Sports
Murrieta Track and Field Athletes Show Off at State Meet
All three Murrieta public high schools had entrants at the annual meet held in Clovis. Many came home with medals. One will always be able to say, "I was a State Champion!"
The preliminary rounds of competition were made more difficult because of the intense heat on Friday at Buchanan High School, near Fresno. The day’s high peaked at 5 p.m., registering 104 degrees, one degree off the record set in 1910.
Saturday’s finals cooled enough to allow the athletes some sense of relief. The high hit 96 degrees at 4 p.m.
As the finals drew to a close Saturday evening, it would be Murrieta Valley senior Peter Chapman who would earn a spot on the top tier of the medal podium and be crowned the CIF state boys pole vault champion for 2012.
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The California State Meet stands out in the country as a place where young talent is on display. The number of high schools that feed entrants to the competition dwarfs that of nearly every state in the nation. Performing well on this stage speaks volumes about the talent.
Peter’s winning vault of 16’-4” tied him with the second-place finisher, Connor Stark of Oak Park High School. Peter was awarded first place by virtue of his having cleared the previous height on his second attempt while Connor cleared it on his third attempt.
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Of special note is the fact that Peter becomes the Nighthawks first track and field state champion in the history of the school.
That is no small feat for the school, as its program has produced numerous outstanding athletes going back to 1999.
Other 2012 Murrieta finalists, their places and times/marks included Vista Murrieta athletes:
Girls 4x100 Relay (5th place; 47.27) Laura Stokes 12, Dahni-Symone Shakir 10, Michelle Norman 10, Jasmyne Graham 9
Boys 4x400 Meter Relay (5th place; 3:19.60) Kyle Garner 11, Deandre Brooks 11, Larry Parish 12, Kevin Gonzalez 12
Girls 1600 Meter Run - Erika Reddish 12 (4th place; 4:50.81)
Girls 100 Meter Hurdles - Jasmyne Graham 9 (5th place; 13.98)
Boys 110 Meter Hurdles - Darion Williams 12 (6th place; 14.43)
Boys 800 Meter Run - Kevin Gonzalez 12 (6th place; 1:53.49)
Boys Shot Put - Corey Whitaker 12 (6th place; 60’-1”)
Craig Mauldin of Murrieta Mesa made school history by being the first track and field athlete to advance to the state meet. Craig’s quest for a medal did not go further than Friday’s preliminary round of jumps, though, where he finished 15th with a respectable leap of 45 feet 4.25 inches.
In Friday’s preliminary round, nine pole vaulters cleared 15’-6”.
“Peter did very well”,” said his father and vaulting coach, Charles Chapman. He was one of only two vaulters with first-attempt clearances at 15’-0” and 15’-6”, the other being Luigi Colella of Westlake High School. (Luigi would go on to finish eighth in the finals field of nine.)
In 2011, Peter vaulted 15’-10” at the state meet. At Saturday’s finals, he vaulted 16’-4”, clearing that height on his third attempt.
Peter told Patch at Murrieta Valley’s graduation Wednesday that he hoped he could reach 17’-0” at the meet, surpassing the 16’-6.5” height he reached at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational in early April.
“The extreme heat we had on Friday got you a bit more tired during warmups and staying hydrated was the toughest part,” said Peter.
“I felt I had one of the best performances going into the finals,” Peter said of his Friday preliminary effort.
Peter will compete next year for the University of South Dakota.
Speaking about the heat, Erika Reddish told Patch that Friday’s heat took a lot out of her and her fellow 1600 meter racers. “I wasn’t able to get my PR (personal record) but I’m amazed that I finished fourth and had the same time as last year’s state meet when I finished ninth.”
Overall Erika said she was happy with her performance.
Steve Chavez, Peter’s cross country coach at Murrieta Valley in 2008 and currently a teacher at Murrieta Mesa, counseled the then-freshman Peter Chapman prior to the 2009 track and field season to reconsider his decision to no longer run distance races but to compete in the pole vault.
“I knew that his dad was a pole vaulter,” Chavez told Patch by telephone Sunday, “and seeing this rail thin, no-muscle-tone skinny little kid, I don’t think pole vaulting is the right thing for you,” he told Peter.
Chavez was quite pleased to hear of Peter’s success. “[Earning the state championship] is such a testament to his character and hard work and the work his dad has put in with him,” said Chavez.
As teams, Vista Murrieta girls finished tied for 13th place, the CIF-Southern Section Champion Bronco boys finished tied for 6th place, and the Murrieta Valley boys finished tied for 16th place.
