CCS Track and FIeld

Central Coast Section Track and Field Finals

Friday at Gilroy High, 4 p.m.

 Laurel Wong will look to defend her Central Coast Section title in the pole vault for Santa Catalina, as she will be the heavy favorite, having cleared a state best 13-feet-3.

 Wong, who finished fifth in the state last year as a sophomore, has gone over 13-feet twice this year, and has yet to loss a meet in the pole vault.

 Soledad foreign exchange student Noora Hautamaki is in state contention in both the long jump and triple jump.

 The senior will go into the finals ranked third in both, having sailed 17-11 1/2 in the long jump and a career best 37-11 1/2 in the triple jump.

 The top three in each event advance to the state meet, unless you meet an automatic state qualifying mark. Hautamaki is four inches off the state qualifying mark of 38-4 in the triple jump.

 Hautamaki is also in the finals in the shot put after tossing it a Soledad school record 36-8.

 Notre Dame's Kate Riordan will chase a podium finish in the 300 low hurdles, having run 46.22 at last week's CCS Trials.

 A quarter of the long jump field will come from Monterey County as Kulaea Tulua (17-1) of Pacific Grove and North Salinas' Dennise Alfaro-Torres (16-8 3/4) are both in the finals.

 The shot put is where Gonzales' Pablo Villasenor hopes to extend his season, as he will go in ranked No. 5 at 50-5. The junior has a best of 50-9.

 The 100 meter boys finals will be of interest with De'Antae Williams of Seaside (10.91) and Azjani McGill of Monterey (10.92) among seven runners separated by tenths of a second.

 McGill will also chase an elite field in the 200, having run a season best 22.24 last week. McGill is just now getting his legs under him after missing three weeks with an injury.

 McGill will also run a leg on the Toreadores 400 relay team that includes William Caliz, Jaiden Russell and Eris Hutchins. The foursome are seeded No. 4 at 42.94.

 Alvarez sophomore VicentJordan Vanderlipe is chasing a top three spot in the pole vault, having cleared 14-2 last month.

 Distance ace Christopher Plascencia is the first Marina athlete to qualify for the finals, clocking a career best 4:19.62 in the 1,600 to put him in the top eight.

 A projected finish list of all county athletes in the section finals will come out on Friday.