Two county athletes to compete at Olympic track trials

Salinas High graduates John Prader and Cristian Soratos are both headed to the United States Olympic track and field trails July 1-10 in Eugene, Oregon.

Prader, who was sixth in the State championships in the pole vault as a senior at Salinas in 2009, soared over 18 feet in the pole vault earlier this year to earn a U.S. Olympic trial qualifying mark.
His metric mark of 5.65 meters is the sixth highest clearance to date this year in the United States. The top three in each event at the Olympic trials advance to the Olympic games in August in Rio.
Prader, who broke the Salinas High and county record in the pole vault at 16-feet in 2009, was a Big  West Champion in the pole vault at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
Soratos, who turned pro last year at 23 years old after an All-American track career at Montana State, will compete in the 1,500 at 3:39.59. Two years ago he had one of the fastest 1,500 indoor times in the nation.
A former Hartnell College distance ace, Soratos was an NCAA All-American in cross country and track at Montana State, placing second at the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships in the mile in 2015.
The last Monterey County athlete to qualify for the Olympic trials was Monterey grad Sani Roseby, who was a quarterfinalist in the 100 hurdles in 2004 after a four-year career at UCLA.
In addition, North Salinas alum and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Alvin Harrison was a semifinalist in the 400.