CIF state track finals: Valley Christian's Bruckner, Mt. Pleasant's Carbin win titles

By Phil Jensen, pjensen@bayareanewsgroup.com
Posted:   06/04/2016 08:13:53 PM PDT | Updated:   a day ago

CLOVIS — Valley Christian High's Elena Bruckner and Mt. Pleasant's Darius Carbin 
left the Buchanan High track with smiles on their faces after winning CIF state 
track and field championship titles.

But both stars were hoping for better marks Saturday, in a meet that started in 
104-degree heat with the girls discus, Bruckner's first event. She placed second 
in the discus (160 feet, 9 inches) before winning the shot put with a mark of 49-5 ¾

Carbin won the boys high jump with a clearance of 7-0. Alemany's Earnest Sears also 
cleared 7-0 on his first attempt, like Carbin, but Carbin cleared 6-10 on his first 
attempt while it took Sears three attempts to negotiate that height.

Bruckner said that she didn't feel well right away.

"When I got here, right from the start, I started to overheat," she said. "When I 
was warming up (for the discus), everything felt off ... A couple of (the discus 
attempts) felt technically correct, but didn't have power in them."

Bruckner, who led the nation in the discus this season with a mark of 186-10, took 
the lead on her first attempt (158-1). But Lincoln-San Franciso's Pamela Amaechi 
took the lead in the fourth round (162-8) and although Bruckner followed with a mark 
of 160-9, she could not improve on that. Amaechi won with a mark of 164-1.

Then Bruckner went to the shot put ring and took the lead for good on her second 
attempt (48-9 ¾). But although she improved to 49-5 ¾ on her fourth attempt, the 
winning mark, she was hoping for a better mark. Her best mark of 54-7 ranks second 
in the nation this season, according to DyeStat.com.

"Distance-wise, I will always be hard on myself," said the senior, who also said 
the day was "long, frustrating, but in the end, a good way to end the high school season."

Carbin also was looking for a personal record in the high jump. His PR is 7-1 ¾.

"I feel good that I won a state meet this year, but I really wanted a 7-2," said 
the senior. "Hopefully I can get it soon."

Carbin's quick clearances of his heights were the key to his state championship win. 
He opened at 6-8 and cleared it on his first attempt, as he did on 6-10 and 7-0 before 
three misses at 7-2.

"Two of those attempts I messed up on my plant," said Carbin about his attempts at 7-2.

The South Bay had a pair of state placers in the girls long jump. Los Gatos' Caice Lanovaz 
was third with a leap of 19-7 ½, and Mountain View's Rachael Estell was sixth (19-2 ¾).

Bellarmine's 4 by 100 boys relay team placed third with a time of 41.47 seconds. Harker's 
Niki Iyer also had a third-place finish in the girls 3200 with an outstanding time of 10:24.39. 
She ran an expert pace, running two 5:12 miles in the race.

Santa Teresa's Samantha Oxford placed fourth in the girls pole vault with a clearance of 12-2. 
She achieved that mark on her first attempt.

Other local placers included Riordan's Jason Smith in the boys long jump (fourth, 23-9 ¼), Gunn's 
Gillian Meeks in the girls 1,600 (fifth, 4:50.44) and Serra's 4 by 400 relay team (sixth, 3:18.82).

Silver Creek' freshman Jazlynn Shearer placed sixth in the 100 intermediate hurdles with a time of 14.18.