SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Track & Field

2005 State Meet Report

Medals go to four East County athletes at prep state track finals

This year’s California state track and field championship meet honor roll includes four East County student athletes: Granite Hills senior Scott Finley, Helix juniors Dax Danns and Janie James and Monte Vista junior Daniella Thu. All earned elite medals at last weekend’s state championship meet at Sacramento City College by placing among the top six finishers in their respective events.

Finley cleared 16 feet to place third in the boys pole vault after finishing sixth last year. The runner-up at this year’s San Diego Section championship meet and the reigning Division I champion locally, Finely finished behind defending state champion Scott Roth from Granite Bay in the Sac Joaquin Section and La Jolla senior Jeff Coover, the 2005 San Diego Section champion.

Roth set a state meet record by clearing 17-1 while Coover finished second with a height of 16-4 — the height he cleared at the San Diego Section finals on May 28. Finley cleared 15-8 at the section meet. His best on the season stands at 16-2.

Finley placed sixth at last year’s state finals with a height of 15-3.75.

Helix had two state finalists in three events. Danns, the section’s boys sprint champion in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, finished fourth in both events in Sacramento. He timed 10.65 in the 100 distance and 21.26 in the 200 distance after qualifying with preliminary times of 10.64 and 21.42, respectively.

Danns won section titles in the 100 in 10.65 and the 200 in 21.57. He finished ninth in the 100 state finals last year in 10.62.

James concluded another sensational season by finishing fourth at the state meet in the girls 400 dash. Moreover, her time of 54.37 ranks sixth-best all-time in the section. James qualified for the state finals with a preliminary time of 54.92. She finished as the section’s Division I champion in 55.45.

Thu finished fifth in the girls discus throw with a throw of 140-10. Thu had finished as the section’s Division II champion in both the girls shot put and discus throw. She finished with a discus throw of 131-1.5 at the section finals to place third overall, inclusive of Division I throwers.

San Diego Section honor roll
Overall, the San Diego Section qualified 24 athletes for the championship finals. Of those 24 championship qualifiers, 13 brought home medals – seven to underclassmen.

First-place medals went to Darius Savage of Morse in the boys discus throw (194-8) and
Jesse O'Brien of San Pasqual in the boys 800 run (1:53.71).

Second-place medals went to Nathan Gwozdz of La Jolla in the boys high jump (6-9) and
La Jolla teammate Coover in the boys pole vault (16-4).

University City’s Shakara Lott took a third-place medal in the girls 400 dash (54.05). Her time stands as the third-best all-time in section history.

Kate Mattoon took home a fifth-place medal in the girls pole vault (12-4) while Morse’s Savage became a double state medalist with a sixth-place finish in the boys shot put (58-8).
El Camino’s Dereka Winters finished sixth in the girls shot put (42-1).