Jonon Young, Jaylen Walker help Carson continue championship legacy with another exceptional showcase in jumps

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

Athletes come and go, but Jonon Young and Jaylen Walker always stood – or more appropriately, jumped – by Carson High’s side.

They received just rewards Thursday night.

Young’s victories in the long jump and triple jump and Walker’s top-three finishes in both events, along with being part of the winning 4x100-meter relay team, helped pace the Colts as they romped to their fifth consecutive L.A. City Section girls team championship at El Camino College.

INTERVIEWS

Carson’s girls scored 121 points to second-place Palisades’ 50 to secure a seventh overall championship under coach Amrit Lal. In a closer contest, Dorsey downed Carson, 63 points to 53 on the boys’ side for its third straight title and 19th overall under legendary coach Ralph Tilley.

Ranked No. 2 in the state in the long jump and No. 8 in the triple jump entering the meet, Young delivered, winning the triple at 39 feet, 7 inches and topping the long jump at 18-11. She was one of five individual winners for Carson, which also earned titles in both girls relays.

“I’m very proud and I’m very blessed because we practice hard every day,” Young said. “We weightlift; we do a lot, and our coaches are on us about stuff like this.

“I just feel like we were all focused,” she added, “and we got on the bus and we made sure that we knew what we wanted to come to do today. I think we executed very well.”

Walker ran the third leg of the 4x100 relay, joining teammates Kaitlyn Williams, Ryan Lacefield and anchor Daila Bell to win in 47.01 seconds. Walker was also third in the long jump (18-5.75) and the runner-up in the triple jump (39-3).

As usual, Carson piled up the jumping numbers, earning 50 of the possible 62 points in the two events.

“We rack up a lot of points at jumps,” Walker said.

Lacefield won the 200 (24.99) while running on both relays. Elisha Salazar won the 400 (56.99) and ran with the 4x400 relay team (3:57.98). Junior Indiah Turner won the 300 hurdles in 47.30 and placed second in the long jump. Dominique Payne won the shot put at 37-2.50.

“It feels pretty good,” Young said. “I’m happy for my team. I’m glad that it has to be my last year that we did this again.”

The boys’ meet was far more spread out. Dorsey won just two events, with senior Portejoie Tshiaba topping the long jump at 23-2.50 and the high jump at 6-6.

Otherwise, there was variety. Carson senior Andre Butt, who entered the meet with the No. 7 time in the state, won the 110 hurdles in 14.42, helped the Colts’ 4x100 relay team win in 42.03 and placed a close second to Narbonne’s Jamar Jefferson (22.11) in the 200 in 22.18.

“Today was a killer,” Butt said. “My body hates me, but I’m so happy right now.”

Granada Hills junior De Marq Jaque won the 400 in a personal-best 48.86 and anchored his team’s winning 4x400 relay team (3:25.04).

Breaking 49 seconds brought him to his knees in celebration afterward.

“One meet, I thought I got 48-flat,” he said, “but there was a problem with the timing. It was 49.45. I’m so happy I got 48.”

El Camino Real senior Justin Hazell cruised to a victory in the 3,200, winning in 9:22.02. He’s looking forward to the competition June 2 at the state meet at Buchanan High’s Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis, where his season-best time of 9:00.60 should put him in the thick of contending.

Larkspur Redwood’s Liam Anderson holds the state’s top mark this season at 8:52.74.

“I think I’m ready for it,” said Hazell, who became the first state-title winner from the City Section with his Division 1 victory in November at the CIF-State Cross Country Championship in Fresno.

“For cross country, I competed with the top and will be doing it again at state. It’s definitely going to be insanely-hard, competition-wise.”