CLOVIS — The 2025 CIF State Track and Field Meet wrapped up Saturday at Buchanan High School’s Veterans Memorial Stadium, with a number of local athletes competing at the 105th edition of the annual two-day meet.
Though there were 10 total representatives to qualify for the event, only a fraction made the trip down south, instead opting to walk their respective commencement stages. Many that ended up competing came from Pitman High, whose graduation celebration landed Thursday.
Opening day of the meet was Friday, where the prelims were held for most events. Also taking place that night were unified contests, where the Pride participated in three events and earned podium finishes in each. There were no prelims for unified events.
Sophomore Lindsey Sherman competed in two of those events, the girls’ shot put and 100-meter dash.
In the shot put, she and junior teammate Montana Rodin combined to earn fifth place medals, which ended up being the highest finish of all local individuals and unified teams over the weekend. In a field of 14 individuals (seven teams), Rodin had the third-best throw of the day at 24 feet, 9.75 inches. Sherman, meanwhile, was 13th at 10 feet, 2 inches.
In the 100-meter race, Sherman put in a time of 16.64 seconds. Teaming up with her was senior Elexi Pulido, who finished in 15.27 seconds. Their efforts earned them sixth place.
Also coming in sixth was the boys' unified shot put group of brothers Tyre and Jayden Duncan. Tyre, a junior, tossed a distance of 28 feet, 1.5 inches. Jayden, a sophomore, was measured at 27 feet, 7 inches.
The three contests put a cap on the first-ever season of unified sports in the Central California Athletic League.
Special Olympics Unified Sports programs join people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team during designated events. While unified competitions have been a part of some CIF State and Sac-Joaquin Section events since 2015, this is the first year in which the CCAL offered them.
Also in action Friday for prelims were Turlock High pole vaulters Emma Trevor and Justin Strode.
Trevor qualified for the state meet with a career-best height of 11 feet, 3 inches at the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters in Folsom a week prior. With the opening height set at 11 feet, 6 inches in Friday’s state prelims, the sophomore was unable to clear the bar in three chances.
Del Norte’s Paige Echsner was the eventual champion Saturday with a clearance of 12 feet, 10 inches.
A similar story unfolded for Strode.
Strode, who was scheduled to walk the stage at Joe Debely Stadium on Friday, made the decision to compete in Clovis for what was his first appearance at the state championships.
After punching his ticket to the grandest stage in California with a personal-best 15-foot, 2-inch clearance at Masters, Strode couldn’t replicate his mark, unable to clear the opening height of 15 feet in his three chances.
Pittsburg’s Khaliq Muhammad ended up winning gold Saturday with a height of 17 feet, 10.5 inches.
Despite not advancing to the second day, Strode represented a steady rise through the ranks over his four years with the Bulldogs, qualifying to the divisional meet as a freshman and sophomore, then a Masters berth last year before finally breaking through this year as a CCAL champion and a fifth-place finisher at the Masters.
The final individual of the local schools to partake in state competitions was Pitman junior Avery Carlson in the 3200-meter race, which was a finals-only event that took place Saturday night.
In the Masters finals, Carlson shattered her own school record with a third-place time of 10:41.36. It beat her previous best by nearly 10 seconds (10:51.00), set at the 65th Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut on April 18.
In Saturday's title race, Carlson put in a similar time of 10:54.65, but it was good for just 21st place in the field of 27. The ninth and final podium time was 10:21.84 set by Temescal Canyon’s Megan Crum. First place was claimed by Montgomery’s Hanne Thomsen at 9:48.98.
