Three move on up

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NORWALK — No spinning easily to the top of the ring in this one.

Discus thrower Cecil Whiteside stood in a tough spot in trying to defend his CIF Southern Section Division II title.

Two of the state’s best athletes in the event competed in Whiteside’s division Saturday. Win the discus and Whiteside likely finished with the best mark out of all the throwers in every division.

Unable to heave the disc the furthest to claim his second straight Division II championship, Whiteside accomplished the second best thing at the section boys’ track and field championships.

The junior qualified for the Masters meet, finishing third overall in the discus throw with a mark of 170 feet, 7 inches at Cerritos College.

Whiteside will return to Cerritos College next week. He and Corona del Mar triple jumper Blaine Bolus are the only two local individual boys advancing to Masters, the qualifying meet for the state finals at Buchanan High in Clovis on June 5-6.

Bolus placed eighth with a jump of 46-4 1/4 .

One local individual girl made it to Masters as well. Marisa Cummings of CdM advanced in the 1,600 meters, finishing tied for 11th with a personal-best time of 4 minutes, 58:34 seconds.

“We had nobody last year go [to Masters],” said CdM Coach Bill Sumner, whose girls’ team finished tied for second with Orange Lutheran in CIF Southern Section Division III. “It was the first time in like 15 years.”

Out of the area’s athletes, Whiteside recorded the best finish. No. 3 is short of No. 1, but there’s always next week, when Whiteside has another crack at the top spot.

Whiteside will have to get past two seniors.

Daniel Swarbrick of Saugus took first with a 178-8 throw, more than eight feet better than Whiteside. Northwood’s Caleb McCurry placed second at 172-3.

Only a dozen competitors advanced to Masters from the field and distance events. Regardless of division, the athlete’s mark and time had to be in the top 12 to qualify.

Whiteside was a little less than two feet away from making Masters in the shot put as well. His 52-9 3/4 throw was a couple of spots out.

Bolus recorded his qualifying mark on his second jump in Division III. The Harvard-bound senior passed on his next two attempts, knowing he was in after missing Masters last year due to a nagging hamstring injury.

“If he can get a good jump, he moves on,” Sumner said. “He can normally on any given day jump 46 [feet]. Forty-seven, he jumps on a good day.”

A 47-foot leap might get Bolus to his first state meet. The top five finishers in each event at Masters qualify for state.

Cummings barely advanced in the 1,600 to her first Masters.

The junior recorded the third-fastest time in Division III. When officials combined all the times from each 1,600 race, she was tied for 11th with sophomore Dynasty Gammage of Long Beach Poly, who competed in Division I.

“The first goal was to see if we could move some [girls] on [to Masters] … and the other was [for them] to break five minutes,” said Sumner, who saw three CdM runners fall short. “[Cummings] did both of those.”

CdM’s Kim Condino finished second in the 800 in 2:19.99 and fifth in the 1,600 in 5:02.40, a personal record. Tina Theriot was third in the 800 in 2:17.04 and Sarah Keddington was fourth in 2:17.38 for the Sea Kings.