CIF state track finals: Silver Creek star wins two titles
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CLOVIS — Silver Creek’s Jazlynn Shearer crossed the finish line at Buchanan High School on Saturday, ran a few meters, then started jumping up and down.
Shearer had not only won the California Interscholastic Federation girls 100-meter intermediate hurdles state title, she had a run a national-leading and personal-record time of 13.24 seconds (wind-aided).
About two hours later, she added another state title to her resume, dominating the triple jump in winning by nearly a foot with a leap of 41 feet, 1 inch (wind-aided).
“I’m so ecstatic. I didn’t even expect to do this coming in,” Shearer said. “I’m so proud of myself.
“I wanted it so badly. Since freshman year, hurdles state title was always the goal. And to add triple jump in there … crazy.”
Now Shearer is a major part of the rich track and field history at Silver Creek.
The UNLV-bound senior also placed second in the long jump with another personal record (19-10 3/4). She scored all of her team’s 28 points, and Silver Creek placed second in the team standings.
Shearer did all this despite battling pain in her left knee, a condition that started before the Central Coast Section finals.
“Just incredible. Her competitive spirit is just unbelievable,” Silver Creek coach Hector Flores said.
Flores said that Shearer was given a jump count for the long jump. “We were going to hold her to two jumps, because we knew that the hurdles and the triple were her best events,” he said.
Her first two attempts produced a mark of 18-0 3/4 and a foot foul.
“When she did the second jump, even though it was a scratch, we noticed that she went deep into the pit, so we felt that we could grant her a third jump,” Flores said.
She moved into first on her third jump (19-5 1/2), but Upland’s Caelyn Harris took the lead later in the round (20-5 1/2).
“After 19-5, I was relaxed. I was like, o.k., we’re on it,” Shearer said.
That was also when Shearer started prompting the crowd to rhythmically clap while she was on the runway. “I know it will make me jump farther just from the adrenaline,” she said.
Shearer went 19-10 3/4 on her fourth attempt, then passed her final two attempts. Harris won the event with a national-leading jump of 20-8 1/2.
In the 100 hurdles, Shearer admitted that it was a perfect race for her. She moved into a different gear near the midway mark and won by .30.
But it took a few seconds for her win and time to sink in.
“I looked up and I saw the time, and I was just like, ‘Oh my God,'” she said. “I was not expecting that at all. I don’t even know where that came from.”
In the triple jump, Shearer took the lead for good on her first jump with a mark of 40-7 (wind-aided). She improved to 41-1 on her second jump, and her other two marks were both over 40 feet. Only two other jumpers went over 40 feet in the competition.
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