The leading potential returnee to the state meet has to be Shafter's Ana Jelmini who is the defending state champ in the shot and the discus. this Arizona State bound senior recently broke the national record in the discus and moved to number two all-time in the shot.Alex Collatz (Stockdale 10) came in fourth in the discus and this year hope to make it in both throws and the triple jump.
Johnny Carter (Ridgeview 10) came on strong in the final meets of the season and won the triple jump last year as a freshman! Since then he has grown a lot physically (I did not recognize him from last year when the season started) and has been battling injuries. But he made it to valley and one should never count him out.
On the track, Kern County only has one potential finalist returning. Chris Schwartz (Foothill 12) had a front row seat to one of the most impressive doubles in high school distance running when German Fernandez broke the national record in the 3200 and ran 4:00.29 in the 1600 earlier in the meet. The CalPoly SLO bound Schwartz came in second and ran a PR of 8:58 in the 3200.
In the horizontal jumps, Washington State bound Alana Alexander (Centennial 12) surprised many by making the finals in both jumps.
