The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

meet for the

California Interscholastic Federation The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have a s ...

. The meet was started in 1915 for boys and 1974 for girls. Every athlete in every high school in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

has a direct qualification path that can reach the state meet (except for five schools that compete in Nevada). In recent years a minimum of 27 athletes in each event reach this final meet of the official track and field season. Beyond those 27 who can qualify by placing in their individual section finals, "at-large" standards have been established to allow additional competitors to make the field. The meet and the organization has undergone some changes in format over the years. The city of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

chose not to affiliate with the CIF until 1945,

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, dropped out of the CIF between 1919 and 1940. No meet was held during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

1942-1945. Until 1962, it was a single day meet. Since 1963 it has been a two-day meet, with a qualifying round held on the first day, a Friday, before the finals on Saturday, with the exceptions of 1983, 1984 and 1993 when different qualifying formats were tried. While the meet has had years of venue stability, it has also been moved around the various top stadiums throughout the state. Since 2009, the current venue of choice is the centrally located Buchanan High School in

Clovis, California Clovis is a city in Fresno County, California, United States. The 2020 population was 120,124. Clovis is located northeast of downtown Fresno, at an elevation of 361 feet (110 m). History The city of Clovis began as a freight stop along the S ...

where it has remained. Previously the venue had rotated between a southern venue at Falcon Stadium,

Cerritos College Cerritos College is a public community college in Norwalk, California. It offers degrees and certificates in 87 areas of study in nine divisions. History The college was founded in 1955. It was named after Rancho Los Cerritos, a local r ...

Norwalk, California Norwalk is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 105,549 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census and an estimated 103,949 in 2019. It is the 58th most densely-populated ...

(1981, 1986, 1988-1996, 1998-2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008) and the northern venue at Hughes Stadium,

Sacramento City College Sacramento City College (SCC) is a public community college in Sacramento, California. SCC is part of the Los Rios Community College District and had an enrollment of 25,307 in 2009. It is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community ...

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

(1979, 1982, 1985, 1985, 1987, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007). In 1984, the CIF California State Meet was held at the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a mem ...

as the test run for logistics before the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

at the same venue. Regardless of the location it has annually been the best, or among the best attended track and field meets in California, frequently with recorded attendance as high as 16,000. The meet was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 in fear of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. In 2021, Rich Gonzalez of the PrepCalTrack website led an effort to create a substitute California State Championship without the sanction of CIF. The meet will be hosted at Arcadia High School June 25–26.

Alumni

Alumni from the CIF California State Meet have won Olympic gold medals in: *Men's

100 meters The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

: 1920, 1968 *Men's

200 meters The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

: 1968, 1992 *Men's

400 meters The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is on ...

: 1968, 1988, 1992 *Men's

110 meters hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hur ...

: 1920 *Men's 400 meters hurdles: 1988, 1992-current World Record, 2004, 2012 *Men's

Long Jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

: 1948, 1972 *Men's

High Jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

: 1936, 1956 *Men's

Pole Vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

: 1948, 1968 *Men's

Shot Put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

: 1924, 1952, 1956 *Men's

Discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

: 1924, 1928 *Men's

Decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

: 1948, 1952, 1960 *Women's

: 1988, 1992, 1996 *Women's

: 1984, 1988-current World Record, 2012 *Women's

: 1984 *Women's 100 meters hurdles: 2004 *Women's

: 2008 Also winning gold medals as part of the 4x100 metres relay and

4x400 metres relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

teams: *Men 4x100 1920, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1956, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984, 1992, 2000 *Men 4x400 1928, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1976, 1988 (2), 1992 (2), 1996 *Women 4x100 1984 (2), 1988 (2), 1996 (2), 2012 (2)*, 2016 *Women 4x400 1984 (3), 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 (2), 2016 Not included in this list are California athletes * Fred Kelly won the 110 metres hurdles at the 1912 Olympics, but his high school competition predated the meet. *

Mal Whitfield Malvin Greston Whitfield (October 11, 1924 – November 19, 2015) was an American athlete, goodwill ambassador, and airman. Nicknamed "Marvelous Mal", he was the Olympic champion in the 800 meters at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics, and a memb ...

, who could not compete because the meet was cancelled during

(2 Gold medals at

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

, 1948, 1952) *

Cliff Bourland Clifford Frederick Bourland (January 1, 1921 – February 1, 2018)World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(

4x400 meters relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

1948) *

Mel Patton Melvin Emery Patton (November 16, 1924 – May 9, 2014) was an American sprinter, who set the world record in the 100 yard dash of 9.2 seconds in 1948. He also set a 220 yd world record in 1949 on a straightaway of 20.2, breaking the record held ...

, who could not compete because the meet was cancelled during World War II (2 Gold medals 1948, 200m and 4x100 relay) *

Sim Iness Simeon "Sim" Garland Iness (July 9, 1930 – May 23, 1996) was an American discus thrower who won a gold medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics, breaking the Olympic record several times in the process. Next year he set a new world record at 57.93 m. ...

because the

was not held while he was in high school, it restarted the year after he graduated (Discus Throw, 1952) *

Evelyn Ashford Evelyn Ashford (born April 15, 1957) is an American retired track and field athlete, the 1984 Olympic Games, Olympic champion in the 100-meter dash. She ran under the 11-second barrier over 30 times and was the first to run under 11 seconds in a ...

, who was in high school just before girls were allowed to compete (100 metres 1984, 4x100 relay 1984, 1988, 1992) *

Marion Jones Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is an American former world champion track and field athlete and former professional basketball player. She won three gold medals and two bronze medals at the 200 ...

, who won 3 gold medals in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4x400 metres relay at the 2000 Olympics, but she was subsequently disqualified *

Calvin Harrison Calvin Harrison (born January 20, 1974) is an American athlete. He won a gold medal in the men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. He is the identical twin brother of fellow Olympic medalist Alvin Harrison. ...

and Alvin Harrison who won gold medals in the 4x400 metres relay at the 2000 Olympics, but the team was later disqualified *

Carmelita Jeter Carmelita Jeter ( , born November 24, 1979) is a retired American sprinter, who competed in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. For over a decade, between 2009 and 2021, Jeter held the title as "Fastest woman alive" after running a 100 m personal be ...

from

Bishop Montgomery High School Bishop Montgomery High School (commonly referred to as "BMHS" or simply "Bishop" by students) is a Catholic high school serving twenty-five parishes in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. BMHS was founded in 1957, and staffed by the S ...

also won a gold medal in the 2012 4x100 relay, but shows no results at the state meet

References

External links

Official Website

CIF State Champions & Championship Records

Runners Space page

ESPN Rise
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cif California State Meet Track and field in California Annual track and field meetings High school track and field competitions in the United States College track and field competitions in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 1915 High school sports in California 1915 establishments in California