CIF state track and field championships: De La Salle’s Udeh caps prep career in style
On a big night for Bay Area athletes, De La Salle’s Chukwunonso Udeh leads the way. The senior wins long jump, medals in three other events.
When De La Salle track and field star Chukwunonso Udeh won three individual events and finished second in a relay at last week’s North Coast Section Meet of Champions, he was asked how he would get ready for the state meet.
“I’ll probably do workouts that are not too intense but make sure my body still gets the same movement,” the senior said. “I reckon it will be pretty light so I could explode at state.”
Saturday night, Udeh made quite the explosion at state.
He took home medals in all four of his events at the California Interscholastic Federation state championships in Clovis, winning the long jump and finishing fifth in the 110 high hurdles, high jump and 4×100 relay.
The Top 6 in each event receive a medal.
Counting relays, 25 competitors from the Bay Area News Group’s coverage area made the medal stand at Buchanan High’s Veterans Memorial Stadium in the 103rd running of the meet, including seven that finished among the top three.
Udeh was the only state champion in that group, placing first in the long jump with a leap of 23 feet, 9 ¾ inches.
Los Gatos’ boys 4×400 relay team of Levi Romero, Jake Bohane, Brady Kamali and Wil Brennan finished second while making Central Coast Section history.
The Wildcats’ time of 3:13.97 broke the section record of 3:14.14 that Independence held since 1988.
Long Beach Poly won the 4×400 relay in a sizzling 3:12.99.
Acalanes’ boys 4×100 relay team of Ethan Torres, Kyle Bielawski, Trevor Rogers and Paul Kuhner ran faster than it had all season to place second.
The Dons reached the finish line in 40.96, topping the 41.28 they ran at the NCS Tri-Valley championships two weeks ago.
Bielawski tweeted that the team’s time Saturday was the fourth-fastest in section history.
“So blessed to be a part of this team,” he wrote.
Granada Hills won the 4×100 in 40.39.
Rogers also medaled in the long jump, finishing fourth in 23-4. That broke the school record of 23-0 1/2 that he set at last week’s NCS Meet of Champions.
St. Ignatius freshman Ellie McCuskey-Hay clearly was not in awe of the state meet’s bright lights. She finished second in the 100 in a personal-best 11.52 and also set a personal record in the long jump, placing sixth in 19-7 1/4.
Oaks Christian’s Niya Clayton won the girls 100 in 11.45, and Clovis’ Sydnie Vanek took first in the girls long jump in 20-7 ¾.
McCuskey-Hay’s time in the 100 ranked fifth all-time in the CCS.
El Cerrito’s Robert Stitts watched history as he placed third in the boys 100 in 10.31. Serra-Gardena’s Rodrick Pleasant’s winning time of 10.20 broke the state meet record.
Ventura’s Sadie Engelhardt also broke a meet record, winning the girls 1,600 in an incredible 4:33.45.
The CIF added the 4×800 relay to the program this year, and two Bay Area teams — Menlo School (boys), St. Francis (girls) — finished in the top three.
Menlo’s team of Justin Pretre, William Hauser, Landon Pretre and Aiden Deffner placed second in 7:39.10. The Knights were less than a second behind the winning team, San Clemente, which reached the finish line in 7:38.59.
St. Francis’ team of Katie Mullane, Hinako Yamamoto, Anna Fawcett and Sabrina Zanetto finished third in 9:04.03. Del Norte-San Diego won in 8:55.99.
