Five local athletes advanced to Friday’s Central Coast Section Track and Field Championships from Saturday’s Semifinals at Gilroy High.
Aptos High’s Danner Pardue, Bella Dufek and Alex Austen, Watsonville High’s Daniela Salazar and Monte Vista Christian’s Delaney Ezeji-Okoye will all return to Gilroy High in hopes of earning a spot on the podium and advancing to the California Interscholastic Federation State Meet in Clovis.
Pardue, a senior, advanced in both 100- and 200-meters. He took second in his heat for both races, finishing the 100 in 11.05 seconds and the 200 in 22.51.
Dufek advanced to the CCS Championships for the fourth straight season in the high jump. The senior cleared 5 feet, 2 inches to extend her season.
Austen, a junior competing in CCS for the first time, was the surprise of the day in the discus. He added nearly six feet to his personal best with a toss of 143-2 to set the fifth-best mark of the day.
Salazar took third in her heat of the 800, which included CIF State Meet finalist Mari Friedman of Santa Cruz High, to advance. The school record holder in the event finished up the two-lap race in 2:19.71.
Ezeji-Okoye, meanwhile, flew into Friday’s CCS Championships in the pole vault. The freshman cleared 10-6, which was the same mark she hit to win the Monterey Bay League Pacific division championship two weeks before.
