Central boys capture CIF state track and field crown, unleashing surprise relay combo

The Central High boys track and field team captured the CIF state championship Saturday night in Clovis, accumulating 41 points to win the crown by one point.

The Grizzlies edged out the Southern Section’s Upland, which amassed 40 points.

Central pulled out the team title with a strong showing during the final event of the day at Veterans Memorial Stadium on the Buchanan High campus.

The Grizzlies scored eight team points by finishing second in the 1,600-meter relay and Central accomplished that feat by using a new 4x400 lineup for the first time this season.

Grizzlies coach Cedric Pulliam went with the combination of Cameron Tarver, Imari Conley, Jerome Brown and Jeremiah Walker to help seize the crown.

Two other runs Pulliam usually turned to got sick and hurt, but the Central coach also knew he had strong depth with his relay team.

The Clovis North girls, meanwhile, placed second in the team standings.

The Broncos, led by Takiya Cenci, finished with 32 points as Clovis North took runner-up to Serra, which had 37 points.

It was a stellar night overall for the Fresno area, which produced six individual gold medalists and two first-place relay teams.

Fresno-area individual winners were:

• Clovis North’s Cenci in the girls 400
• Central’s Walker in the boys 400
• Clovis East’s Feyi Olukanni in girls shot put
• Nailea Fields of Caruthers in girls discus
• Sydnie Vanek of Clovis in girls long jump
• Christopher Caudillo of Clovis in boys 1,600

The two Fresno-area relay teams to win gold were the Central boys 400 and the Clovis North girls 1,600.

Clovis North star wins two gold medals

Clovis North middle distance sprinter Takiya Cenci has her future decided.

She will continue to run in the 200- and 400-meter dashes while suiting up for USC next season.

But before she goes off to college, Cenci wanted to make sure she left a lasting impression at the high school level.

Especially in front of her hometown crowd and as one of the few athletes this weekend who had previous state championship experience.

When it was over, Cenci came within 0.10 seconds of winning three gold medals.

She had to settle for two.

Cenci lived up to her top ranking entering the 400 and crossed first with a time of 54.01 seconds.

When it came to the 200, Cenci narrowly missed out on the gold, instead taking second after timing out at 23.78.

The winner, Serra’s Brazil Neal, won with a time of 23.68.

Still, Cenci was happy with how the day went and believed reaching the state meet as a freshman helped her performances.

There had not been a CIF state track and field championship the past two seasons because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“You don’t really know what to expect when it’s your first state meet,” Cenci said. “You go in as a baby and there’s people who’ve been doing it 3-4 years.

“So i think from then till now, I think I’ve taken a lot of pressure off myself.

“I can’t worry about other people; I can’t worry about other sprinters,” Cenci said. “I can just worry about myself and what I can put out. I think that’s something that I’ve worked on through the years.”

Cenci would respond one last time during the 1,600 relay by anchoring Clovis North to a surprising victory.

The Broncos finished at 3:45.38, almost two seconds better than second-place Wilson-Long Beach and nearly four seconds better than Clovis North’s Friday prelim time of 3:49.63.

How bad is Walker’s pain?

Central sprinter Jeremiah Walker hobbled after each event. Walker said he believed he slightly tore his hamstring during the first running event of the day Saturday, while serving as the first leg of the 400-meter relay.

“About 8 1/2,” Walker said when asked to describe how much pain he was in. “But I got to do this for my team.”

While Walker was victorious in his first two events, taking gold in the 400 relay and the 400 sprint, he wasn’t as fortunate in the 200.

Walker finished sixth in the 200, timing out at 21.42 seconds.

Serra’s Rodrick Pleasant blazed his way to victory with a dominating time of 20.56.

Meanwhile, Clovis North’s Nikolas Miller took second at 21.18.

And Central’s Cameron Tarver placed third at 21.28.

Despite the pain, Walker said he planned to also compete in the 1,600-meter relay, which would be his fourth and final event of the day.

Walker is committed to competing in track and field next year at San Jose State.

True to his word, Walker ended up competing in the 1,600 and Central had threatened to win it all.

But in the end, Central finished second just behind Cathedral.

The two times: Central, 3:14.78; Cathedral 3:13.87.

Shot put power

Clovis East’s Feyi Olukanni captured gold in the shot put, which marked the fifth first-place finish by a Fresno-area athlete in an individual event.

Olukanni, a senior who will compete in track and field next year at UC San Diego, won the shot put with a mark of 44 feet, which was more than two feet better than her top mark from Friday’s prelims.

Olukanni beat out two Notre Dame shot putters, who threw 42-5 1/2 and 41-51/4, respectively.

Olukanni had taken third in the discus earlier in the day.

She said she made sure to clear her mind of what happened in the discus before competing in the shot put.

“I really wanted it really bad,” Olukanni said of winning gold. “I tried to focus on what’s in front of me, the present.

“I just been trying to work hard. I knew I could make it this far, hit 44 feet ... I felt really safe with that distance, really put me in a good spot even if it wasn’t my PR.”

Central Section rival Nailea Fields of Caruthers, meanwhile, took eighth in the shot put after previously winning the discus.

Double gold for Clovis High

Clovis High added a pair of gold medals after girls long jumper Sydnie Vanek and boys 1,600-meter runner Christopher Caudillo were victorious.

Vanek, who has verbally committed to play volleyball at Arizona, managed to set a personal record twice during the finals Saturday and even “PR-ed” once during Friday’s preliminaries against a stacked field of strong long jumpers.

Vanek’s best mark of 20 feet 8 1/2 inches came on her final jump.

“Honestly, I came into this track meet with no strategy,” Vanek said. “Just hoping for the best and see what I could do. I came in yesterday seeded as third, and then today as third. And then for the final, ended up getting first.

