Notre Dame’s Muhammad starts well despite heat

Survival was the underlying theme in sweltering conditions on the first day of the 94th annual CIF state track and field championships at Clovis Buchanan High School. The temperature was over 100 degrees when Friday’s preliminaries began and athletes were trying to qualify for today’s finals without suffering from heat exhaustion in the process.

There was no cooling down Sherman Oaks Notre Dame junior Khalfani Muhammad, who bettered his personal best in the boys’ 100 meters, winning his heat and placing first overall in 10.44 seconds. A few hours later, he clocked the fastest qualifying time in the 200 (21.16). He also ran the anchor leg for the Knights in the 400 relay — the first event of the day.

“It’s a beautiful day — we run in this kind of heat all the time in the San Fernando Valley,” Muhammad said.

Oxnard Rio Mesa’s boys 400 relay team of Rod White, Blake Selig, Darion Zimmerman and Cameron Roach posted the fastest time overall (41.14) while Westlake Village Oaks Christian, Gardena Serra and Notre Dame also won their heats to advance to the finals along with Long Beach Poly (fifth overall) and Los Angeles Loyola (seventh).

Aptos junior Nikki Hiltz and reigning state champion Cami Chapus of Studio City HarvardWestlake set up their highly anticipated showdown by winning their heats in the girls’ 1,600 meters. Hiltz ran the four laps in 4:55.09 — the fastest time overall — and Chapus, who acknowledged she ran faster than she intended, was second overall in 4:56.03.

Harvard-Westlake senior Amy Weissenbach, who will join Chapus at Stanford next fall, won her 800 heat in 2:09.87 — the third-fastest time overall. Weissenbach set the national prep record of 2:02.04 at state last year and ran a state-leading 2:05.55 to win her third Masters title a week ago.

Serra’s Renetia James and Alexis Faulknor qualified for the finals in their sprint events. James broke her own state-leading 400 time by 0.15 of a second in 54.26 while Faulknor ran the fastest 200 time (23.57) and won her 100 heat in 11.55 — the second-fastest overall. The Cavaliers’ seniors also teamed with Jade Pavajeau and Maya Brown to post the fastest qualifying time in the 400 relay (46.10).

Poly sophomore Ariana Washington also won her heats in the 100 and 200 and anchored the Jackrabbits’ 400 relay, which won its heat and finished third overall in 46.56.

Rancho Cucamonga junior Jordie Munford won her heats in the girls’ 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles while Cougars senior Luis Gutierrez was the top qualifier in the boys’ 1,600 at 4:10.75.

Today’s finals begin at 4:30 p.m. for field events and 6 p.m. for running events.