Humphries prevails in 200 meters, along with high jump, long jump and triple jump, qualifies for Masters meet next week in all four events; Long Beach Wilson, Culver City, JSerra and Oaks Christian secure divisional team crowns

By Pete Marshall for DyeStat

MOORPARK, Calif. – Meagan Humphries is setting quite the standard for the fledgling Castaic High track and field program.

Humphries, a junior, won an impressive four individual Division 3 titles at the CIF-Southern Section finals Saturday at Moorpark High.

“I don’t want to say that I expected to win all of them,” Humphries said. “But I had good hopes that I would. I feel like I came in prepared.”

DIVISION 1 RESULTS | DIVISION 2 RESULTS | DIVISION 3 RESULTS | DIVISION 4 RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

Humphries qualified for next week’s CIF-Southern Section Masters Meet in all four events: high jump (5-8/1.72m, No. 1 qualifier), long jump (20-0.25/6.10m, second), triple jump (39-10.75/12.16m, third) and 200 (23.85 seconds, fourth).

Of all the events, she was most surprised with her long jump mark.

“Last year, I was consistently jumping 18s, and I hadn’t been able to hit 19,” she said. “I had a ton of people around me telling me, ‘You could hit 19 and if you work on all this you could hit 20.’ I couldn’t hit 19 last season. I’m happy to say I finally joined the 20-footer gang.”

Next week, the meet schedule will be more compact, but Humphries plans on competing in all four, trying to qualify for state.

“I’m hoping next week to perform just as well as I did today,” she said. “I’m used to doing a lot of things (events) all at once. Based on my rankings in all four events, it’s possible I could make it in all four. I don’t want to say that. I don’t want to jinx it.” 

Humphries was one of several female standouts Saturday, when Long Beach Wilson took home the Division 1 crown by beating out Moore League rival Long Beach Poly. Culver City won Division 2, JSerra triumphed in Division 3, and Oaks Christian earned the Division 4 title as part of a sweep with its boys team of both championships.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame senior April Fontenette not only won both the Division 3 shot put (45-2/13.76m) and discus (162-8/49.58m), but both marks are tops in the state this season.

“It’s great to PR, especially in shot put, considering two of my throws were not too good,” Fontenette said. “It’s a great day and I broke the record for Division 3 (in discus), so I’m excited.”

Sophomore Rylee Blade of Corona Santiago was another multiple winner, taking home the Division 1 titles in the 1,600 (4.49.40) and 3,200 (10:23.71), and was the first and second qualifier, respectively in those events for Masters.

“I tried to go out more controlled in the first 2.5 laps (of the 1,600), to allow me at the end to have a pretty good kick,” Blade said. “I really wanted to push that last lap to get a time under 4:50. I did and I’m very proud of it.”

It sets up what could be an exciting battle next week, with fellow sophomore Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura, who set the state record in the 1,600 last year (4:33.29). Engelhardt won the Division 2 1,600 Saturday, with a time just 0.26 seconds behind Blade. 

Engelhardt also won the 800, in 2:08.48, just 0.79 seconds ahead of Mackenize Browne of J.W. North, who has the best mark in the state this year at 2:03.07 from April 8 at the 55th Arcadia Invitational. Engelhardt is the top Masters qualifier for the 800.

There are other events that have intriguing showdowns next week. Such is the case in the girls 4x400, where Long Beach Wilson won the Division 1 title in 3:43.82 (best in the state this year), less than a second better than Division 2 champion Culver City (3:44.70).

“I love a good competition,” said Long Beach Wilson sophomore Kaylin Edwards, who was the top Masters qualifier in the 300 hurdles (42.52).

“That’s a fun race and I can’t wait.”

“To run this race against someone who is actually good, it’s going to be a show,” said Long Beach Wilson senior Aujane Luckey, who was the top Master qualifier in the 400 (53.23).

Like Humphries, Kailah McKenzie of Orange Vista qualified for Masters in multiple individual events. 

McKenzie won the Division 1 100 hurdles (14.03, No. 1 Masters qualifier) and high jump (5-6/1.68m, fifth) and took third in the long jump (19-2, 5.84m, fourth) 

King senior Alyssa Hope, who was the state champion last year in the triple jump, fouled at the Big VIII League finals and didn’t qualify for CIF.

But she did qualify in the long jump (an event she was second in the state last year) and her Division 1 winning mark of 20-1 (6.12m) is the top Masters qualifier.