Darden No Match For State's Blistering Best

By Martin Henderson

Kaitlyn Merritt won a state title in the pole vault, and Marty Taylor stood on the podium twice at the California State Track and Field Championships on Saturday.

Their performances were the highlights for Patch.com-area participants who competed at Buchanan High in Clovis in the sport's season-ending event.

Merritt, who finished second for Santa Margarita Catholic last year, continued to fulfill the promise of her talent as she won against a more seasoned field.

Taylor, a senior from Newport Harbor, very nearly won the discus—he was three inches short—and also took third in the shot put, adding his name to Newport Harbor's legacy of muscle.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Merritt's performance is that she is only a sophomore. She is her age group's national leader, and it figures she will only get better.

A lot better.

Although she did not reach her stated goal of 14 feet—the national record is 14-1—Merritt cleared 13 feet 3 3/4 inches. She came into the event ranked No. 4 in the nation, the highest-ranked sophomore, and the best girl outside of Texas.

Second place went to Corona Roosevelt senior Gardenia Centanaro, who won a tiebreaker with Los Gatos junior Greta Wagner at 12-11 3/4. Merritt was unable to clear 13-8 in three attempts, which would have matched her sophomore national record.

Merritt wasn't the only Santa Margarita pole vaulter who had a great day. Parker Curry, a junior, took third in the boys' event by winning a tiebreaker among six athletes who cleared 15-10. The winner was Luigi Colella of Thousand Oaks, who won a tiebreaker with fellow junior August Kiles of Tamalpais at 16-4.

Newport Harbor's Taylor was also impressive, and he came within a finger of having a better day than Merritt.

He finished second in the discus with a throw of 188-5, three inches short of Brenden Song's winning 188-8 for Santee West Hills.

It had to be especially disappointing for Taylor, who had four throws of at least two feet farther than Song's second-best effort of 180-4. Taylor came into the event seeded second, but behind Great Oak's Nick Ponzio, who finished fourth at 184-6.

Taylor added to his day in the shot put, where he landed on the third step of the podium with a heave of 61 feet 1-1/4 inches. Great Oak's Ponzio was the easy winner at 66-2-1/2, followed by Crespi junior Amir Ali Patterson (62-9-3/4).

Only the state's elite athletes make it through to Saturday's second day of competition. Here's a look at local athletes on the state's biggest stage.

Boys’ 1,600 meters—Juan Gonzalez of El Toro—the nearly-unbeaten State Division I cross-country champion—went into the race as one of the favorites and was running at the front of a tight pack through two of four laps. But in the backstretch of the third lap, junior Blake Haney of Bakersfield Stockdale pulled away. Gonzalez, who clocked 4 minutes 9.79 seconds, was also passed by Brea Olinda freshman Austin Tamagno (4:09.43), who finished third. Gonzalez, who finished eighth in last year's state meet, dropped off the podium despite beating Tamagno at last week's Southern Section Masters Meet.

Boys' 3,200 meters—Doing the double for El Toro, Gonzalez hung near the back of the front pack of eight runners. While 1,600 winner Haney sprinted away at the bell marking the last of eight laps, Gonzalez did the same. Unlike his 1,600 performance, he was passing runners at the end instead of being passed. Gonzalez passed three competitors in the final 100 yards and finished with a surge to fourth-place—same as the 1,600—with a time of 9:06.45. Haney completed the double, winning in 9:01.65. Gonzalez was denied a podium finish by third-place finisher Jeff Thies of Edison (9:05.31).

Girls’ 1,600 meters—Freshman Amanda Gehrich of Tesoro got good experience but was no match for the leaders, including winner Anna Maxwell of San Lorenzo Valley, who stunned the field by taking an early lead and holding it to the end. Maxwell clocked 4 minutes 47.33 seconds. Gehrich (4:58.03) finished 10th and Alana Jones (5:06.61) of Laguna Hills was 11th among 12 runners.  

Boys' shot put—Taylor wasn't the only local athlete in the event. San Clemente junior Kelsey Benoit (58-11-3/4) shared the sixth-best put, but dropped to seventh because his second-best effort was not as good as San Diego Madison's Dotson Ogundeji.

Girls' 800 meters—After a restart for two runners who fell, junior Natalie Herberg of Capistrano Valley got pushed to the back of the field before launching herself among the leaders at the 200-meter mark. However, dropped off by the end of the first lap and the race took place in front of her. She finished 10th at 2:13.22. The winner was sophomore Mikaela Smith of Clovis North and second went to Nijae Jones of San Leandro, who was one of the athletes who fell in the first 100 meters.

Girls' 200 meters—Danielle Darden of Aliso Niguel was no match for Ariana Washington of Long Beach Poly—but no one was. Washington won by more than a half-second in 23.22 seconds, ahead of Claremont's Brittany Brown (24.78). Darden, running in Lane 1, finished eighth in 24.38.

Girls' triple jump—Sasha Wallace of Castro Valley won by a foot-and-a-half with a hop, skip and jump of 41-9 1/2. Brenna Barker of Dana Hills, who fouled on three of six attempts, took eighth among 12 competitors with a best of 38-4 1/2.