Nick West placed 12th in the triple jump; senior teammate Jesus Morales finished 14th in the pole vault.
Junior Montel Brown was the highest-finishing Pittsburg Pirate of the day, coming in seventh in the high jump. Antioch senior Jeremy Bittle also performed well, finishing 10th in the long jump.
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