A pair of local high school athletes achieved a season-long goal on Saturday, punching their tickets to the prestigious CIF State Track & Field Championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis on May 24 and 25.
Analy senior Sierra Atkins (1,600 meters) will join El Molino junior Kassidy Sani (discus) at state by virtue of top-three finishes in their respective events at the North Coast Section Meet of Champions on May 17 and 18 at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill.
The two-day event included preliminary races on Friday and final events contested under wet and blustery conditions on Saturday.
West county was well represented at the MOC, with a 12 person contingent consisting of nine athletes from El Molino and three from Analy.
Sani logged a state qualifying effort with a second-place effort in the discus with a heave of 130 feet, adding a seventh place finish in the shot put (35 feet, 7.75 inches).
Also wearing Lion’s red and white at the MOC were Soul Berna (18th place triple jump prelims, 41 feet 0.25 inches), Colman Hayes (10th place discus, 133 feet, 11 inches), Ethan Ransome (17th place 300 meter intermediate hurdles prelims, 41.97) and Austin Kelsey (eighth place discus, 137 feet, nine inches, 22nd place shot put, 40 feet, 11 inches). In addition, the El Mo boys 4×400 meter relay team of Jacob Cibrian, Wyatt Stringfellow, Ethan Ransome and Finn Ransome took 23rd in the prelims in a time of 46.3. Jeanne Broome was an MOC qualifier in the 400 meters but did not compete.
Atkins led the Analy charge by advancing to Saturday’s final in both of her events, earning her spot at state with a third-place effort in the 1,600 meters in a fast, 5:02.00. The Tigers’ standout also added a seventh place finish in the 800 meters (2:28.78).
Also competing for Analy were Maddie Windsor (21st place, 400 meter prelims, 61.40) and Carolina Dawson (18th place 800 meter prelims, 2:21.30).
