2025 California T&F Thread

Watch the video

The video doesn't seem that bad. Can you describe what is wrong?

I watched the video and don't know what the h*** people are complaining about. Ok, the one kid took it out hard, but it had no impact on the race, as nobody followed him.

Then the "incident" at 150? Please. Total nothingburger. The other kids left a narrow gap, the Jesuit kid shot through, there was a little, emphasis on little, bumping of shoulders, but nothing you won't see in any other race with a crowded, motivated field who are all extremely close in ability level.

I did. It got cut out

Kadel took it out hard to pace the race out. Got to 300 moved out to lane 2-3 and significantly slowed until he was in last and jogged it in.

i didn’t see the 150 incident.

It’s going to be 105° this weekend at the state meet

Pre state boys sprint/team predictions (girls version coming soon)

100: Benjamin Harris - Arcadia runner up in the 100, with Arrington out he is the obvious pick. Dezeurn has been looking dangerous recently as well. Interested in seeing how Jaden Jefferson does against the SoCal boys.

200: Cy Lugo - Ran a nasty 21.0 into a headwind. Sermons, Harris, Stadlman, Dezeurn, Jaden Jefferson, and Will Greene should also be threats in the final - all the top contenders are pretty close right now. The CCS trio of LaCasia, Petty, and Buchango-Babalola are ones to watch as well - ran great times in cold conditions into a heavy headwind.

400: Bar disaster, Jack Stadlman should easily walk away with this one. Hunter, Smith, Greene, and LaCasia will turn this final into an absolute movie - this is the deepest i've seen the CIF 400 in a really, really long time, and it wouldn't surprise me if it takes a sub-47 to even podium, assuming everyone makes it though the gauntlet intact. Mayrant and Burroughs should make the final as well

4x100: You can never be sure in the 4x100, but Servite are the heavy favorites. Unfortunate that Poly and Rancho didn't make it through the gauntlet, but there will still be an insane 5 teams in Clovis that have run 41.0 or faster.

4x400: This one is gonna be good. Going into the state meet in 2023, 3:17.9 would have ranked you 7th in the state. This year? Try 22nd. Will likely take something around 3:12 to even make finals - I don't think that has ever happened before. Long Beach Poly will likely rule the event as they have the last 3 decades, but I expect Culver City, Wilson, Central, Cathedral (state meet 4x400 veterans, they KNOW how to run a 4x400), and of course Servite to make it very close.

110: Jasir Fontenot will take it. He's only a freshman, but my goodness can the kid hurdle. Watch out for finals returner Prince Buchango, who hasn't been seriously challenged this year yet.

300: The 300 is already quite close, with a number of runners hovering around the 36.8-37.2 mark. Rendon, Warring, and Hergenrader probably all of a decent shot at the title - each had a slow start to the year and haven't been seriously challenged in the postseason yet. I'm gonna give it to Hudson Hergenrader, who will be running on his home track, but again, it's gonna be close for sure.

Team: Servite will likely take it with their ridiculous sprint depth, but relays will play an important part.

- De La Salle could score big points with Jefferson in the 100, and a relatively quiet Trey Caldwell in the 3200

- Buchanan has point contenders across a wide variety of disciplines. Heavy distance prowess will help them significantly.

- I would be remiss to mention Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, who has a number of top-ranked athletes across the jumps, hurdles, and relays.

- Where there's a will, there's a way, and Long Beach Poly seems to find the way a lot, having won far and away the most boys team titles at the state meet.

- Clovis North has an almost guaranteed 20 points with McKay Madsen in the throws, and several more potential points with Connor Lott in the 16/32.

Cy Lugo used to be a distance runner lol. He would beat Ogilvie in middle school meets.

If you look at his times this season, it’s pretty clear he improved his speed a ton (1:52 800 and 4:05 1600), which probably came at the cost of the 3200.

He can probably run a low 4 minute mile right now, not sure why he opted for the 3200.

I plan to cover both the CIF State Qualifying (Friday) and Championship (Sat). Given how hot it will be, I'm using a portable (battery powered) misting system (see Youtube link) to cool my 3 cameras at the finish line. The misting system can be reused on my upcoming ATV-cam during XC to reduce or even eliminate the dusts raised by the tires.

Interesting. Was water-proofing your cameras an issue?

The other day you put your camera in the oven. Now you're bringing a misting system all the way to Clovis. You certain do not leave any stone unturned in your quest for great footage in hot weather.

Eli Fitchen Young really gave it all he had leading at CCS Finals and yet still only managed an 8:57. So far his 8:56 and 8:57's this year are from 3200m's where he lead. I think that if Eli decides to let other runners lead he will run faster times. Except for states'24, his best distance races have been where he didn't lead and either worked with someone or off someone (states'23, NXN'24). In fact, deciding to lead at NXN'24 might have been the fatal mistake that lead to his bad race then.

It's confusing because Eli Fitchen-Young's Woodward 5K 14:41 PR (while leading!) as well as his new 1600m PR of 4:05.1 and suggests he should run close to Pretre and run 8:45-8:50 in the 3200m, especially for a more distance/XC oriented runner I think he is. But clearly leading at D.D.F. and C.C.S. has not helped him crack his 8:56/8:57 barrier so I think Eli switching his strategy up at states can't hurt if he lets other runners near his times like Noonan and Daillak lead him to hopefully a faster time.

Agreed- he works best when he lets others take the lead (State 23 is a huge example- he literally had Manny Perez, Lucas Cohen, and Broen Holman push him to a sub 14:50- his previous pr being from Terry Ward at 15:12)

Personally, I think Eli could’ve ran faster than 14:41 considering his Crystal Springs race (don’t get me wrong, he got the state champ title and did pr, but compared to his previous performances in the season and other times ran at state, it wasn’t that impressive- as in he definitely could’ve ran a lot faster)

Real question tho, what has been going with the Matilda Torres guys? Ben and Hunter barely improved their times this season (or in Hunter’s case didn’t improve at all). I feel like they could run a lot faster considering they’ve ran 15:03 and 15:04. If anything, the rest of their teammates showed more significant improvement. This begs the question how they’re going to hold up when they go into xc next season?