I have never done any type of write-up on the All-Empire before and probably never will again but there were some interesting things about this year’s crop that made me want to add these notes.
Back when The Press Democrat use to publish the All-Empire I was the one who put it together for them and now that they have ceased doing it I don’t want the amazing accomplishments of these athletes to go without their well deserved honors so I’m keeping it going.
I’ll admit you can never come up with a perfect list for something like this but I still feel it is worth attempting.
One thing that is different this year is you will see three teams before the Honorable Mention group rather than the usual two.
As I was trying to divide them into two groups I found a group in the middle that just seemed a step above the others and a step below First Team members and felt for this year it was best to do it this way.
Michael Lucid supplied most of the photos you will see and I can’t thank him enough for all the time he put into this.
If I’m missing your photo or you have one you like better I’d be happy to add it in.
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Midway through the year it looked like the Girls AOY could be one of many. Gabby was blowing many people’s minds with how good she had become and others were looking really strong also. Carter started off blazing but then had some injury issues that only time would tell how well she would bounce back from. Ended up she didn’t bounce back but exploded back and made her one of the easiest picks in a long time.
She easily showed she is the best pure sprinter we have ever had but her versatility truly is amazing.
Jumps, throws, hurdles, distance you name it and you wouldn’t want her as a competitor if you were looking for an easy win.
The other individual event I would have loved to see her do was the triple jump.
Most jumpers double what they do in the long jump so she may have been able to land in the pit near the 38 feet mark.
I love the multi-events and always hoped to see her in one but maybe someday down the road.
Being the stats freak that I am I had to look at what might have been.
The women’s Heptathlon is seven events over two days.
Here is a rough look at Kirsten’s potential.
100m high hurdles.
This is one of the few events she never tried but I have to think she would be great. She is our 100m record holder at 11.78 and our 300m hurdle record holder at 42.68. She is taller than most of her competitors so three stepping the race should be a piece of cake for her.
I’m going to make a wild guess that she could run at least 15.00 in this which is a 842 point score in the hept.
Next event is the shot put.
Kirsten was the Viking Classic Champion in that event with a season best of 36-3.
That mark produces a score of 598 points.
Next up is the high jump.
In 2016 she had a 4-10 jump which scores 588.
The first day ends with the 200.
Since there are only five girls in the whole state of California who can out run her here I think she will do pretty well. Her 23.86 PR comes with a score of 994.
Second day starts with the long jump.
Her 18-11 jump from 2015 would score 780.
Next the the event she would probably need the most training in, which is the javelin, but seeing as how she has gotten the discus out to 121-9 I’m confident she could do the same in this event, 612 points.
The Hept finishes with the 800.
At the Viking Classic this year she used that event as easing back into running after an injury and ran 2:33.21. I’m sure she could do better but even that time earns her 653 points.
Her potential as a high schooler is somewhere around 5067 by adding those together.
The top high school score for a California girl was at Arcadia by Allie Jones of San Marcos at 4830 points.
2018 High School National best marks
5798 Anna Hall Jun 02 Great Southwest Classic
5288 Sterling Lester Apr 07 Arcadia Invitational
5251 Beatrice Juskeviciute Jun 17 New Balance Nationals Outdoor
5014 Timara Chapman Jun 17 New Balance Nationals Outdoor
4830 Allie Jones Apr 07 Arcadia Invitational
For the boys AOY I’ve gone with Severin Ramirez.
There really was only one other boy I felt could compare with Ramirez and that was his teammate Cooper Plattus.
Cooper had the highest place, 2nd, at NCS MOC, and had the only top 10 All-Time mark in one of the standard 14 individual events of everyone with his 14-9 vault that makes him 9th All-Time.
But Ramierez had an even better season. He help his team pick up four wins in almost every meet Carrillo competed in. His three sprint PR’s this year 10.86, 21.92, 49.88 are all on the All-Time lists and the two relays he was a crucial part of were second and fourth All-Time. Not to mention he was a state meet competitor in the 200.
Both these boys are juniors so we have a lot more to see from them.
This year’s throwers among the boy’s was a bit different than any other year I can remember.
Any other year you can expect basically the same 10 boys holding the top 10 spots in both throws with one or two of them being heads and shoulders above the rest.
This year had good quality throwers but many of them were just in the elite group for one event and not the other and all these throwers seemed to trade back and forth a lot at being number one at the meets. This was a very even group with all excelling at one time or another.
As far as new comers breaking onto the scene two freshman girls made it onto the third team, Windsor’s Emily Johnson and Montgomery’s Natalie Barr.
No freshman boys on top three teams but two sophomore’s Cardinal Newman’s Samuel Davison and Santa Rosa’s Trevien Prince both made second team honors.
Of the 12 boys on first team 5 are underclassman and back next year.
Of the 11 girls on first team 6 are underclassman and back next year.