Wolf trackandx-country: WHS Track State Meet History

1927: Charles Leathers set a new state record in the javelin with a toss of 175'3".  The event is no longer contested. Dudley Stephens finished 2nd in the Discus behind Fred Steiner of Chaffey High School and his 135'9" winning throw. 

1929: Dudley Stephens won the discus with a toss of 134'7".

1934: Floyd Millsap placed second and third respectively in the 100 and 220 yard dashes . Floyd's time in the 100 was 9.9 seconds.

1955: Mike Baxter placed fourth in both the 12 and 16 pound shot put competition.

1956: Jack Yerman placed third in the 440 yard dash at Chico. Jack's time was 47.8 as the first three finishers all broke the National High School Record. Jack continued his track career at U.C. Berkeley. He won the OLympic Trials 400 in 1960 with a time of 46.2 and was a member of the Gold Medal 4 x 400 Meter Realay team in the Rome Olympics.

1957: Manuel Contreras competed in the state meet as a sophomore and hunior. He placed fourth in teh high hurdles his junior year. Hitting a hurdle in the section meet his senior year eliminated him from another state meet.

1958: Louie Fisher placed sixth in the state meet in the shot put with a mark of 50'3".

1970: Jack Looney competed in the 880 yard run. He finished fourth in his heat and missed qualifying for the finals by a tenth of a second!

1976: Geri Diaz competed in the discus. She was the first Woodland representative in the girl's division.

1979: Kim Keeton, the first ever Woodland girl to make it to the state meet finals placed 9th in the finals of the 880. The Relay team of Sandi Riley, Carmen Ketcham, Laurie Tibbs and Kim Keeton missed qualifying for the finals by two places at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento.

1980: Kim Keeton and Jennifer "Jiffy" Jacobsen both qualified for the state meet held in Berkeley. Kim competed in the 880 and Jennifer in the high jump. Both barely missed the finals.

1983: Renee Perez placed second in the 3200 meter run in a time of 9:04.0 in Bakersfield.

1986: Lane Polete qualified in the pole vault as a junior and did not make it to the finals.

1987: Stephanie Rhoades qualified in the long jump as a junior. The meet was held at Cerritos Junior College, which has become a frequent home for the state meet.

1988: Stephanie Rhoades and Julianne "J.C." Broughton both qualified for the state meet. They, along with Kim Shepard, led the Woodland Girls Team to a Section championship. Stephanie qualified in the long and triple jump, and made the finals in the triple jump, and placed 8th. Julianne qualified in all three jumps (long, triple, high) but did not qualify for the finals.

1989: J.C. Broughton qualified in all three jumps. She placed 2nd in the high jump with a leap of 5' 11". Earlier in the season she jumped 6' 2 1/4" which led the nation in 1989 and placed her 3rd in the All Time High School Girls list. Competing for the University of Arizona, she jumped 6'4 1/4" which ranked 10th on the U.S. all time list.

1990: Jason Jaques, son of legendary Wolf Track and Field and Football coach, Armand Jaques, qualified for the state meet in the 300 meter intermediate hurdles, but did not make the finals.

1991: P. J. Chadwick qualified for the state meet in the pole vault, placing 3rd at 15'2". He went on to place 3rd at the Golden West Meet and 7th at Nationals. Griffin Childers, a junior, qualified for the state meet by winning the section meet at 6'8", but failed to qualify for the finals, getting aced out by misses at lower heights.

1992: Griffin Childers won the state meet high jump with a leap of 6'11", becoming the first Woodland state champion since Dudley Stephens in the discus event of 1929. Childers was the only jumper to make this height, a personal best by one inch. Juniors Kami Radke, Sara Garcia, Andrea Cogbill, and sophomore Kirsti Radke qualified for the state meet in the 1600 meter relay but did not make the finals. Sara Garcia also qualified in the 300 meter low hurdles, but did not make the finals.

