Girls going distance at state track meet

Dress rehearsals are over and now is the time for high school track and field stars to shine on the brightest stage — the CIF State Championships on Friday and Saturday at Clovis Buchanan High.

Simi Valley sophomore Sarah Baxter enters Saturday’s 3,200-meter race as the favorite after clocking 10 minutes 8.71 seconds for her second straight Masters title in windy conditions last Friday at Cerritos College. She ran a personal-best 10:08.11— the fastest time in the nation this year — at the Arcadia Invitational in April.

“This is the best I’ve felt and I feel good about next weekend,” Baxter said about her performance at Masters, where she finished almost 81⁄ seconds ahead of

2 second-place Laura Hollander from Huntington Beach Marina.

One of the most competitive races figures to be the girls’ 1,600, where defending state champion Cami Chapus of Studio City HarvardWestlake will run against Aptos junior Nikki Hiltz in a rematch of last year’s final, when Hiltz finished third. Chapus clocked a state leading 4:43.90 to win the Masters title last week and Hiltz ran 4:44.02 at her league finals May 5.

Another Harvard-westlake senior, Amy Weissenbach, made history last week by becoming the first girl in Southern Section history to win the 800 at the Masters three times in a row — clocking a season-best 2:05.55 — and she could make more history this weekend by breaking her own national record of 2:02.04, which she set at last year’s state meet.

“My fitness is there and I just want to get closer to two minutes,” Weissenbach said.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame sprinter Khalfani Muhammad won the 100 in 10.51 seconds and the 200 in 21.10 at the Masters and helped the Knights advance to state in the 400 relay. After finishing second in the 100 to Covina senior Remontay McClain at the 2011 state meet, Muhammad is determined to double this year.

“Not winning [state] last year makes me extra motivated,” Muhammad said. “I’ve trained really hard, worked on my start and my acceleration. Now I just have to put it all together for the finals.”

Also looking to double is Long Beach Poly sophomore Ariana Washington, who is seeded first in the girls’ 100 (11.61) and 200 (23.55) after winning both at the Masters.