Highlanders produce nine victories, led by talented freshman Harris; Valencia Placentia’s Aluya, Downey’s Cisneros win multiple events, with Ayala’s Ramirez shining at distance carnival

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

Upland High’s track and field program has been on a roll for a while in California. If Saturday was any indication, the Highlanders aren’t planning on leaving the scene anytime soon, either.

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

Mixing a blend of youth and experience, Upland impressed at the Trabuco Hills Invitational and Distance Carnival, with its athletes winning nine of Saturday’s 26 events, and that included four multiple-event winners.

Interestingly, while the Highlanders boys relied on their upperclassmen, no girls individual event winner was a senior.

And most impressive was the team’s standout ninth-grader, Caelyn Harris, the national freshman leader in the long jump.

Harris set the only new meet record of the day with a leap of 19 feet, 11 inches (6.07m) in the second round of the long jump finals. She also won the 100-meter hurdles in 15.10 seconds.

“I just had to talk to myself, think about my training and take deep breaths,” she said, when asked how she mustered not one, but two jumps at 19-9 or more. “And then just let it all out on the runway.”

That was enough to get past runner-up Mahkaia Lee of Redondo Union (19-9.50) and Santa Margarita sophomore Lauren Memoly (18-8.50).

Harris is fast feeling comfortable in the ultra-competitive world of high school track.

“It was kind of nervous at first, but then you get used to it because you keep practicing with people and going to different meets,” Harris said. “That gets you a better feeling.”

While Harris shined for the girls, junior Namir Hemphill demonstrated the ability to focus quickly, which served him well. Hemphill anchored the Highlanders’ winning 4x100 relay and later was eclipsed at the finish line in the 300 hurdles by Cathedral sophomore Anthony Taylor, who won in 38.62 to Hemphill’s 38.68.

Hemphill barely had time to breathe before running straight over to the pits and competing in the triple jump, with his last three attempts in succession.

It worked out well for him. Eyeing the meet record, Hemphill hit 48-1.50 (14.66m) on his penultimate leap to win by two feet.

Perhaps his win was fueled slightly by the 300 finish.

“A goal of mine for a while was getting the meet record here – which is 49-feet even,” Hemphill said. “Last year, I had missed it by two inches.”

Still, he’ll take the victory, feeling like a disadvantage to jumping consecutively was balanced.

“I feel like one of the good things about doing that is I feel like I get more of a rhythm,” he said. “My mistakes in my phases are fresh in my brain, so I know what to do to make it better. In consequence, I’m more tired that if I were to do it when everybody else is doing it.”

Hemphill didn’t compete in the long jump, clearing the way for sophomore Jailen Burrell – he was also the third leg of the winning 4x100 relay – who hit 22-1 (6.73m) to top runner-up David Ko of Garden Grove Pacifica (21-10.50).

Burrell’s personal best is 22-10, he said, and he feels like he’s getting back to where he can challenge that.

“I switched marks,” Burrell said. “I fixed my hitch kick, and it’s still not my best, but I’m getting there.
“Normally, I’m second hand to a kid named Namir Hemphill,” Burrell added, “so for him to not be out here (in the long jump), it gave me a little boost.”

Other Upland individual winners included senior Caleb Roberson, who won the 200 in a wind-aided 21.28. That would’ve tied a meet record, but the mark was +3/4/mps, well over the allowable limit of +2.0/mps.

He was also second in the 100 to Oaks Christian senior Cristian Moore (10.61). Highlanders junior Kerrington Smith added to the win column in the triple jump, where she marked at 40 feet (12.19m) on her final jump.

Sophomore Jordyn Grady went out quick in the 300 hurdles and held off Mission Hills senior Maya Occiano and junior teammate DeMia January to win in 43.98. Grady didn’t finish last season after suffering a hamstring injury at the Baseline League finals. She said she strained it again last week, but was able to work through it for the win Saturday.

“Mainly, for this race, I go in super nervous,” she said. “I still haven’t mastered how to run the race; I just go out there and just say, ‘Don’t think about it and just give it your all,’ because when I think about, that’s when I stutter (step).”

Though it seemed like an Upland party, there were two other double-event winners Saturday on a clear and sunny day in Mission Viejo.

Placentia Valencia junior Chrystal Aluya held off Grady and Santa Margarita senior Tessa Green to win the 100 in 12.07 and then outlasted Green again to win the 200 in 24.72. Green ran 24.89.

Only nine-hundredths of a second separated Aluya from Grady and Green in the 100.

“It definitely helped a lot, especially on that last 50,” she said. “Having someone there next to me was really helpful.”

Downey senior Jose Cisneros swept the throws Saturday, topping crosstown rival Casanova Ah’Fook in the shot put at 50-7.50 (15.43m) before easily taking the discus in 169-7 (51.68m).

Memoly provided one of the more memorable victories in the 400, when she rallied to overtake Citrus Valley sophomore Cienna Norman-Thomas and win in 55.85.

Memoly’s personal best in the event had been around 57 seconds. Apparently, she decided not to bother with the 56s.

It was also her second school record of the day, following 18-8.50 in the long jump.

“I wasn’t expecting to get into the 55s,” Memoly said. “I definitely shattered my goal.”

In the boys 400, a scheduling mistake had originally put Woodbridge's Chris Cooper in the 800 meters. Once corrected, he rewarded his coaches by edging Valencia senior Kai Wingo with a time of 48.89.

Other boys winners were Paramount senior Drew Pickett in the 110 hurdles (14.53), Edison senior Aiden Garnett in the high jump (6-4), and Quartz Hill senior Daniel Palacio in the pole vault (14-9).

Quartz Hill also had the winning girls 4x400 relay team (3:53.81), with Leuzinger winning the girls 4x100 (47.63) in a close race over Redondo Union.

Other girls winners were Capistrano Valley senior Jolie Robinson in the high jump (5-5), Redondo senior Amari Turner in the pole vault (12-6), Marina junior Alejandra Rosales (38-10) in the shot put, and the home school’s only win Saturday from Trabuco Hills senior Kyliegh Wilkerson in the discus (138-6).

Perhaps the highest-profile win in Friday night’s distance portion of the meet went to Ayala senior Mikaela Ramirez. The third-place finisher in last fall’s Division I race at the CIF-State Cross Country meet and state leader in the 3,200 at 10:19.42, Ramirez won the invitational 800 going away in 2:13.96.

Redondo Union senior Isabella Landry won the 1,600 in 5:01.90 and Santa Ana junior Maria Hernandez won the 3,200 in 10:52.53.

Mission Hills senior Jonathan Velasco, three months removed from a 20th-place finish at the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships, edged Crawford senior Nader Ali to win the 1,600 in 4:20.37.

Dorsey junior Christian Rodriguez won the boys invitational 800 in 1:55.72, with Laguna Beach sophomore Mateo Bianchi prevailing in the 3,200 in 9:25.60.