“Definitely competitive coming from the Central Section then all these Southern (California) girls coming here with all these far marks. ... I knew I was going to have to jump far for this to happen.”

Caudillo won the 1,600 at 4 minutes 10.72 seconds.

Jeremy Kain of Scotts Valley took second at 4:11.40.

Caudillo’s victory was somewhat surprising considering he barely qualified for the finals after finishing eighth during the prelims at 4:14.72.

But Caudillo said he knew he had plenty left in the tank and that Friday’s race was not the time to go all out.

“I was 11 seconds off my PR,” Caudillo said. “If I wanted to take out and finish in the top 1-2, I probably could’ve. But I just wanted to make sure I was in the top four and qualified.

“(Friday) wasn’t the actual race. These guys are really going all out the last 100 (meters). So have fun with that. I’m going to conserve myself for (Saturday) and get the win.”

Running with pain for Central’s Walker

Despite limping around after competing in the 400-meter relay and appearing to massage his hamstring repeatedly just prior to the 400-meter individual race, Central’s Jeremiah Walker wasn’t going to sit out his main event.

And he proved a less-than-100% Walker was still fast enough to win gold.

With a lunge near the finish line, Walker clocked the 400 in 47.49 seconds to just barely beat the competition.

Saturday’s performance was nowhere near Walker’s best. Just Friday during the prelims, he ran a 46.81.

Nonetheless, Walker still managed to hold off Christopher Goode of West Ranch in the Southern Section at the end. Goode took second at 47.51.

Dijon Stanley of Granada Hills Charter of the Los Angeles Section took third, also clocking at 47.51.

After the race, Walker looked exhausted and kept bending over while on the podium while others who placed among the Top 6 all stood tall for the photo opportunity.

Walker expressed relief to have the event, and smiled but didn’t comment when asked if the race would’ve been as close if he’d been fully healthy.

Central boys relay wins close one

The Central boys 400-meter relay team was victorious, clocking out at 41.36 seconds.

The Grizzlies distanced themselves from Serra on the final leg thanks to anchor Imari Conley kicking things into high gear to hold off the fastest sprinter in the state in Serra’s Rodrick Pleasant.

Serra finished just behind Central, timing out at 41.50 second.

It wasn’t Central’s best time ever and the runners each were critical of their baton handoffs.

But it was still good enough for gold even if the Grizzlies felt slightly dissapointed about failing to set another record.

Last week, Central set the Central Section record after registering 40.63.

Caruthers thrower makes history

Nailea Fields of Caruthers won the first-ever state championship in school history after winning the girls discus.

Fields had a day-best toss of 157 feet, 1 inch.

The second-best throw was 155-8.

Clovis East’s Feyi Olukanni took third at 154-2.

Fresno-area athletes

The Fresno area was represented by 18 athletes competing in individual events, including seven athletes who competed in two or more individual events.

In addition, there were five relay teams to advance to the championship.

A breakdown of Fresno-area athletes in each event...

Girls 400 relay: Central’s team of Iyanna Fuller, Keytonna Ross, Tionna Clements and Taleeah Hoggatt

Boys 400 relay: Central’s team of Jeremiah Walker, Cameron Tarver, Elijah Lindsey and Imari Conley; Buchanan’s team of Augustus Remlinger, Garrett Fox, Harrison Kalpakoff and Hilton Green

Girls 1,600: Sierra Cornett of Buchahan

Boys 1,600: Christopher Caudillo Clovis

Girls 100 hurdles: none

Boys 110 hurdles: none

Girls 400: Takiya Cenci of Clovis North

Boys 400: Jeremiah Walker of Central

Girls 100: none

Boys 100: Nathan Johnson of Clovis, Cameron Tarver of Central

Girs 800: Tatum Zinkin of Clovis North

Boys 800: none

Girls 300 hurdles: Riley Costales of Central

Boys 300 hurdles: none

Girls 200: Takiya Cenci of Clovis North

Boys 200: Jeremiah Walker of Central, Cameron Tarver of Central, Nikolas Miller of Clovis North

Girls 1,600 relay: Clovis North team of Maya Cordoba, Takiya Cenci, Emerson Parks and Tatum Zinkin

Boys 1,600 relay: Central’s team of Walter Pierce, Imari Conley, Terrell Johnson and Jeremiah Walker

Girls discus: Nailea Fields of Caruthers, Feyi Olukanni of Clovis East

Girls long jump: Sydnie Vanek of Clovis

Boys long jump: Nathan Johnson of Clovis

Boys high jump: Caleb Johnson of Clovis

Boys discus: McKay Madsen of Clovis North

Girls shot put: Nailea Fields of Caruthers, Feyi Olukanni of Clovis East

Boys pole vault: Shane Bagley of Lemoore, Hilton Green of Buchanan

Girls pole vault: Jordan Leveque of Buchanan

Boys triple jump: none

Girls triple jump: Madeleine Passmore of Buchanan

Girls high jump: none

Boys shot put: McKay Madsen of Clovis North

Individual event double qualifiers

Here are the Fresno-area athletes who qualified for two individual events. No one qualified for three individual events.

• Nathan Johnson of Clovis (long jump, 100-meter sprint)
• Nailea Fields of Caruthers (shot put, discus)
• Feyi Olukanni of Clovis East (shot put, discus)
• Takiya Cenci of Clovis North (200, 400)
  
  
• McKay Madsen of Clovis North (discus, shot put)
• Jeremiah Walker of Central (200, 400, 400 relay and 1,600 relay)
• Cameron Tarver of Central (100, 200, 400 relay)

Breezy weather

As of 5:30 p.m., the weather in Clovis was 79 degrees with sunny conditions and wind gusts up to 22 mph.

This story was originally published May 28, 2022 at 5:40 PM.