Field Events
Surprisingly, this is the area with by far the most California participants - and many of them are highly seeded with a good chance to move on to Pan Am Juniors! The throws are particularly loaded for both boys and girls, with current preps Pamela Amaechi (shot & discus), Ashley Anumba (discus), Jeffrey Williams (discus), and Erica Grotegeer (discus) being joined by Class of 2016 standouts Elena Bruckner (shot & discus), Nathan Esparza (shot), Laulauga Tausaga-Collins (shot & discus), Clint Meyer (shot), Charles Lenford (shot & discus), and McKay Johnson (shot & discus). We even have a pair of javelin throwers entered in Dauson Booker (Central Catholic) and Cerah Moren (Pitman).
There are plenty of Golden State stars in the jumps, too. Isaiah Holmes, fresh off his first season at UCLA, is entered in both the long jump and the high jump. Former Liberty (Bakersfield) standout Dennis Hicks is also in two events, the long and triple. Sanjay Kettels, Matt DeRoos, Jake Grimsman, and Sean Lee will also be on hand to try to build on their successful CIF State Meet appearances.
Two Class of 2017 superstars headline the girls' jumps: Tara Davis is focusing on the long jump (leaving out the triple this meet), and Rachel Baxter is looking to continue inching her PR up in the pole vault. (Davis is also slated to compete in the Senior Women long jump later in the weekend!) In fact, this meet is so loaded with California females that we can hardly list them all! Returning collegians such as Erika Malaspina (pole vault) and Rhesa Foster (long jump) will compete alongside prep talent like Cassie Ackemann (high jump), Yinka Braimah (long jump), Arianna Fisher (triple jump), and Allanah Lee (triple jump). To make things even better, our state has a contingent of FIVE heptathletes participating this weekend; former Los Gatos star Caice Lanovaz will be joined by Tierra Crockrell and Allie Jones in those seven events over two days.
More California Field Event Entries:
- Tate Curran (Redondo) - PV
- Jason Smith (Long Beach State, Archbishop Riordan) - LJ
- Jah Strange (Sacramento State, Xavier College Prep) - TJ
- Chinenye Agina (Sanger) - HJ
- Brooke Tjerrild (Clovis North) - PV
- Laurel Wong (Santa Catalina) - PV
- Destiny Longmire (San Jose State, Rancho Verde) - LJ
- Dilini Amarasekara (UC Riverside, Etiwanda) - LJ
- Jonon Young (Carson) - LJ
- Dominique Ruotolo (Leap Squad) - TJ
- Michaela Banyi (Cerritos College, Valencia) - Hep
- Amani Briggs (Cerritos College, Lakewood) - Hep
More USATF Nationals Coverage
- Meet Page: Schedule. Previous Years
- Complete Entry Lists (via USATF.org)