Reigning California state 100 and 200 champion Pleasant runs wind-aided 10.23 seconds, Miller clocks wind-legal 20.86 and Granada Hills takes boys 4x100, with Redmond repeating in girls 100 and leading Carson to 4x100 crown and Baker prevailing in 200; Long Beach Poly boys win three relays

By Pete Marshall for DyeStat

WALNUT, Calif. – Rodrick Pleasant of Gardena Serra High produced an impressive double at last year’s CIF State Championships as a junior: winning both the 100 and 200 meters.

The results Saturday at the 63rd Mt. SAC Relays at Hilmer Lodge Stadium not only showed that he is on track to compete again, but that his competition isn’t going away either.

Pleasant ran a blazing 10.23 seconds Saturday in winning the invitational 100, which would have been a meet record (beating Michael Norman’s 10.27 in 2016), except it was not wind-legal at 2.3 meters per second. Pleasant ran the second-fastest all-conditions mark by a prep athlete in meet history, with former Chaminade standout TJ Brock achieving a wind-aided 10.20 in 2015.

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“He told us it (the wind) was 1.5 before we went over there (to the starting line),” Pleasant said. “So I was excited about it, but things happen. This (result) makes things right and ready to go so I’m excited to get back to work.”

Pleasant wasn’t seriously threatened in the 100, as Augustus Remlinger of Buchanan (10.39), Nick Miller of Clovis North (10.40), and Jordan Coleman of Granada Hills (10.43) were second, third and fourth respectively.

But that trio is much closer to Pleasant right now than they were at the end of last season, when Miller and Coleman were knocked out in the state prelims and Remlinger didn’t qualify for the event.

Pleasant didn’t run in the invitational 200, but Miller and Coleman did.

And Miller set a new meet record with a personal-best time with a wind-legal 20.86 effort, beating the old record of 20.90 set by Kenan Christon of San Diego Madison High in 2019. Coleman was runner-up in 21.08, just .07 off his PR set last week at the 55th Arcadia Invitational.

Miller feels running a PR in the 100 (10.44) last week, but finishing third at the Arcadia Invitational helped him at Mt. SAC.

“I feel like I gained a lot,” he said. “I feel a little humbled after that, I knew I could bounce back at this meet and that’s all I was thinking about.”

The boys sprints were some of the many highlights.

When the Carson and Serra girls 4x100 relay teams face off, it’s bound to be exciting.

Those teams posted the top two marks in the state in the event last week at Arcadia, and at Mt. SAC, they improved on those times as Carson (Christina Gray, Ta’AhJah Fann, Kaitlyn Williams and Reign Redmond) edged Serra (Jordan Washington, Brazil Neal, Jaiya Fletcher and Mia Flowers), 45.28 to 45.77.

“Every week we are PRing, so I would say it’s a blessing every week,” said Redmond, who also won the invitational 100 in 11.45. “This is like a sisterhood. The closer we get, the closer our baton handoffs will be.”

The Serra 4x100 team came up just short, but the Serra 4x200 team that included Neal, Flowers, Sadia Green and Zakiyah Wilson won its race in 1:37.33. 

The girls 400 featured some PRs as well as Quartz Hill’s Adonijah Currie (54.14, third in the state) defeated Ayala’s Kayla McBride (54.91, tied for fifth). 

“I feel like this is the biggest meet so I gotta step up and show out,” said Currie, who was also second in the invitational 200 (wind-aided 23.80).

While Currie and Neal (of Serra’s 4x100 relay team) finished second and third, junior Braelyn Baker of Bear Creek High in Washington took home the invitational 200 title with a wind-aided 23.71. She also took second in the 100 in a wind-legal 11.65.

“I was really looking forward to getting some good weather in California,” Baker said. “It’s really fun to be able to meet new people and run as fast as I can. I was just looking for a PR and that’s what I got.”

A continuing theme of the Friday and Saturday high school events were the strength of the Long Beach Poly boys relays.

Poly won the invitational 4x800 relay Friday and Saturday, the Jackrabbits finished second to a meet record of 40.80 by Granada Hills (Coleman, Dijon Stanley, Kanye Martin and Jayden Smith) in the invitational 4x100, their sprint medley relay team of Malachi Dawson, Noah Smith, Xai Ricks and Lamarr Kirk Jr. won in 3:26.31, and the 4x400 relay team of Smith, Caliph Johnson, Kirk Jr. and Ricks edged Granada Hills, 3:14.26 to 3:14.69.

“I just wanted to do the best that I can and get us a win,” said RIcks of running the anchor leg in the 4x400. “I'm glad we were able to PR.”

Poly’s 4x800 mark is second-best in the state, behind Buchanan’s 7:43.84, set at Arcadia. Buchanan didn’t run the 4x800 at Mt. SAC, but two of the members of its 4x800 team finished 1-2 in the invitational 800 Saturday: Noah Ray (meet-record 1:52.32) and Zach Weaver (a PR of 1:52.86).

