After finishing in the top four of their event at the Class 3 District 5 Track Meet May 11 at Adkins Stadium, Jefferson City, a number of California High School athletes earned All-District honors and qualified to advance to Class 3 Sectionals Saturday at Ozark High School, where four CHS tracksters finished in the top four of their event to advance to the Class 3 State Track Championships Friday-Saturday (May 24-25) at Dwight T. Reed Stadium, Jefferson City.
In the girls' division for California at sectionals, Sydney Deeken placed first in the Triple Jump with with 37'4", second in the High Jump with 5'4", and third in the Long Jump with 17'6". Leah Korenberg placed second in the 3200 Meter with 12:15, while Lizzy Kirby placed fourth with 12:32.
"Our girls' team placed fifth with 45 points, which I was very pleased with as a team aspect," California Coach Rick Edwards said. "Our distance crew once again had a very good day. We advanced all of our 3200 Meter runners. Sydney went on in three of her events. All in all, it was a good day. We had two freshman distance runners who have had an excellent year. Katie Imhoff was within one second of our 1600 Meter record and she worked very hard in practice this year. Adam Burkett qualified for state as a freshman in the 3200 Meter, which is generally an upper classmen race."
In the boys' division for California at sectionals, Burkett placed fourth in the 3200 Meter with 10:25.
There are eight competitors in each event at sectionals, where only the top four finishers advance to the state championships.
The Pintos placed 20th as a team with 13 points at sectionals.
Other results for California at Class 3 Sectionals are as follows: In the boys' division, Logan Rowles placed fifth in the 400 Meter with 51.94, a new CHS record; Alexx Lewis placed eighth in the Discus Throw with 120'8"; and Nathan Squires placed sixth in the Shot Put with 46'2".
"Logan had the fastest time of his career in the 400 Meter," Edwards said. "We're pretty sure it was his dad who held the record that Logan beat at sectionals. We're going to miss Logan next year. He's worked hard for our track program for the past four years."
Edwards added, "This is the first time in a few years we've had throwers at the sectional level. Coach Lindquist has done a good job with them. Both of our throwers qualified back for next year. We'll be expecting big things out of them with another year of coaching by Lindquist."
In the girls' division at sectionals, Katie Imhoff placed fifth in the 1600 Meter with 5:27 and Deeken placed fifth in the 200 Meter with 26.64.