TRACK: Cardenas, Grotegeer also qualify
so to do it this year was a major accomplishment,” said Jenks, who feels he would have finished in the top three last year if not for the scratches.
“I scratched the first two and it was nervewracking, but on my last throw I was able to keep it in and get a spot in the finals and then I went on from there.
“It was revenge to get up there on the podium and finally do it.”
The 6-foot-4, 255pounder from Browns Valley is a section champion now, but his start in track and field happened by chance. A football player since middle school, Jenks was talked into track and field by a coach during his freshman year as a way to get better in the trenches as an offensive and defensive lineman.
He threw the 10-pound junior varsity iron ball 36 feet while getting his feet wet as a freshman before quickly taking off. In a final tune-up on Thursday at Yuba College, he routinely hurled the varsity 12-pound sphere 55 feet and hopes to be at his best today against the state’s best.
“The explosiveness and the footwork really helped me with football. With shot put, it’s the same training as offensive and defensive line, and I noticed a big difference with my footwork and coordination,” said Jenks, a three-year varsity starter for the Indians and the Golden Empire League’s Outstanding Lineman of the Year last fall.
“I tried it out my freshman year, and slowly and slowly I started liking track more and more, and it’s became my main sport after that.”
Jenks also received some help this year in the form of throwing coach Rachel Tice, who broke records at Yuba College before an accompished career at UC Riverside.
“The past three years, I didn’t really have a coach so I was on my own getting what I could from YouTube videos and camps and clinics,” he said “Having a coach is nice. She’s there critiquing my form every day and helping me figure out how to throw properly.”
“He’s a really hard worker and one of those kids where you actually have to ask him to stop working out,” Tice said. “I’ve been pretty lucky in inheriting him as an already well-performing athlete, and our main focus this year was to get him confident in the ring. The fouls last year were a big issue, so being confident and having that nice, steady progression in the ring and with his throws was what we worked on.
“I’m really proud of him. He’s come a long way and he has a really bright future.”
Jenks is ranked 13th out of the 26 throwers who will compete today and will throw first in the second flight. The top 12 move on to Saturday and the top nine from there advance to the finals.
Jenks’ overall personal best is 566, set as he competed unattached at an all-comers indoor meet at UC Davis in January. His high school outdoor best is 559⁄ set at this year’s SJS Division IV-V Meet in Turlock. He’s looking to break school record of 57-3 set by Vaughn Cain in 1969.
“I’ve seen quite a few of these athletes at meets and invitationals throughout the spring, and I think the biggest thing for me is finally going down there and getting that state experience,” Jenks said. “They medal down to six (places) and I have a good feeling that I will medal. That’s my goal.”
Joining Jenks in Clovis will be Gridley senior Stephanie Cardenas and Wheatland junior Erica Grotegeer, both of whom won two events at the Northern Section Track and Field Championships last week and will be making a return trip to state.
Cardenas, who competed at the state meet as an alternate last year, was crowned section champion in the 100 hurdles in a time of 15.18 seconds and took first in the 300 hur- dles in 45.0.
She also joined Willow Sturdivant, Whitney Sannar and Michael Curry on the Bulldogs’ first-place 4x400 relay team to qualify for state in three events.
Grotegeer placed first in the discus with a throw of 147-6 and won the long jump with a leap of 17-6 ⁄ to make it to state for the third time.
It marked the third straight year Grotegeer was the section champion in the discus. She was also the defending champion in the shot put, but scratched on all three of her attempts at Mas- ters.
Yuba City senior Kaiden Henry also qualified for state in the boys shot put by finishing third at the Masters Meet, but will not travel to Clovis, opting instead to to attend his graduation. He was the first Honker to qualify for the state meet since Bernell Barmore in 2011.
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