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State Finals

By Leah Etling
CERRITOS-Jenny Aldridge and Jordan Kinley of Maria Carrillo and Shelby Leland of Ukiah
earned medals at the state meet for finishing in the top six, but no events were won by Empire
athletes at Cerritos College Saturday.
Jenny Aldridge added a silver medal to the gold one she already has from the 1600, finishing
runner-up to Shannon Rowbury of Sacred Heart in a chaotic race.
Two runners fell to the track just past 800 meters and Aldridge, running behind them, had to
adapt her steeplechase technique to human obstacles, leaping over them.
“The field put a little gap on me after I had to jump over them,” Aldridge said. She made up the
distance, though, and with a lap and a half to go, was running in front of the pack with Rowbury.
“I thought if I didn’t put space on her she would outkick me,” Aldridge said. In fact, that was
what happened, as Rowbury, the 800 state champion last year, moved ahead of Aldridge to
win in 4:52.77.
Aldridge, who ran 4:55.94 said it was harder to come into the event as a favorite than merely a
participant, an advantage she had her sophomore year when she won.
“When I was a sophomore I was seeded fifth or sixth,” she said. “Going in as the national leader
was more difficult. As it turned out, I’m still the national leader (her time at NCS was two
seconds faster than Rowbury’s) but I think I’d rather have a state title.”
Nevertheless, Aldridge’s comeback from last season, when she didn’t make the state meet,
cheered her.
“I’m happy to be back on the victory stand,” she said. “I wanted to win, but life goes on.”
Aldridge and senior teammates Jordan Kinley and Jake Arnold made up the largest contingent
of Carrillo athletes to ever compete in the state track finals.
Kinley nearly broke the Empire record with his 4:13.67 performance for fifth place in the 1600.
He also finished fifth last year.
The record, which Kinley was going after, is 4:13.66, set by Dave Royal of Petaluma in 1979.
Kinley, headed for Brown University, said that he may consider post-season competition to
chase the record further.
“This year, I hadn’t had a great race,” he said. “I ran 4:15 two weekends in a row and I ran
4:16 at Arcata, but I hadn’t had a real breakthough.”
After battling the flu and still not feeling completely well Saturday, Kinley was relieved to improve
his time.
He has been challenged by the absence of close competition in most of his races in the North
Bay League for the last three years.
“It was nice the first year in league with Steve (Laurie, of Carrillo), Celedonio (Rodriguez, of
Elsie Allen) and Ryan (Mack, of Ukiah) to push me,” he said. “Since then it has been tough
finding good races in our area.”
For Carrillo senior Jake Arnold, a state meet finals appearance and the third best 300 IH
performance in the Empire ever in his qualifying race Friday night makes onlookers wonder
what might have happened if he’d taken up hurdling before this year.
He finished eighth in the 300 intermediate hurdles Saturday in 39.21, slightly off the 38.82
he ran Friday.
Carrillo coach Danny Aldridge speculated that Arnold could have gone a second faster with
more time to practice the event, but he’ll keep hurdling next year, when he wants to walk on
to the track team at the University of Arizona.
“I couldn’t be more proud of three great kids,” Aldridge said. “It’s a great way for all three
of them to go out in their senior year.
Saturday’s track meet may have been Jenny Aldridge’s last track meet in a Carrillo uniform,
but her season isn’t over yet. She plans to run the 1500 in a USATF Junior National track
meet at Stanford later this month and she and Kinley have been invited to the post-season
Golden West Invitational next weekend in Sacramento.
Aldridge especially hopes to do well at the USATF meet because she could qualify for the
World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica this July.
Shelby Leland of Ukiah represented the Wildcats as their only qualifier for state. Running the
3200, Leland, who was seeded No. 5, was separated from the top four runners after the mile
and finished in the fifth spot in 10:44.68.
“I just can’t believe I was here in the first place,” Leland said of her first trip to state for track.
Ukiah coach Jerry Drew said he expected one of the fast underclassmen in the North Bay
League would make a breakthrough to the top state level this year, but didn’t know who.
“We knew there was going to be one or two girls who broke away from the pack and moved
to the next level, but we never knew it was going to be Shelby,” Drew said.
Sophomore Phyllis Blanchard of Rancho Cotate had good reason to run fast in the 3200 –
not only was she trying to break 11 minutes, a barrier that has frustrated her this year – but
her team was leaving on a flight out of LAX at 8:30 p.m. Her race started at 6:25.
After running an 11:06.56 and finishing in the same place she was seeded, 16th, Blanchard
sprinted for the exit. She said a foot injury that has bothered her throughout the season was
feeling much better before the race, after she spent a week icing it.
Santa Rosa High track coach Doug Courtemarche didn’t have any athletes qualify for this
weekend’s meet, but he was selected as a CIF Honor Coach for this year by the Track and
Field Coaches Alliance.

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