Xavier Prep's Malia Strange won a trio of events at the Desert Empire League track and field finals last month, and on Saturday she won CIF championships in two of those events. In doing so, the freshman became the Saints’ first CIF champion in track since her brother won a CIF title in 2016.
Strange won the triple jump and long jump in Division 4. Her distance in the long jump (18 feet and 3.25 inches) set a school record and her distance in the triple jump (39 feet and 1.75 inches) was also a personal best and two feet further than the runner-up.
She also won the girls' 100 meter hurdles at the DEL finals.
Strange's CIF finals finishes qualified her for the CIF-SS Masters event on Saturday at Moorpark High School in Simi Valley. Strange enters the meet ranked third in the CIF-SS in the triple jump and sixth in the long jump. The top six Masters finishers qualify for the CIF State meet on May 24-25 in Clovis.
If Strange doesn’t finish in the top six at the Masters meet, she could still reach the CIF State meet. Her jumps surpass the at-large qualifying standard in the triple jump, and she’s just off the mark to qualify for at-large in the long jump.
"Even if she doesn't meet the top six qualifying marks," Saints head coach Aron Lyons said, "she has a great shot at still making it."
Strange's older brother Jah won CIF titles in the triple jump and the long jump during his high school career. He later participated in track and field collegiately at Sacramento State, Purdue and Kansas State.
Others headed to CIF Masters
La Quinta: Talented Blackhawks star Kameron Hawkins, who set the DEL record in the long jump last month, qualified for the Masters meet in the same event. He had a leap of 45 feet, 4 inches at the CIF-SS Finals.
Shadow Hills: Competing in the CIF-SS Finals Division 3 meet last week, Victoria Hyatt medaled in the 300-meter hurdles with a fifth-place finish. Her time of 47.08 was a school record, and she is the seventh Shadow Hills athlete to ever place at the CIF finals.
Also for the Knights, Jaelyn McDermott finished seventh in the 300-meter hurdles and discus thrower Isabella Pimentel also finished seventh. Both were just one spot away from medaling.
The 4-by-40 relay team Dayanara Salazar, McDermott, Isabella Ortiz and Hyatt finished ninth.
Sports columnist Shad Powers contributed to this report.
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