 1993: Sara Garcia qualified for the finals in the 300 meter low hurdles but did not get a chance to run in the finals as rain caused the meet to be cancelled. The finals were rescheduled several weeks later, but due to extenuating circumstances, Sara chose not to attend, as did many other athletes. Bevan Brian qualified for the meet in the 800 meters as did the firls' mile relay team of Kami Radke, Sara Garcia, Andrea Cogvill, and Kirsti Radke, but they did not make it to the finals.

1994: Jorge Santoscoy broke a 24 year old WHS 800 (880) record in the trials to advance to the state meet finals in a time of 1:53.55. He finished seventh in the finals. He and Bevan Brian qualified for the state meet by finishing second and third respectively at the Sac Joaquin Section Championships (now the Masters meet). Brian did not qualify for the finals. Zach Wirth qualified for this meet in the shot put, after breaking the school discus record earlier in the year. He also did not make the finals.

1995: Marisela Rooney qualified for the state meet in teh shot put as a junior, but did not make the finals.

1996: Marisela again qualified for the state meet, as well as Chris Blakes in the shot put, sophomore Sarah Brown in the 300 hurdles, and the girls 1600 meter relay team of Brown, Beth Garcia, Nicole Johnsen, and Corrine Kirkbride. No member of this group made the finals.

1997:  Sarah Brown again qualified for the state meet in the 300  hurdles as well as freshman Jill Camarena in the shot put. Jill was the first freshman to ever qualify for the state meet in an individual event. Neither athlete made it to finals.

1998:  Five athletes qualified in six events at the state meet this year. Jill Camarena (sophomore) qualified in both the shot and the discus. Ed Wangler (senior) and Katie McKeever (Freshman) in the discus, Sarah Brown (senior) in the 300 hurdles, and Katie Scarlett (sophomore) in the 800 meters. Camarena qualified for the final in the discus and placed 6th with a toss of 144'7". Wangler placed 6th also with a toss of 178'4". Katie Scarlett, after destroying the school record with a three second PR, running a 2:12.81, placed 5th with a time of 2:12.84. This year was the first time that more thano one athlete qualified for the state finals, and three of them received medals.

1999: Katie Scarlett qualified for the state meet in the 800 held at Hughes Stadium. Jill Camarena and Katie McKeever made it in both the throw events. After putting the shot 50'11" (11th best all-time throw in the U.S.) in the trials, Jill won the event with a put of 48'6". She placed second in the discus at 153'0". Junior Katie Scarlett placed 3rd in her race final in a time of 2:11.36 (a new school record). Katie McKeever did not make the finals in her events. As a girls team, Woodland placed 4th which stands as the highest team finish at the state championships.

2000: 6 athletes (4 ladies and 2 men) traveled to Cerritos College in Norwalk to show the south state some of the best combined Woodland track and field performances of all time. On the men's side, Rob Rathbun coached throwers came into their form as John Newell recorded a 57'3.5" prelim mark in the shot put and finished 6th place in the finals of the 12 pound ball with a mark of 58'1". Senior teammate Drew Tombleson gained a lifetime PR in the prelims to finish 14th with a mark of 54'4". For the ladies, McKeever and Camarena came back in the shot and Jill also repeated in the discus. Jill's 156'3" prelims leading mark was followed in the finals with a final measurment of 151'1" to give her the state title in the platter. In the shot McKeever fetched 9th place in the prelims with a 43'.75" mark and Jill found 48'6.25" in the trials and finished her storied high school CIF career with a 48'1.25" shot put 3rd place finish. Jill would later go and gain an Olympic berth in 2008 in the shot put and come home as USA's #1 finisher from the Chinese games. Junior Ali Fisher would set a school record in the pole vault finishing 11th at 10'8" while Katie Scarlett, hampered by injury, finished her CIF competition with a 7th place prelims run at 2:18.74FAT. Newell, McKeever, Scarlett and Camarena would continue finding succes in their respective college scholarship tours in the NCAA.

