Five headed to State Meet

At the CIF State Track and Field Championships the heat will definitely be on for the athletes, including five from the Newport-Mesa Area.

CIF has had to reschedule the meet to try to work with the triple-digit temperatures expected in the Fresno area on Friday and Saturday. They moved the start time for running events 1 hour and 15 minutes on Friday, when it could get up to as high as 105 degrees during the day. Instead the meet starts at 6:15 p.m. at Buchanan High in Clovis.

Newport Harbor High senior Emma Kratzberg hopes to burn up the track. The Sailors standout, bound for Colorado State, will compete in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles. She finished second in the 300 hurdles at the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet, crossing the tape in 41.95 seconds, an Orange County and school record.

Kratzberg will also compete in the 100 hurdles in 14.28 seconds, for sixth at the Masters Meet.

Kratzberg is one of the five who have a compelling story as they qualified to the State Meet.

Kratzberg’s teammate Newport Harbor junior Cole Smith also qualified in two events, as he’ll be competing in the shotput and discus. He took fifth at Masters in the shotput (56 feet, ¼ inches), and met the at-large qualifying standard (168-9) on his sixth and final throw of the discus.

Costa Mesa is also sending a remarkable thrower of its own in sophomore Felicia Crenshaw, who will be competing in the girls’ discus.

She surpassed the at-large qualifying mark at last week’s Masters meet with a throw of 137-7, which was a record-breaking mark. She broke the Costa Mesa High record that she shared with Bonnie Dasse, who later went on to represent the United States at two Olympics, by almost two feet.

For the first time in Sage Hill School history, the Lightning is sending two athletes to the State Meet.

Sage Hill junior Alex Escalera will be competing in the pole vault. Last week, he set a personal-best clearance of 15-6 to finish second place at Masters. He topped his previous best by four inches.

Lightning senior Chance Kuehnel will compete in the high jump. He cleared 6-7 to finish fourth at Masters and qualify.