Golden Valley High senior wins section high jump championship, headed to CIF State Meet

Golden Valley High School senior Delbert Davis picked a good day to be at his best.

Davis won the high jump competition at the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Track & Field Championships at Davis High School by clearing a person best height of 6 feet, 7 inches. The Cougars senior qualified for the CIF State Championships next week at Buchanan High School in Clovis.

Davis also turned in a person best mark in the triple jump with a mark of 45-1.

The top three finishers in each event and those who hit automatic qualifying marks advance to the state meet which will be held Friday and Saturday.

Joining Davis at the state meet will be Merced High senior Cristian Castro, who finished third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.09 seconds.

Castro missed out on an opportunity to advance to the state meet last year when he pulled a hamstring during a preliminary race at the Masters Meet.

Castro also finished fifth in the 400 with a time of 49.21.

Bears teammates Donovan Marshall and Jalonn Booth both just missed qualifying for state with fourth-place finishes in the 300-hurdles and shot put, respectively.

Marshall crossed the finish line with a time of 38.76 seconds. Booth turned in a person best mark in the shot put with a toss of 50 feet, 2 inches.

Both Marshall and Booth are juniors and will get another shot next year.

There were other impressive performances from Merced County athletes.

Atwater sophomore Seneca Ybarra had an impressive sixth-place finish in the 300 hurdles with a time of 40.43 seconds. Ybarra was the only sophomore in the 300 hurdles finals.

Hilmar High senior Derek Taylor finished fifth in the high jump with a leap of 6-3.

Golden Valley senior Amyra Navarrette placed fifth in the discus with a throw of 119-2.

Merced junior Elsa Van Dyke finished fifth in the triple jump with a mark of 37-3, which was a personal best.