Connor Anderson qualifies for state meet in discus
Girls fourth, boys seventh at CIF section meet
Ramona High junior Connor Anderson qualified for the state track and field meet Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
The athletes with the top three times or distances in each event at the CIF San Diego Section finals May 30 at Mount Carmel High School qualified for the state meet. Anderson had a discus throw of 161 feet 10 inches, placing behind only Oceanside junior Charles Lenford.
“I’m very excited that he was able to do that as a junior,” said head coach Sherri Edwards. “We’re just excited to see how he can do.”
The state preliminaries will take place Friday. If Anderson has one of the top nine distances, he will return for Saturday’s finals.
The athletes from Division I and Division II combined with the three best marks qualify for the state finals, but team points for each event are given for places within Division I and Division II. Ramona’s girls finished fourth among Division II schools.
“Overall I’m pleased with how the girls competed. Fourth in Division I out of San Diego County is not too shabby,” Edwards said.
The CIF San Diego Section also includes Imperial County. The three teams finishing ahead of Ramona were Cathedral Catholic, Valley Center and Del Norte.
Ramona’s boys finished seventh.
“I was pleased with everybody who went,” Edwards said. “There were some places where I felt we could have got more points.”
Junior Brandon Hankins qualified for the CIF finals in the pole vault with a distance of 12-6 in the preliminaries May 23 at Mount Carmel, but during an attempt to increase his height he tore an abdominal muscle and was scratched out of the finals.
“He just needs to get healthy,” Edwards said.
The top nine Division II finishers in each event at the preliminaries (top 12 for distance races) earned the right to return to the finals. The top nine (12 for distance races) athletes from both divisions compete in the “A” race or flight at the CIF finals while the “B” race or flight rounds out the Division II runners and field athletes.
In the preliminaries Anderson hurled the discus 164-8, topping all Division II throwers and trailing only Lenford’s 179-7. Anderson’s preliminaries shot put throw of 48-7 put him in the “B” flight at the finals although the only further Division II distance was the 48-9 of Mater Dei senior Ivan Duran.
Anderson had a shot put throw of 47- 8 1/2 in the finals, which placed second behind Duran among Division II throwers.
“I can’t be too upset that he didn’t throw as well in the shot,” Edwards said.
Anderson’s 161-10 in the discus finals placed first among Division II boys. Lenford landed a discus 191-7 past the throwing circle.
Holly Stallman qualified for the finals in four girls events, including the 4x100 relay team. In the preliminaries Jenny Rivera, Katherine Lorentz, Tuesday Christopher and Stallman had a time of 50.35 seconds to place third among Division II quartets behind Cathedral Catholic and Valley Center.
Their time of 50.39 seconds in the finals “B” race placed second in Division II, behind Cathedral Catholic and ahead of Valley Center.
“That was kind of our goal,” Edwards said. “The handoffs weren’t as good as I had hoped, but they did what they needed to do.”
Rivera, Lorentz and Stallman are juniors. Christopher is a sophomore.
“I have all of those girls back, so that’s exciting,” Edwards said.
During the preliminaries Stallman had the fastest Division II times in the 100-meter dash at 12.26 seconds and the 200-meter dash at 25.41 seconds while qualifying for the finals “A” race in both events. Her long jump of 16-10 1/2 set a personal record, placed second among Division II jumpers, and gave her a berth in the finals “B” flight.
Stallman woke up with a headache the day before the finals, although she still competed.
“She wasn’t 100 percent. She didn’t have a great day,” Edwards said.
In terms of school records and state meet qualifying, Stallman didn’t have a great day. Her time of 12.35 seconds in the 100 dash gave her a first-place medal for the best Division II time and added 10 team points to Ramona’s score. She was second among Division II girls in the 200 dash at 25.71 seconds and in the long jump with a distance of 16-10.
Including the 8 points for the 4x100 relay race, Stallman provided Ramona with 34 team points.
“I thought she competed well for how she didn’t feel very good,” Edwards said.
Christopher qualified for the preliminaries in four events, including the two relay races. She did not reach the finals in the triple jump, but her 400 run preliminaries time of 1:01.10 set a personal record and qualified her for the finals “B” heat. Her finals time of 1:02.56 gave Ramona an eighth-place team point.
Christopher, sophomore Sierra Crenshaw, freshman Rayna Valade and Lorentz comprised Ramona’s 4x400 relay team whose preliminaries time of 4:15.09 earned a lane in the finals “B” race and whose 4:10.95 in the finals placed fourth among Division II schools.
“I’m really excited to see what they can do next year,” Edwards said.
Lorentz anchored that race with a lap of 61.4 seconds. Christopher led off the race with a 62.6-second lap to match her time in the individual 400-meter race.
Ramona’s only senior girl in the CIF finals was Anna Sundrud, who earned two “B” race lanes with preliminaries times of 2:23.16 in the 800 race and 5:29.74 in the 1,600-meter event. An 800 time of 2:23.13 in the finals gave Sundrud sixth place among Division II girls while her 5:25.49 in the 1,600-meter finals earned seventh place.
Sundrud will attend Brigham Young University and will try to make the Cougars’ running teams as a non-scholarship athlete.
“She’s our biggest loss in terms of a senior. She’s been a great leader for the team,” Edwards said.
Ramona’s other girl in the finals was junior Emily Sojourner, whose 100 hurdles time of 17.02 seconds allowed her to end her season in the finals “B” race. Sojourner had a finals time of 17.46 seconds for eighth place in Division II.
Isaac Smith cleared 6-2 in the high jump preliminaries to place third among Division II boys and qualify for the finals “A” flight. The junior had a height of 6-3 in the finals to tie for third place among Division II jumpers.
Gabe Plendcio concluded his junior year with the 1,600 “B” race at the CIF finals. During the preliminaries he set a personal record with a time of 4:27.46. He completed the metric mile in 4:29.74 at the finals.
Ramona’s boys 4x400 relay team of junior Parker Christopher, junior Kyle McLoughlin, sophomore Eder Landgrave and senior James Meskell also ran in a finals “B” race. Their preliminaries time of 3:37.55 was lowered to 3:36.37 in the finals, placing sixth in Division II.