“I’m really proud of myself for that, but knowing Zach was right behind me and we went 1-2, it felt even better,” Ray said. 

Other boys highlights from invitational races included: Upland’s returning state finalist in both hurdles, Davis Davis-Lyric winning the 110 hurdles (14.04) and the 300 hurdles (38.14), and Adren Parker of Helix setting a new meet record (46.63) in winning the 400.

Two out of state teams won relays, as the distance medley relay team (William Horne, Forest Mead, Kadan Allen and Noah Jenkins) of Herriman High in Utah, edged out Cathedral to win the distance medley relay, 10:02.76 to 10:03.40.

Herriman won despite the fact that Mead and Allen both ran legs on the 1,600 sprint medley relay team less than 90 minutes before. 

Shadow Ridge of Nevada (Ray Carmel, Isaiah Bowman, Willis Brinson, Evander Thomas) posted a time of 1:27.60 in the boys 4x200, edging out Paloma Valley (1:27.89). 

“Over the past years, Shadow Ridge has been a mediocre track team,” Carmel said. “Last year, we were state runner-ups. … We had to come in here and make a statement.”

On the girls side, other individual invitational winners included Yvette Harris of Stockton Lincolin (14.15 in 100 hurdles), Karina Janik of Torrey Pines (state-leading 42.19 in 300 hurdles) and Cate Peters of Monte Vista (2:10.84 in the 800).

Centennial of Nevada (Michael-Michelle Williamson, Adrian Powell, Iyonna Codd and Mackenna Calvin), won the girls 1,600 sprint medley relay in 4:03.26 

“We really wanted the school record, which is 3:58,” Calvin said. “But it’s not always about records, it’s about putting your best effort and if the record comes, the record comes.”

Del Norte (Emily Russo, Paige Echsner, Ella Echsner and Hannah Riggins) took home the invitational distance medley relay with a time of 11:44.87, less than four seconds behind the meet record set by Great Oak in 2016, and the top mark in the state this year.

That same relay team won the invitational 4x800 at Arcadia last week, that produced the top mark in the state of 9:00.77, which has since been surpassed by Buchanan at 8:59.12.

Claremont was second in the girls DMR in 11:58.85 and La Costa Canyon took third in 12:07.61.

Iliana Downing ran the 400-meter leg for La Costa Canyon after the junior won the invitational pole vault with a lifetime-best 13-9 (4.19m) clearance on her third attempt.

Long Beach Wilson, which has the best time in the state this year in the girls 4x400 set two weeks ago at the 95th Clyde Littlefield Relays in Texas, won the 4x400 Saturday.

The team of Brooke Blue, Ma’Nia Tidwell, Aujane Luckey and Kaylin Edwards clocked 3:46.74, less than a second slower than their state-leading mark.

There were some noteworthy results in the invitational field events as well.

Martin Luther King senior Alyssa Hope, who finished first in the triple jump and second in the long jump at state last year, won the long jump with a mark of 19 feet, 5 inches (5.91m), even though she’s had three better marks in each of her last three competitions in the event. She also won the triple jump in 39-9.75 (12.13m), her second-best mark of the season.

Redondo Union’s Kai Deines, who was fifth in the boys shot put and third in the discus at state last year, won both Saturday. He took the shot with his season-best mark of 60-11.50 (18.58m), and won the discus with a throw of 173-7 (52.90m).

While state high jump leader Meagan Humphries of Castaic didn’t compete in that event Saturday, JaiCieonna Gero-Holt of Washington’s Emerald Ridge put up a noteworthy performance in winning, clearing 5-10 (1.77m). She cleared 5-6, 5-8 and 5-10 without a miss, but was unable to clear 6-0.

Gero-Holt also finished fifth in the long jump 18-4.75 (5.60m) and was eighth in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.77.

Other boys field event winners included Christian Edwards of Bakersfield Liberty (long jump, 23-5/7.13m), Caidyn Maver of St. Thomas More in British Columbia (high jump, 6-4/1.93m), Maxwell McFarlane of Turlock (pole vault, 16-0/4.87m), and Shane Carr of South Bakersfield (triple jump, 47-1/14.35m).

The girls throws events were won by Sherman Oaks’ Notre Dame’s Aja Johnson (shot put, 43-9/13.33m) and Clovis North’s Loie Madsen (discus, 147-4/44.90m).

Johnson prevailed against her teammate April Fontenette (43-2/13.15m) in the shot. Fontenette is the state leader in both events and took fourth in the discus, while Johnson was third. Johnson was second in the state in the shot put last year, while Fontenette was a finalist in both events.

In team scoring, Long Beach Poly (78 points), defeated Granada Hills (57) and Herriman (46) to win the boys title. Serra (57) edged out Chino Hills (54.50), and Long Beach Wilson (51) for the girls crown.