Glenn advances to state in four events, led by US#2 41.01 effort in 300 hurdles, with Ramirez sweeping girls discus and shot put, in addition to Grubb doubling in boys 100 and 200 meters

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

Saturday didn’t begin looking like it was going to be a banner day for Long Beach Wilson junior Rachel Glenn. For a time, in fact, it had the makings of a gigantic dud.

“High jump started off with a rocky start,” Glenn said. “I missed my first two attempts at (5 feet, 2 inches), and that was really bad. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I'm not going to make it.’”

She recovered, cleared 5-2, and eventually 5-8, going on to win two events at the CIF-Southern Section Masters Meet at El Camino College’s Murdock Stadium in Torrance, Calif., one of three athletes to do so. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame senior Christian Grubb and West Ranch senior Natalie Ramirez were also double winners.

RESULTS | GIRLS PHOTOS | BOYS PHOTOS | INTERVIEWS

The CIF-Southern Section Masters meet serves as the qualifier for the May 24-25 state championship meet at Buchanan High’s Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis, Calif.

The top six in each event Saturday, plus those who made previously set qualifying marks, moved on to compete in the state prelims, or in the case of the 3,200 meters, advance straight to the final.

Clearly, Glenn’s big accomplishment came in what might be her best event, the 300-meter hurdles. She won and ran the state’s fastest time of the year in 41.01 seconds, elevating to the No. 17 all-time prep performer in California.

Glenn’s mark also ranks No. 2 nationally this season behind Bullis School MD junior Leah Phillips, who ran 40.82 at the Arcadia Invitational in April.

Glenn also qualified in the 100-meter hurdles (14.32), where she placed third, finishing behind winner Asjah Atkinson of St. Anthony (14.08) and runner-up Taylor Shorter of Norco (14.23). Glenn also advanced with Wilson’s 4x400 relay team, which placed fourth behind winner Roosevelt (3:43.98), Long Beach Poly (3:44.15) and Riverside JW North (3:44.78).

Earlier, Glenn had to work her way through the high jump, the event she was a co-champion at last year’s state meet with Riverside Poly's Abigail Burke.

Once Glenn got past 5-2, she got stronger, clearing 5-4 on her first try and 5-6 on her second opportunity, before easily clearing 5-8 on her third attempt and taking three cracks at 5-10, but just missing.

“I made (5-2) on my third attempt, and then from there, I just kept pushing harder,” she said.

Glenn wasn’t the only one to provide some drama, though. After winning the shot put in 44-11.25, Ramirez and Roosevelt senior Lydia Liu dueled in the discus for the second consecutive week. Liu won at the CIF-Southern Section finals with a personal best by more than six feet and was instrumental in the Mustangs winning the Division 1 team title for the first time.

Liu challenged again Saturday, throwing 150-1 on her fifth attempt. The contest went down to the final throw by Ramirez, which looked a double down the left-field line. It landed just fair and accounted for the second win of the day for Ramirez at 153-7.

“I’ve been kind of consistently on the left side, and that was always making me nervous,” Ramirez said. “My warmups were horrible, and I was consistently fouling, and I was really stressing out about that.

“So I lined up a little differently, and it just made all the difference.”

Grubb’s late-season success continued, as well, as he won the 100 (10.58) and the 200 (21.24). He won’t move on, however, in the 4x100 relay, as Notre Dame was disqualified, or the triple jump, which was won by Etiwanda senior Trevor Harris with an effort of 47-9.50.

The day’s other eye-popping mark came in the girls long jump.

Upland freshman Caelyn Harris jumped a personal-best 20-5.25 to win the event, defeating Jade McDonald (19-3) of Calabasas and Atkinson (19-2.25) in the process. Harris’ mark ranks fifth in the nation this year – No. 3 among wind-legal performers – and it is the top mark by a freshman, in addition to being the No. 3 all-time effort by a ninth-grader.

