Oakland Section T&F Season Preview

Skyline senior Eleanor Wikstrom returns looking to become the first Oakland Section girl to reach the 1600m final at the State Meet. She ranks as the top returning girl in the section in the 400m, 800m, 1600m and 3200m and a two-time OK champion in both the 800 and 1600.

Her 1600 PR of 5:00.33 ranks 28th among all returning girls in the state. Come the championships in May, many of those are likely to choose to focus on another event and defending CA champion Jacqueline Duarte of Chino Hills is injured and expected to miss the season.

Wikstrom missed by less than 7 seconds of making the final 12 last May at Buchanan High in Clovis. While it's an extremely deep state for the four-lapper, continued improvement by the best girls distance runner in Oakland Section history very well could land her on that line come the end of the season. 

Wikstrom leads five returning OK athletes who reached the 2019 State Championship Preliminaries:

Simmons is the section's top returning boy in the 400m and 800m and Smith is the top returning girl in both hurdles.

Other athletes to watch include Envision Academy senior Cierra Mathis, the section's top returning girl in both the 100m and 200m; Skyline senior Monkaia Scott is the top returner in both throws; Skyline senior William Boyd is the top returner in the 1600m and 3200m; Skyline senior Jayvon Carter is the top returner in both hurdles, and Skyline senior Lucas MacHardy is the top returner in the triple jump, high jump, pole vault and is No. 3 in the 400m. 

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Photo by James Leash