Prep track and field

 In a spring where marks and times in track and field are down in the county, the state leader in the pole vault remains Laurel Wong of Santa Catalina.
 The junior cleared 13-feet-3 back on February 17 at an indoor championship meet -- a mark that has held up for over two  months.
 Last spring the Central Coast Section champion sailed 12-6 to finish fifth at the state finals. Wong was 17th as a freshman at 11-6.
 Two athletes cleared 14 feet last year at the state finals. Both have since graduated. In 2015, 13-3 won the pole vault competition.
 Wong is also in contention for a spot in the state meet in the long jump, where she is ranked sixth in the section at 17-10. The automatic qualifying mark if attained at the section finals is 18-2.
 Otherwise the top three at the section finals in six weeks advance to the state meet.
 Foreign exchange student Noora Hautamaki is bidding to become the first Soledad athlete to qualify for the state meet, as she is ranked third in the CCS in the long jump at 18-feet.
 Gonzales hasn't had a state qualifier since 1998. Pablo Villasenor is hoping to end the drought, as he sits in third place in the shot put at 50-9.