Scotts Valley's Ava Decleve makes 800 final at state meet | Local Roundup

Scotts Valley High senior Ava Decleve posted a top-three finish in her 800 meters prelim heat on Friday to qualify for the final at the 2026 CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High.

The girls' 800 final starts at 7:40 p.m. on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The top three runners in each of the three prelim heats, plus the next three fastest finishers, advanced to the 12-runner final.

The UCLA committed middle distance runner, a two-time Central Coast Section champion in the distance, took third in Heat 1 in 2 minutes, 9.76 seconds, the eighth-best time in qualifying.

Admittedly, Decleve would've been bummed if she didn't accomplish her goal of making the final. She took fourth in the prelims last year and missed advancing by one spot.

"Honestly, the race went by so fast," Decleve said. "I was really determined and I just pushed because I knew this was one of the last high school races I would have. And it felt good. I was happy with how I ran."

Decleve said running conditions were perfect. The temperature was in the low 70s, more than 15 degrees cooler than was in for the prelims in 2025.

Senior Braelyn Combe, of Santiago in Corona, also competed in Heat 1 and posted the fastest prelims time (2:08.25) of the 34 runners who made state.

Laila Kirk, a freshman at Poly in Long Beach, took second in Decleve's heat in 2:09.53. And Claire Andrzejek, a senior at Campolindo in Moraga, took fourth and made the final with her 2:10.04 finish.

"I definitely trailed a group," Decleve said. "The field is so competitive that all the girls got out really fast. And we were all probably within a second of each other in the first lap. And like the final 200, I realized that if I wanted to get top three I would have to pick it up a bit, so I did."

Thing is, everyone showed off their kick.

"There was a girl, literally, right behind me," Decleve said. "And she was pushing me to go faster. I think we were all pushing each other. It was nice. It was fun racing with such competitive girls because it makes you more competitive in a race. You're honestly either racing to get a placement, or you're racing to get a PR (personal record)."

Scotts Valley senior Aaron Weiss, who took fourth in the boys' 800 at CCS in 1:53.05 to secure an at-large berth to state, took ninth in the first of three heats and 26th overall in 1:54.29.

Senior Alden Morales of J. Serra Catholic in San Juan Capistrano competed in Heat 2 and posted the fastest prelims time (1:51.41) of the 30 runners who made state.

Boys tennis

Ward commits to UCSC: Soquel High's Hudson Ward, who graduated from Soquel on Friday, committed to play tennis at NCAA Division III earlier in the week.

The two-time Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League singles champion and Central Coast Section qualifier, who lost to the eventual 2026 section singles champion in the quarterfinals, signed paperwork on Wednesday. He's a two-star recruit on tennisrecruiting.com.

"I'm super thrilled," said Ward, who had a 3.5 grade-point average. "I was on the wait list and didn't know if I'd get it. It's a lot of stress off of me."

Ward plans to major in business management. He said he's excited to grow as both a person and player, and has big plans for the Banana Slugs. He hopes to help the program reach a top-20 national ranking as a freshman and, eventually, help it win the national title.

UCSC, coached by Ross Pytko, went 11-14 in its matches in 2026.

Academic honors

Three Santa Cruz County sports programs were recognized for the academic success and earned Central Coast Section's 2025-26 Spring Season Scholastic Championship Team Awards.

The section, a member of the California Interscholastic Federation, honors the top five programs in each sport based on each team's collective grade-point average.

Harbor posted the third-best mark (3.563) for beach volleyball teams in the section, and Santa Cruz had two programs post the fourth-best mark, baseball (3.661) and tennis (3.77).

Reporting Scores

Coaches are encouraged to report scores and highlights to sports@santacruzsentinel.com following games. Please include your name and contact number in the email.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published May 30, 2026 at 2:22 AM.