Clara Adams, Monterey County’s all-time record holder in the 200- and 400-meter races, will transfer from North Salinas to Watsonville High for the upcoming 2025-26 school year.
The incoming junior will join the Wildcatz track and field team next year in the spring in hopes of setting more records.
“It’s just very new, something I have to get used to,” Adams said.
The former Vikings standout broke the record in the 400 in 53.23 seconds at the Central Coast Section Track and Field Championships at Gilroy High School on May 17. She then set the all-time best mark in the 200 in 23.42 following a first place finish at the West Coast National Championship at Hug High School in Sparks, Nev. on June 29.
Adams is now eyeing to break Santa Cruz County’s all-time marks of 24.43 and 54.60 in the 200 and 400, respectively, set by former Soquel High standout Maggie Vessey in 2000.
“Just want to make sure she loves becoming a Wildcat, and we will try to do everything possible to make sure she succeeds,” said Watsonville track and field coach Rob Cornett in a text message.
Adams is coming off a stellar sophomore season that included a bizarre ending after she was stripped of the 400 title at the California Interscholastic Federation State Track and Field Championships on May 31.
The record-setting track star won the race in 53.24 seconds, yet she was disqualified by CIF officials after she sprayed a quick blast from a fire extinguisher to mimic the feeling of her shoes being “on fire.”
“When it actually happened, it was ridiculous,” Adams said. “I guess I’m not over it, but I just don’t think about it any more.”
It was the same celebration American sprinter Maurice Greene did after winning the 100 at the 2004 Home Depot Invitational.
Adams and her father, David, are in motion to file a lawsuit against the CIF, which has yet to respond to the family along with several newspaper publications that have requested an official statement.
“We checked the CIF rule book, and just so you know, you can’t get an unsportsmanlike conduct without getting a warning,” David Adams said. “Clara never got that warning. That’s why they won’t make a statement.”
David Adams was recently hired to be Watsonville’s junior varsity football head coach on April 1, and in the spring he will join the track and field team as the sprints coach.
“I didn’t know if it was for real because it was on April Fool’s Day,” he said.
On July 17, he resigned from his track and field assistant coaching duties at North Salinas after he found out the head coach position he was aiming to land was posted on the EDJOIN website.
“They posted it without even notifying me,” David Adams said. “I didn’t know anything about it. I had to hear from other people, and that crushed me. It was my cue telling me it’s time to move on.”
David Adams said her daughter’s move to Watsonville wasn’t solely based on athletics, but he wanted to make sure the school has college prep courses for Adams, who currently owns a 3.88 grade point average.
So far, Adams received offer letters from the University of Miami, University of California- Los Angeles, Princeton University and the University of Utah.
She also signed a five-figure name, image and likeness (NIL) rights deal offered by former NFLer Adam Pacman Jones, who currently hosts the Politely Raw podcast.
“All this track hype doesn’t get to her head,” David Adams said. “She’s just a normal kid like any other kid. She just runs faster, that’s the only difference.”
In the meantime, Adams continues to stay busy on the track. She recently won the 200 in 24.34 at the California State Games at UC San Diego on July 19, and is on the hunt for some competition before putting on a black and gold uniform for Watsonville.
“It makes me feel good because I’d rather run for high school than do something else,” Adams said.