Here is how the locals fared Saturday:
Girls 4×100
Champion: Carson-Los Angeles (45.61)
How the locals finished
None reached the final
Boys 4×100
Champion: Granada Hills (40.39)
How the locals finished
No. 2 Acalanes (40.96)
No. 5 De La Salle (41.28)
No. 8 Sacred Heart Prep (41.88)
Girls 1,600
Champion: Ventura’s Sadie Engelhardt (4:33.45, meet record)
How the locals finished
No. 9 Palo Alto’s Kinga Czajkowska (4:48.23)
No. 12 Los Altos’ Jasleen Sidhu (4:54.51)
Boys 1,600
Champion: Santa Barbara’s Andreas Dybdahl (4:08.64)
How the locals finished
No. 4 College Park’s Alex Lamoureux (4:09.94)
No. 6 St. Mary’s-Berkeley’s Mateo Malko-Allen (4:10.28)
No. 8 Los Gatos’ Aydon Stefanopoulos (4:10.55)
No. 9 Albany’s Lucas Cohen (4:13.37)
Girls 100 hurdles
Champion: St. Mary’s-Stockton’s Kori Fields (13.79)
How the locals finished
No. 6 Campolindo’s Mari Testa (14.11)
Boys 110 high hurdles
Champion: Upland’s Davis Davis-Lyric (13.83)
How the locals finished
No. 5 De La Salle’s Chukwunonso Udeh (14.287)
No. 6 Leland’s Miles Roberts (14.289)
Girls 400
Champion: Wilson-Long Beach’s Aujane Luckey (53.26)
How the locals finished
No. 4 Mountain View’s Hannah Rutherford (54.79)
Boys 400
Champion: Granada Hills’ Dijon Stanley (45.77)
How the locals finished
No. 4 Moreau Catholic’s Bryce Thomas (47.53)
No. 7 Los Gatos’ Wil Brennan (48.32)
No. 8 Los Gatos’ Levi Romero (48.34)
No. 9 Dublin’s Alexander Franco (48.35)
Girls 100
Champion: Oaks Christian’s Niya Clayton (11.45)
How the locals finished
No. 2 St. Ignatius’ Ellie McCuskey-Hay (11.52)
Boys 100
Champion: Serra-Gardena’s Rodrick Pleasant (10.20, meet record)
How the locals finished
No. 3 El Cerrito’s Robert Stitts (10.31)
No. 8 Harker’s Andrew Fu (10.60)
No. 9 Archbishop Riordan’s Zachary Jones (10.63)
Girls 800
Champion: Ventura’s Sadie Engelhardt (2:07.22)
How the locals finished
No. 6 Monte Vista’s Cate Peters (2:10.03)
No. 7 Menlo-Atherton’s Tatum Olesen (2:10.25)
No. 11 St. Francis’ Sabrina Zanetto (2:12.32)
No. 12 Castilleja’s Samira Kennedy (2:14.93)
Boys 800
Champion: Hughson’s Joseph Lighthall (1:52.06)
How the locals finished
No. 12 Homestead’s Evan Gardner (1:56.31)
Girls 300 hurdles
Saturday’s finals
Champion: Wilson-Long Beach’s Kaylin Edwards (41.57)
How the locals finished
No. 7 Christopher’s Melia Middleton (43.16)
Boys 300 hurdles
Champion: Jordan-Long Beach’s Darryll Stevens (37.44)
How the locals finished
No. 7 Serra’s Peter Olson (39.12)
Girls 200
Champion: Culver City’s Joelle Trepagnier (23.62)
How the locals finished
None reached the final
Boys 200
Champion: Serra-Gardena’s Rodrick Pleasant (20.67)
How the locals finished
No. 7 Harker’s Andrew Fu (21.48)
No. 8 Live Oak’s Christian Hauge (21.60)
Girls 4×800 relay
Champion: Del Norte-San Diego (8:55.99)
How the locals finished
No. 3 St. Francis (9:04.03)
No. 9 Los Altos (9:21.02)
No. 10 Monte Vista (9:23.10)
Boys 4×800 relay
Champion: San Clemente (7:38.59)
How the locals finished
No. 2 Menlo School (7:39.10)
No. 6 Crystal Springs Uplands (7:45.30)