2001: June 1st and 2nd saw 3 lady Wolves make the state meet in 4 events. Senior school record holder Ali Fisher cleared 10'8" to complete her senior season for coach Mark Jones. This would be coach Jones' final state meet qualifier in a "storied" career as head coach and producer of many high jump and pole vault champs. Ali did not make finals as she was tied for 20th place at the Hughes Stadium, Sacramento venue. Having set the school record at the Arcadia Invitational and winning the night meet Sacramento Meet of Champions 3200, junior Laura Muller ran in her first track and field state meet and crossed the finish in her third sub 11:00 3200 with a 10:57.03 11th place finish. Senior Katie McKeever, who had earned the school record in the discus earlier in the year, qualified in both the shot put and discus. Although her prelims mark of 43'6.25" was better than her final put of 42' 4.5" Katie earned 7th and showed continued Woodland dominance in the throws. In a highly contested Discus event, McKeever left the prelims with a 159' top effort which she beat in the finals as she nearly eclipsed her own school record with a 161'.5" measurement to finish 3rd in the state. 13 inches seperated 1st -3rd in the final results!! Katie went on to Oregon and LSU and competed in the NCAAs.

2002: Two athletes made the journey with Coach Rathbun to Cerritos College representing Woodland in the throws. Sophomore sensation Aaron Tombleson qualified in the boys shot put and finished with a 52'9" effort for 16th place on Friday's prelim competition.  Senior, Maureen Pacheco qualified in the shot put and put the shot 43'10" to get the 8th out of 9 qualifying spots for finals. In the finals on June 1st, Maureen completed her career with a 43' 10" improvement from the prelims earning her 7th place in her first state meet visit.

2003: Kisha Fontenot completed her high school career with a 5'6" 5th place effort netting her much "earned" time on the podium to receive her CIF medal. Although it was her first state championships, Kisha had been a large performer for the Wolves in the jumps, short hurdles and short and long sprints. Indeed, she went on to gain national attention in both junior college and her university competition. Junior Aaron Tombleson returned for his second visit in the shot put and earned a 12th place finish in the prelims with his 55'.25" heave. Senior, Maria Hew-Len also finally found a trip to the state's most sacred meeting to find a 19th place finish in the shot put with a prelims put of 39'4" for her June 6th performance. Neither thrower made the finals. In the women's 1600 with only a week's recovery from her stratospheric effort in running 5:05.23 at the Masters Meet back at UC Davis, junior Mariya Townswick still ran her #3 time effort with an 11th place 5:14.39 effort in the first prelim race.  Mariya, who represented Woodland in three state championships (two in cross country) would transfer to Texas with her family for her senior year and then go on to run for the University of Texas track and field team.  

2004: How does an era end? Perhaps when some of the greatest coaches of a decade move on and leave a program blessed by having shared their talents the sad knowledge that their absence will greatly affect its future produces a somber cloud of reflection. With Head Coaches Paul Hanks and Rob Rathbun completing their final season with Woodland Track and Field team in 2004 there was an air of melancholy in knowing that the 14 consecutive state meet run would see one more year of athletes in the meet before going into at least a 3 year drought. And to signal this final season it would be poetic and fitting that the school's greatest throws coach Rob Rathbun would find 3 of his athletes into the state finals in 4 throwing events. Junior

Joey Baer who would return in 2005 as Coach Rathbun's final state meet competitior found the experience taxing in the prelims and fouled on all three puts. Senior school record holder in the shot and discus, Aaron Tombleson would join younger brother Alan in the Discus. Alan would find himself in three time foul trouble like Baer in the shot to finish 25th in his first state meet. Alan had produced a "monster" toss at the Master's meet a week earlier to net a lifetime PR of 161'11".  Aaron, a favorite for top three finishes in both the shot and disc would suffer a 60% shoulder "rotator" tear and had to be "pulled" from the discus competition before recording a single platter mark. Despite his serious injury Aaron went on to extend his own school record in a "clutch" put and grab 3rd place for Coach Rathbun with a 60'8.75" final career mark. Drew, Aaron and Alan all represented the Tombleson family in the state meet!! Aaron and Alan now serve our country in the armed forces while Drew coaches throws at Pioneer High School. Coach Rathbun continues to coach state champion level throwers while teaching and coaching track and football in Boise, Idaho with his wife and three sons.