The boys 4x100 relay teams from Long Beach Poly and Rancho Cucamonga provided the closest finish of the day, as Poly won in 41.13 seconds to the Cougars’ 41.14. Senior anchor Keon Markham was just able to edge the Cougars’ Mark Perry at the line for the win.

“I’ve been practicing on my leaning,” Markham explained. “So if it was going to have to come down to leaning, I was pretty sure I would take that, but that was too close of a race.”

Mayfield sophomore Audrey Suarez ran so well in the girls 1,600, it changed her plans. Suarez took the lead of the race in the third lap, then was passed by Great Oak’s Fatima Cortes, only to retake the lead in the final 150 meters and win in 4:45.04 to Cortes’ 4:45.41.

“It was difficult because I led pretty much the whole lap the third lap,” Suarez said. “And I think it’s difficult to take the lead that early, so when you don’t feel someone right on you, it’s hard to keep that same pace.

“Once I saw Fatima coming up, it motivated me to push the pace a little bit, and I was able to go faster.”

Suarez ascended to No. 4 in the country this year and Cortes is now ranked sixth.

Suarez said she was going to keep it to one event at the state meet, and once she saw her time, it made the decision easy to opt out of the 800.

It was a strong day for the distances overall. On the boys’ side, Valencia senior Kai Wingo won the 800 (1:54.87), JSerra senior Peter Herold (4:11.38) held off Arroyo senior Noah Hibbard (4:11.99) in the 1,600, and Newbury Park junior Nico Young continued his string of sub-9-minute 3,200s with a win in 8:56.46, with Canyon Country Canyon senior Ethan Danforth running a season-best 9:02.28 to place second.

Riverside JW North sophomore Makayla Browne had a breakthrough victory in the 800, outlegging Cortes and Oaks Christian junior Hannah Wilson to win in 2:11.30. Oak Park senior Sarah Shulze won the 3,200 in 10:26.62.

Breakout performances also came in the boys jumps. Huntington Beach senior Jack Wiseman blew the doors off his personal best by clearing 6-10 in the high jump. His previous best was 6-6, and he cleared each height on his first attempt, except for 6-8.

Elsinore senior Kamari Maddox gave his school its first Masters boys champion and first overall since 1981 when he won the long jump in seasonal-best 23-5.25.

Orange County athletes swept the boys throws, as Esperanza junior Jeff Duensing and Newport Harbor junior Aidan Elbettar each won with what would’ve been national top 10 marks, except both have thrown a little farther this year. Duensing won the shot put in 64-11, while Elbettar topped the discus in 189-10.

Others boys Masters winners were West Ranch junior Solomon Strader in the 400 (47.04), Peninsula junior Aiden Lieb in the 110 hurdles (14.48), Riverside King senior Reyte Rash in the 300 hurdles (37.89), Long Beach Wilson’s 4x400 relay (3:13.86) and Loyola senior Will O’Brien in the pole vault (15-3).

Calabasas senior De’Anna Nowling won the 100 in 11.69, with Serra senior Jazmyne Frost finishing second (11.91) and Long Beach Poly senior Saundria Martin placing third in 11.93. Martin returned the favor in the 200, edging Nowling by a 24.03 to 24.10 margin.

Other girls winners included Millikan freshman Samarra Monrroy in the 400 (54.16), Long Beach Poly’s 4x100 relay (46.70) and Great Oak sophomore Summer Stevenson, who just missed her personal best by three inches with a triple jump victory in 40-2.

Westlake sophomore Paige Sommers said she also hoped to take a crack at her personal best in the pole vault. Her PR is 13-6, and she won in 13-0 after missing three attempts at 13-4.

Sommers had to move quickly, though, as she was also in the high jump, and both events were running simultaneously.

Sommers, of course, qualified for the state meet in both, after previously making it as a freshman in only the pole vault.

“I was going back and forth,” she said. “I was just trying to keep my composure.”