No. 7 Clayton Valley (7:49.14)
No. 12 Foothill (8:00.02)
No. 19 Oakland Tech (8:48.38)
Girls 3,200
Champion: Santiago-Corona’s Rylee Blade (10:02.19)
How the locals finished
No. 10 Archbishop Mitty’s Evangeline Marheineke (10:35.41)
No. 11 Campolindo’s Ellie Buckley (10:42.54)
No. 13 Los Altos’ Lauren Soobrian (10:46.57)
No. 16 Los Altos’ Jasleen Sidhu (10:53.31)
No. 20 Granada’s Abby Stein (11:07.04)
Boys 3,200
Champion: Highland-Palmdale’s Matthew Donis (8:51.37)
How the locals finished
No. 4 Los Gatos’ Aydon Stefanopoulos (8:57.99)
No. 7 Albany’s Sean Morello (8:59.35)
No. 8 Mountain View’s Evan Markelz (9:01.09)
No. 11 Granada’s Roland Ruckmann-Barnes (9:05.39)
No. 12 Wilcox’s John Cooper (9:06.77)
No. 20 Monte Vista’s Ethan Miller (9:12.41)
No. 29 Skyline’s Andy Ixtabalan Argueta (9:50.25)
Girls 4×400 relay
Champion: Culver City (3:41.08)
How the locals finished
No. 9 Monte Vista (3:54.70)
Boys 4×400 relay
Champion: Long Beach Poly (3:12.99)
How the locals finished
No. 2 Los Gatos (3:13.97)
Girls discus
Champion: Caruthers’ Nailea Fields (167-6)
How the locals finished
No. 7 Pittsburg’s Lauren Lemire (142-0)
No. 12 Homestead’s Ningning O’Brien (113-4)
Boys discus
Champion: JSerra-San Juan Capistrano’s Brendon See (196-4)
How the locals finished
No. 5 Santa Clara’s Liam Brennan (183-0)
No. 8 Silver Creek’s Kyler Headley (171-10)
Girls long jump
Champion: Clovis’ Sydnie Vanek (20-7 ¾)
How the locals finished
No. 6 St. Ignatius’ Ellie McCuskey-Hay (19-7 1/4)
No. 9 Castro Valley’s Lynee Sims (18-2 3/4)
Boys long jump
Champion: De La Salle’s Chukwunonso Udeh (23-9 ¾)
How other locals finished
No. 4 Acalanes’ Trevor Rogers (23-4)
No. 6 Valley Christian’s Jonathan Craft (23-1 ½)
No. 8 Los Altos’ Zachary Fagin (22-8 ¾)
Girls high jump
Champion: Whitney-Rocklin’s Ashanti Elie (5-10)
How the locals finished
No. 7 Notre Dame-Belmont’s Melanie Castelli (5-6)
No. 10 (tie) St. Francis’ Jamie Wade (5-4)
No. 10 (tie) Menlo School’s Summer Young (5-4)
Boys high jump
Champion: JSerra-San Juan Capistrano’s Jake Stafford (6-7)
How the locals finished
No. 5 (tie) De La Salle’s Chukwunonso Udeh (6-4)
Girls shot put
Champion: Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks’ Aja Johnson (44-0 ¾)
How the locals finished
No. 6 Los Gatos’ Nicole Steiner (41-3 ¾)
No. 12 Campolindo’s Pinkie Schnayer (38-7 ½)
Boys shot put
Champion: JSerra-San Juan Capistrano’s Brendon See (62-9 ½)
How the locals finished
No. 10 Serra’s Luke Lewis (51-10 3/4)
Girls pole vault
Champion: La Costa Canyon’s Iliana Downing (13-5)
How the locals finished
(ND) Dublin’s Victoria Bradley
Boys pole vault
Champion: Buchanan-Clovis’ Hilton Green (16-6)
How the locals finished
None reached the final
Girls triple jump
Champion: Elsinore’s Dajeauna Williams (40-7 ¼)
How the locals finished
No. 8 Clayton Valley Charter’s Santia Ali (37-7 1/4)
Boys triple jump
Champion: Redlands East Valley’s Jeremiah Bolanos (48-3 ¼)
How the locals finished
No. 5 Bishop O’Dowd’s Brandon Rush (46-2 3/4)
No. 7 Bellarmine’s Kenneth Tucker (45-8)