CIF track: De La Salle’s Jaden Jefferson wins state title in 100 as encore to record run

De La Salle sprinter Jaden Jefferson knew what he had to do that smashing the California record in the meters during a qualifying heat on Friday would have been spoiled had he not won the state championship Saturday night Without me winning tonight the record that I broke really means nothing because I didn t finish Jefferson recounted the Bay Area News Group Jefferson made sure he finished One day after he ran the in a state-record seconds the junior kept his focus and posted another blistering time at Buchanan High s Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis Jefferson won the state title in to edge Servite-Anaheim s Benjamin Harris De La Salle s Jaden Jefferson fourth form left wins the Meter Dash during the CIF State Track and Field Championships on Friday at Buchanan High in Clovis on Saturday May Photo by Terry Pierson The Press-Enterprise SCNG The triumph was one of several highlights for Bay Area athletes at the th running of the California Interscholastic Federation championships Another record Pittsburg s Khaliq Muhammad broke the state-meet record in the boys pole vault winning in - Davis Sondre Guttormsen had held the record of - since St Mary s-Berkeley s Kira Gant Hatcher shared first place in the girls triple jump with Jurupa Valley AB Hernandez an openly transgender athlete whose presence at the state meet led to last-minute rule changes that prevented Hernandez from displacing a biological female student-athlete on the medal stand Hatcher jumped - to Hernandez s - but they both received first-place medals The girls high jump had a similar outcome as Hernandez would have finished alone in first without the rule change She cleared - in her first attempt Lelani Laruelle of Monta Vista in Cupertino and Long Beach Wilson s Jillene Wetteland hit the mark in their second try But the three shared first place Hernandez split second place in the girls long jump with River City s Brooke White despite jumping - to White s - St Ignatius Prince Buchango-Babalola won the boys in Jefferson finished fourth in a personal-best capping a meet that also included him running the second leg on De La Salle s relay which finished fourth in Jefferson s maturation Jefferson arrived at De La Salle as an ultra-talented athlete so gifted that he made the storied varsity football organization as a freshman but he was far from refined As he put it Saturday night he has grown up With De La Salle they really teach you to become a man and be mature announced Jefferson who orally committed in January to play football for Bill Belichick at North Carolina I am focused on being more mature focused on what I have to do in life for me to succeed On Friday night as he watched video of Jefferson current the state record in the De La Salle football coach Justin Alumbaugh commented he was brought to tears He knows how far Jefferson has come since his early years at De La Salle and to see it rewarded is something to behold He has grown so much as an athlete and as a young man I am so proud of him Alumbaugh mentioned Saturday morning I really am It s one of the best success stories in De La Salle To be that talented when you show up as a freshman and to accept humble pie if I might speak freely and commit to work commit to being better commit to being a better human commit to the weight room commit to everything I can t give the kid enough credit Jefferson has also experienced loss at De La Salle the sudden death of assistant football coach Steve Jacoby during the season and the passing of head track coach John Harvey in late April Harvey s words that he once preached to Jefferson remained loud and clear this weekend It s been very emotional very motivational to see him looking over us him pushing us Jefferson declared It was very great for me to win this I honestly did it all for him Other highlights In the boys high hurdles San Diego s Jasir Fontenot broke his own meet record from Friday winning in after running in the prelims Buchango-Babalola finished second in Montgomery-Santa Rosa s Hanne Thomsen finished first in the girls in a meet-record In the girls St Mary s Academy s Madison Mosby wins the gold in Mountain View s Hannah Rutherford takes the silver in Menlo School s Landon Pretre took second in the boys in Woodcrest Christian s Eyan Turk won in In the boys Clovis North s Conor Lott wins in Crystal Springs Upland s Benjamin Bouie finishes second in and Los Gatos Aydon Stefanopoulos takes fourth in Related Articles NCS roundup Acalanes Las Lomas win baseball titles Miramonte celebrates softball crown For second straight championship big inning powers Serra to comeback win first CCS baseball championship in years Wilcox s bid for CCS Division II baseball championship denied by Hollister Alhambra captures NCS D-III softball title with Hailey Powers walk-off home run Willow Glen loses first challenge of the year as St Francis wins CCS Open Division softball championship in extras Archbishop Mitty s Maya Ifo Desai won the silver medal in the girls discus with a throw of - Jaslene Massey of the Southern Section s Aliso Niguel took first in - In the girls Santiago-Corona s Braelyn Combe wins in Kinga Czajkowska of Palo Alto finishes fourth in Temecula Valley s Jack Stadlman won the boys in Woodside s Mattheo LaCasia was fourth in In the girls Carlsbad s Makenna Herbst finished first in St Francis Sabrina Zanetto was third in Santiago-Corona won the girls in a meet-record St Francis took third in San Ramon Valley s Kaleb Pleis finished fourth in the boys long jump in - Santa Margarita s Leo Francis won in - Clovis North s McKay Madsen easily won the boys discus in - Nobody else cleared - Woodside s Evan Usher took fifth in - and San Mateo s Emmanuel Fitzgerald was sixth in - Madsen also won the boys shot put in - Serra s Luke Lewis took third in - and Woodside s Evan Usher was fifth in -