A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
That’s what the CIF State Track and Field Championships represent for most athletes.
On Saturday, May 23, at Folsom High School, plenty of San Joaquin County boys entered the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters finals with that dream.
Only 14 left with it.
The top three in each event earned automatic qualification to the 106th CIF State Track and Field Championships, and because none of the remaining marks cleared the at-large standard, San Joaquin County’s state qualifiers stopped there.
For 13 of them, it’ll be a first trip to Buchanan.
So who’s going? Who won? And how did they do it?
Here’s the list of boys state qualifiers from the SJS Masters finals.
Champion
400m — Antwone Beattie, Edison, 47.04
For a while, winning in the 400 meters became routine. Edison freshman Antwone Beattie opened his varsity career with eight straight victories before finally meeting his match at the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III Championships trials and the Sac-Joaquin Section Finals (All Divisions)/Masters trials. Still, third- and second-place finishes were enough to send Beattie to Masters, where he delivered a personal best, adding another milestone to a breakout freshman season that already includes Stockton Unified School District Freshman of the Year honors and an NCAA Division I football offer from Oregon State.
4×400 Relay — Edison, 3:16.33
The baton kept moving. So did Edison’s winning streak. Travis Gresham, Ricardo Guzman, Jayden Nash and Antwone Beattie once again refused to let the 4×400 relay end any differently, staying unbeaten while delivering the school’s fastest time of the season.
Long Jump — Apollo Flores, Kimball, 22-11.00
It wasn’t a straight path to the top for Apollo Flores. The Kimball senior opened the season with an eighth-place finish, then steadily climbed — winning the TCAL championships, taking second at the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I Championships trials and third at the Sac-Joaquin Section Finals (All Divisions)/Masters trials, where he hit a personal best. Not every journey is smooth, but Flores made sure this one ended the right way.
Runner-up
200m — Antwone Beattie, Edison, 21.38
Not one. Not two. Try three. Edison freshman Antwone Beattie added a third state berth in the 200 meters, doing it with a personal best. For everyone else keeping score, yes — he’s still just a freshman.
400m — Blama Kamara, Sierra, 47.40
Seven straight wins? Nice. A personal best when the pressure peaks? Maybe even better. Sierra junior Blama Kamara saw his first-place streak end, but answered with a personal best that showed exactly what he’s made of when the lights come on.
110m Hurdles — William Brown, Manteca, 14.38
Sometimes the clock says everything was done right, and the result still doesn’t go the right way. Manteca junior William Brown delivered a personal best but fell short. No matter — after finishing outside the top five a year ago, Brown is now headed to his first state meet.
300m Hurdles — William Brown, Manteca, 38.24
Different event, same story. Another personal best didn’t bring first place, but it did send Brown to state in not one, but two events.
Shot Put — Eri Rubio, Oakdale, 51-06.25
By his standards, this wasn’t even close to Eri Rubio’s best. The Oakdale senior had thrown farther in six of his previous eight meets, yet still did enough to advance — a telling sign of just how dangerous he can be when everything clicks.
Discus — Victor Manuel Hernandez, Lodi, 161-06
The bigger the stage, the better Victor Manuel Hernandez seems to perform. One year after finishing 13th, the Lodi senior responded with a personal best, adding another big-moment performance to a season in which his only first-place finishes came at the Sacramento Meet of Champions and the Sac-Joaquin Section Finals (All Divisions)/Masters trials.
Third Place
100m — Jackson Fay, East Union, 10.79
One of a kind might be underselling it. Jackson Fay is headed to UC Davis for football, but the East Union senior built the kind of resume that suggests he could have played just about anywhere. Football, basketball, baseball, track — Fay left his mark everywhere, helping deliver East Union’s first section football title appearance since 1989, first basketball semifinal since 1999 and first baseball semifinal since 2011. Now, he can add state qualifier
800m — Riley Gier, Lathrop, 1:52.02
Personal best one week. New personal best the next. Lathrop’s Riley Gier kept climbing after winning the Sac-Joaquin Section Finals (All Divisions)/Masters trials in 1:52.59, then topped himself again.
3200m — Andres Lomeli, Kimball, 9:05.76
State? Andres Lomeli is becoming a regular. The Kimball senior followed a runner-up finish at the 2025 CIF State Cross Country Championships Division III race — a year after placing seventh — by earning a second straight trip to the state championships in the 3,200 meters, where he finished 12th last season.
300m Hurdles — Jayden Nash, Edison, 38.86
Talk about timing. Edison senior Jayden Nash had not run under 40.52 all season, then absolutely smashed that mark when it mattered most.
High Jump — Yuvraj Balagan, Kimball, 6-04.00
At 6-foot-2, Yuvraj Balagan was built to get off the ground. It’s one of many reasons the Kimball senior will continue his football career at Diablo Valley College.
Triple Jump — Dylan Wilson, Edison, 45-08.25
Ten first-place finishes. That tells the story. Dylan Wilson already uncorked his personal best a week earlier at the Sac-Joaquin Section Finals (All Divisions)/Masters trials, so the Edison junior didn’t need fireworks this time — just another day doing what he’s done all season.
This article originally appeared on The Record: San Joaquin County sends 14 boys to CIF State track championships
Reporting by Dylan Ackermann, The Stockton Record / The Record
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
