CENTAURS GOING TO STATE, from left to right, Dontay Mayrant, Kingston Waring, Morgan Maddox, Saana Belleard, Asher Samuel, Savana Mullins and Duaine Mayrant. Not pictured is Zakiya Ugorsi.
There are 560 high schools in the CIF Southern Section and Culver City High School qualified eight student-athletes for one of the most prestigious high school track and field meets in the nation, the California State Meet. The meet will take place on Friday, May 24 and Saturday, May 25 at Buchanan high school in Clovis. The prelims are Friday, and the finals are Saturday starting at 4:30 p.m.
To advance to the state meet the Centaurs competed in the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet last Saturday at Moorpark high school. The Culver City athletes made their presence felt by winning the boys' 4X400 relay in a blistering time of 3:13.78. That time broke the school record of 3:15.42 set in 2013.
The 2024 boys relay team consisted of Dontay Mayrant who ran a 48.4 leg, Kingston Waring ran a 48.4 leg, Asher Samuel ran a 48.7 and Dontay Mayrant's twin brother, Duaine Mayrant ran a 47.6 leg. "It's pretty cool to see these four young men break the school record," said co-head track and field coach Jahmal Wright last Sunday.
In the boy's regular 400-meter race Duaine Mayrant placed second overall with a time of 47.09. In the girls' regular 400-meter race Culver City's Morgan Maddox placed second overall with a time of 53.73. Maddox also placed fourth in the girls 200 meters with a time of 23.76. All of those times are some of the fastest in the state.
"Morgan is one of the hottest high school sprinters in the state of California right now," said Wright. "She ran her personal best time in the 200 and for her to make the state meet three years in a row in the 400 and two years in a row in the 200 is very impressive."
Also qualifying for the state meet was the girls 4X100 relay team. Although they took ninth in the Masters meet their time of 47.98 was good enough to earn them a trip to Clovis this weekend. The girls relay team made it even without the fastest runner in the school and one of the fastest in the nation, Joelle Trepagnier who was injured last month. "That shows you how talented those girls are even without their fastest runner," said Wright. The girls on the relay team are Maddox, Savanna Mullins, Saana Belleard and Zakiya Ugorsi.
"We have been slowly but surely improving the last month of the season," said Wright. "I am just looking for us to be at our best and peaking at the right time. We are ready for this moment, and we are excited about this weekend."
The Centaurs have one of the best coaching staffs in the state with co-head coaches Wright and LaShinda Demus leading the way.
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