2005: The last of Coach Rathbun's amazing run of throwers was actually coached by Aaron Tombleson for most of the 2005 season while coach Rathbun oversaw the workout design. With a best put of 59'5" at the West Valley Chico Invitational, Joey reached the finals in the shot put at the state championships. Joey also hit a personal best in the discus at the section championships at American River College with a massive 176'10" heave!! Joey now coaches at Woodland in both track and football. Alex Fernandez found her best pole vault clearance at the section championships as well at 11'9" which is our school record. Ms. Fernandez did not make finals in this, her junior year. She did not compete in track her senior year in order to focus on volleyball.

2010: Who? How many? What events? Will this be YOU making history?? 

Check out this Summary of when the STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS Came to WOODLAND HIGH SCHOOL!! 

1973 - WOODLAND HILL SCHOOL; FRI-SAT, JUNE 1-2

The 55th State Meet returned to Northern California for the second straight year.

Woodland, a small town 20 miles west of Sacramento, was the location.  Once again

the possibility of high mid-day temperatures was of concern to Meet officials.  As

a precaution, the two mile was scheduled for 7:25 on Friday evening and plans made

to run the mile final early on Saturday morning if high temperatures prevailed.  An

almost-new event, the triple jump, was added to the roster of scoring events

increasing them to 16.  The events contested were the 100, 220, 440, 880, Mile,

2-Mile, HH, LH, 440 Relay, Mile Relay, SP, Discus, PV, HJ, LJ, and TJ.

Two defending champs from 1972 were returning, Curtis Beck of Santa Monica, Meet

record holder in the two mile, and Mike Shavers of Albany in the 220.  Shavers had

also finished second in the 100 in 1972.  His presence plus the return of Mike

Farmer of Wilson, SF and Millard Hampton of Silver Creek, SJ, third and fourth last

year, inicated that the 100 would be one of the feature races of the Meet.  Dave

Taylor of Merced, runnerup to Beck in the two mile, was also returning.  Jerry

Herndon of Cajon in the long jump (2nd) and Dave Hickson of Leland, 4th last year

but currently the National leader in the discus at 195-4, were the leading field

returnees.  Albany and Wilson, SF were the top pre-Meet candidates for the team

title.

STATE MEET RECORDS

Three Meet records were broken and a fourth tied.  The 440 relay team of Wilson, SF

ran 41.0 in the prelims to break the old mark of 41.1 held by El Cerrito.  The

Wilson team consisted of Mike Farmer, Ron Whitaker, Mike Kirtman, and Duane Walker.

Tom Andrews of West, Bakersfield tied the existing high hurdle recond of 13.6 in a

heat.  Willie Banks of Oceanside established a Meet record in the triple jump by

leaping 49-1 in the prelims.  He also won the final with a wind-aided 49-7 1/4.

The only previous time that the triple jump was a scoring event in the State Meet

was in 1939 when Jack Laughner of Wilson, Long Beach had won with 44-8 1/2.

Tim Curran of Crespi vaulted 16-2 3/4 to add 2 3/4" to the Meet record set by Steve

Smith in 1969.  The final record to be broken was in the shot put where Jim Neidhart

of Newport Harbor threw 67-3 1/4.  He broke Mark Stevens' record by one inch.

