In a season when six CIF San Diego Section records were broken, Carlsbad’s Morgan Herbst did one better in Saturday’s section track and field championships at Mt. Carmel High School.
Competing just 30 minutes after her sister, Makenna, lowered her own section record in the 800-meter run, Morgan Herbst clocked a time of 39.95 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles, breaking the state record of 40.10 set by Long Beach Wilson’s Ebony Collins in 2001.
The 39.95 is No. 3 all-time in the country behind Olympic star Sydney McLaughlin (38.90) of Union Catholic High School in New Jersey and Jasmine Robinson (39.81) of North Cobb High School in Georgia.
Herbst said goal all season has been to break 40 seconds.
“I want more, I have more,” said the University of Arkansas-bound senior who has two more races next weekend at the state meet in Clovis. “It wasn’t my cleanest race, so I’m going to work on that.”
Morgan Herbst took it out fast, but San Diego High’s Anisa Bowen-Fontenot made several surges to close the gap. Down the final straightaway, Herbst pulled away ever so slightly. Bowen-Fontenot improved her personal-best time to 40.71.
Meanwhile, on the infield urging her sister on was Makenna Herbst, who won the 800 in a personal best 2:03.30, erasing her section-record time of 2:04.72 set at the Meet of Champions.
It also is the best time nationally this season.
“I wanted a low 2:00,” said Makenna Herbst. “The wind hit me like a brick, but the crowd gave me more energy.
“When I went to state last year (where she finished second to Poway’s Tessa Buswell), it was trial and error, I really didn’t know what I was doing. Now I have the experience and I’m looking for that low 2:00.”
The twins’ final race in the section was in the 4×400 relay, where their team won with a time of 3:48.52.
As for Bowen-Fontenot, the 300-meter hurdle time had her dancing in the infield even though earlier in the meet she won the 100-meter hurdles in a meet record 13.38. Although that’s behind the 13.16 she ran at Arcadia to set the section record, it was faster than the 13.67 she ran in this meet a year ago.
“I was aggressive and hit a couple of hurdles or I could have run faster,” said Bowen-Fontenot, who will defend her state title.
Elsewhere, La Jolla’s Chiara Dailey, the state leader in the 1,600 and 3,200, swept both races. Eastlake’s Jaelyn Williams pushed her wire-to-wire in both races. Dailey clocked a 4:43.57 and 10:15.74 to Williams’ 4:44.71 and 10:16.39.
“I don’t care about my time,” said Dailey, a junior like Williams. “I just wanted to win.”
Williams, who battled hamstring injuries that sidelined her early, said she would decide on one of the two events and drop the other for state. She is the defending 3,200-meter champion.
Del Norte’s Paige Eschner won the pole vault in 13-5 but missed three tries at the Nighthawks’ school record of 14-1. She came back to qualify for state in the 300 hurdles at 43.10.
The meet got off to a sizzling start when the Steele Canyon girls rolled to victory in the 4×100 relay in 46.28, second in section history behind the venerable converted time of 45.94 set by Crawford in 1977.
That Cougars team of Evie Allison, Aniya Scott, Ily Barclay and Daylani Daniels will not graduate a single runner.
“We do a race-off to determine who the four runners will be; this is just our third meet with this group,” said Scott, a freshman who also placed second in the 100-meter dash in 11.75.
Del Norte downed defending champ Steele Canyon 174.5 to 148 in the team race.
