Sierra hurdler Bikram Thiara scheduled his workouts for the morning to avoid the heat this week.
Lathrop high jumper Isaias Hunter continues to practice in the afternoon but is keeping it “relaxed” and “simple” to keep his body fresh.
The two juniors are the area’s remaining athletes for the 2015-16 school year, and on Friday they’ll head to Clovis for the 98th annual CIF State Track & Field Championships at Buchanan High’s Veterans Memorial Stadium. With temperatures forecasted to be between 105-110 degrees on both days of the meet — the finals are on Saturday — the CIF moved start times back for most events.
The high jump competition will begin at 8 p.m., while heat races for the 300-meter hurdles start at 9:35. Hunter, the first from Lathrop High to qualify for the state meet, isn’t fazed by the sultry weather ahead.
“We are out here practicing in the same heat,” he said.
He’s hoping to stay hot, figuratively, after his groundbreaking effort at the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters meet last Friday. In four jumps, he matched his previous personal record of 6 feet, 6 inches, hit 6-7 on his next attempt and cleared 6-8 on his second try en route to a second-place finish.
“It’s a rush,” Hunter said. “After you hit that first one you want to get out there and jump again. Adrenaline was pumping through my body.”
He is seeded third for the high jump preliminaries on Friday. The opening height is set at 6-4.
Elijah Hughes of J.W. North (Riverside) and SJS champion Isaiah Holmes of Oakmont (Roseville) are the top two seeds with 7-1 marks from section meets. Three others have also eclipsed 7-foot jumps this season.
The top 12 from the preliminary flight move onto Saturday’s finals, and the top six finalists of every event earn medals.
“There are so many good jumpers I’m be going up against and I’m hoping they’ll push me,” Hunter said. “I don’t want to get into my head that it’s a big meet or have that nervous feeling. I know it’s not like a usual meet because it’s the state meet, but I’m probably taking it more lightly than I should be.”
Thiara will be Sierra’s first hurdler to make an appearance at the state meet. He set a school record for the 300 hurdles at Masters with his third-place time of 38.09 seconds, which has him seeded ninth for the trials. La Quinta’s Koty Burton is the favorite with the top-seeded time of 37.00, but his season best of 36.92 has him ranked No. 10 nationally. SJS 300 hurdles champion MacLean Conner of Pleasant Grove is the No. 2 seed and ranked 13th in the country.
The three heat winners along with the competitors with the next six best times advance to the finals.