     440 Relay         Wilson, SF                                 41.0

                       (old 41.1, El Cerrito, 1971)

     Shot Put          Jim Neidhart (Newport Harbor)              67-3 1/4

                       (old 67-2 1/4, Stevens, 1971)

     Pole Vault        Tim Curran (Crespi, Encino)                16-2 3/4

                       (old 16-0, Smith, 1969)

     High Hurdles      Tom Andrews (West, Bakersfield)            13.6

                       (ties old, Jackson, 1971 and Jones, 1972)

     Triple Jump       Willie Banks (Oceanside)                   49-1

                       (not contested as a scoring event

                          since 1939)

HIGHLIGHTS

For the first time since 1968 there was no double winner.  Clancy Edwards of Santa

Ana came close as he won the 220 in 21.2 and finished second in the 100 in a photo

finish.  Elijah Jefferson, a sophomore from Crawford of San Diego, won the 100 with

Edwards 2nd and Ray Clark of Ells, Richmond 3rd.  All three were timed in a

wind-aided 9.6.  Millard Hampton of Silver Creek took second in the 220 at 21.5 and

fifth in the 100 in 9.7  Mike Shavers of Albany (1st in the 220 and 2nd in the 100

in 1972) went unplaced in the 100 final and failed even to qualify for the finals

of the 220.  Mike Farmer, 3rd in the 100 last year, did not place in the finals.

Randall Jeffrey of Los Angeles won the low hurdles in 18.4 and placed third in the

highs at 13.8.  Mike Johnson of Pasadena won the highs in a wind-aided 13.6, with

Carl Florant of Palo Alto second at 13.7.  Runnerup in the lows was Fred Shaw of

Muir in 18.7.  Ron Whitaker of Wilson, SF won the 440 with a fine 47.0  Second

place, far back, was Tom Andrews of West, Bakersfield in 48.3  Andrews also took

5th in the highs at 14.0.  Randy Lopez of Alhambra won the 880 in 1:52.4, the

slowest winning time since 1961.  The mile was run as originally planned in the

afternoon, and Alvin Gilmore of Lompoc won an exciting race in 4:11.4.  Steve

Crowley of Gunn, Palo Alto just nipped Bob O'Brien of Bellfower for second with

both timed in 4:11.9.  Terry Williams easily won the two mile in 8:54.8.  Second

place went to Dave Taylor of Merced in 9:00.2.  Steve Martin of Davis, Modesto was

third at 9:02.1 with last year's winner, Curtis Beck of Santa Monica, fourth at

9:02.8.

Jim Neidhart of Newport Harbor won the record shot put at 67-3 1/4.  Second was

Dave Doupe of Inglewood at 65-11 1/2 and third was Lonnie Shelton of Foothill,

Bakersfield at 65-2.  Shelton also won the discus with a fine throw of 195-5.  Ray

Burton of Vacaville was second at 188-10.  Jerry Herndon of Cajon won the long jump

with a wind-aided leap of 25-4 1/2.  Second was Ted Hammond of Compton with a windy

25-4 1/4!  Tim Curran of Crespi won the pole vault at 16-2 3/4, 20 3/4" above the

14-6 of second place Scott Turner of Del Mar, San Jose.  Randy Turner of Wilson, SF

won the high jump at 6-6.  Wilson, SF also won the 440 relay final in 41.5 with

Edison, Fresno second at 41.6.  The mile relay went to Cordova in 3:17.4.  Muir

took second in 3:18.0.

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP  (Meet scored 6-4-3-2-1)

Wilson of San Francisco won the team championship with 20 points.  They were led by

Ron Whitaker who won the 440 and ran on the 440 and mile relay teams which finished

first and fourth.  Wilson's team victory marked the second straight by a Northern

team and the third in the last four years.  Lompoc with victories in the mile and

two mile finished second with 12 points.  Los Angeles behind Randall Jeffery and his

9 points took third at 11.  Santa Ana finished 4th with Clancy Edwards scoring all

10 points and 5th went to Foothill of Bakersfiled with Lonnie Shelton scoring all 9

points.

     Wilson, SF            20 pts.      6-1st in 440 relay

                                        2-4th in mile relay

                                        6-Whitaker, 1st in 440

                                        6-Turner, 1st in HJ

     Lompoc                12           6-Gilmore, 1st in Mile

                                        6-Williams, 1st in Two Mile

     Los Angeles           11           9-Jeffery, 1st in HH, 3rd in HH

                                        2-Mosby, 4th in LH