Rolling right along with our spring sports Year in Reviews, today with girls track and field.

These reflections on 2008-09 will be finished next week. Shortly thereafter, we'll be talking football. The time's almost here, Kern County ...

2008-09 Kern County GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD

Overview: This year, predictably, was all about Anna Jelmini. She had won state championships in the shot put and discus as a junior, so the hype was considerable heading into her senior year. She lived up to it. Bigtime. Not only did Jelmini become the first California girl to win back-to-back titles in those events (that was a mere formality by the time it happened), but she also set the national high school record in the discus at 190-3 and became second all-time in the shot put at 54-4.75. If that weren't enough, she won junior national championships in both events and reached the final of the senior discus national championship in Eugene, Ore., last month, competing with a bunch of Olympians.
There were some good stories beyond Jelmini, too. Stockdale sophomore Alex Collatz was the second-best discus thrower in the state, by a good margin. She also was the area's best triple jumper, and, when a heel injury forced her to stop jumping for a month, she picked up a shot put for the first time just to earn a few team points. How'd that turn out? With a sixth-place finish in state, that's all. Also with a great year was Frontier hurdler Taylor Jackson, who dominated both the 100-yard and 300-yard races throughout the year, then stumbled in the 100 hurdles at the section meet. She won the 300, though, and then made the state final with a PR in the event. Bakersfield sprinter Brushay Wandick and distance runner Sarah Baker, Liberty pole vaulter Amanda Klinchuch and middle-distancer Erica Wilcox and Golden Valley long jumper and sprinter Shanesha Epps were also stars.

Best team: It's a tough call here, because local girls track and field was more about the individual success than the teams' right now. But I'm going to go with Bakersfield. The Drillers sported a solid, deep lineup, between Wandick and a set of sprinters that were the best around, to Baker and some good longer-distance runners, good jumpers and good throwers. The Drillers won the SEYL for the second straight year and advanced the most athletes to the section meet. In just his second year, coach Steve Anderson has the Drillers track machine humming along like old times.
Honorable mention: Frontier, Ridgeview, Liberty, Shafter

Best athlete: I probably don't need to tell you who gets the nod here — perhaps a good hint would be that Anna Jelmini was Gatorade's National Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year. Her accomplishments are unparalleled amongst high schoolers everywhere, so her competition both locally and statewide was mostly against herself, with the small exception of the qualifying round at state, where Collatz bombed a huge PR of 177-0. Jelmini recovered to easily win the title the next day. She's the perfect blend of hard work, supreme talent and great coaching (hat tip to Matt Godbehere and, from Jelmini's past, his wife Dawn Dumble) and the result has been historic. Jelmini's headed to Arizona State and so many other places; it'll be fun to see where she goes.
Honorable mention: Alex Collatz, Stockdale; Taylor Jackson, Frontier; Brushay Wandick, Bakersfield; Sarah Baker, Bakersfield; Erica Wilcox, Liberty

Best event: I mentioned that Jelmini owns the best discus mark in high school history and that she's No. 2 in the shot put. What I didn't say is that both of those historic marks came on the same day. No other high school girl ever is on both top-10 lists, and Jelmini's in the top 2 from one day, the Sierra-Sequoia Divisonal meet at Oakhurst-Yosemite that's a section-meet qualifier for small schools. It must have been some kind of experience to watch up amongst the mountains as Jelmini unleashed those furious throws.
Honorable mention: CIF State Championships, Central Section Championships, South Area meet

A look ahead: With Jelmini's brilliant career on to its next step, the local spotlight will shift to Collatz. Her 177-0 throw at state was a national sophomore discus record, and so it's logical that in a couple of years, she could be challenging Jelmini's discus mark. We'll see if she can take another step towards that next year. Add to that Collatz's prowess in the triple jump and her potential in the shot put, and you've got a star in the making that could shine as bright or brighter than Jelmini's if she continues to improve. That's hard to belive, but Collatz could be the one to do it. She's already got a silver medal in the discus from the World Youth Championships in Italy under her belt.
Bakersfield High will be good again. The Drillers lose Wandick, but Baker will just be a junior and she heads a list of track stars that should rack up quite a few points at most meets. If BHS can make some noise in the field events, it very well might be a factor for a section title. As for individuals, I'd expect Jackson to medal in one or both of her hurdles events at the state meet, and I'd keep an eye on Shafter's Lacie Rasley in the shot put, Ridgeview's Tijerra Lynch in the distance races and on Liberty's Erica Wilcox in the 200 and 400. Their times could approach state-level quality with some improvement.

Year in Review Index
July 1: Football
July 2: Volleyball
July 3: Boys cross country
July 6: Girls cross country
July 7: Girls tennis
July 8: Girls golf
July 9: Boys basketball
July 10: Girls basketball
July 11: Wrestling
July 13: Boys soccer
July 14: Girls soccer
July 15: Baseball
July 16: Softball
July 18: Boys track and field

Tomorrow: Boys swimming