The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

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 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 that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

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, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

chose not to affiliate with the CIF until 1945,

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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. It was established in 1890 as a freight stop for the San Joaquin Valley Railroad by a group of Fresno businessmen and Michigan railroad speculator Marcus Pollasky. The railroad bou ...

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

Norwalk, California Norwalk is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 102,773 at the 2020 census. Founded in the late 19th century, Norwalk was incorporated as a city in 1957. It is located southeast of downtown Los Angeles a ...

(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 Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

(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 Los Angeles Coliseum or L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park, Los Angeles, Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hal ...

as the test run for logistics before the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly 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 ...

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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 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 contested at ...

: 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 slight ...

: 1968, 1992 *Men's 400 meters: 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 hurd ...

: 1920 *Men's

400 meters hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

: 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, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

: 1948, 1968 *Men's

Shot Put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

: 1924, 1952, 1956 *Men's

Discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

: 1924, 1928 *Men's

Decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

: 1948, 1952, 1960 *Women's

: 1988, 1992, 1996 *Women's

: 1984, 1988-current World Record, 2012 *Women's 400 meters: 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 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, who could not compete because the meet was cancelled during

(2 Gold medals at

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, 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 a ...

, 1948, 1952) * Cliff Bourland, who could not compete because the meet was cancelled during

( 4x400 meters relay 1948) *

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

, who could not compete because the meet was cancelled during World War II (2 Gold medals 1948, 200m and 4x100 relay) * Sim Iness 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 champion in the 100-meter dash, and the world record-holder in the 60-yard dash. She ran under the 11-second barrier over 30 times and was t ...

, 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 2000 ...

, 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 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 sprint (running), sprinter, who competed in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. For over a decade, between 2009 and 2021, Jeter was called the "Fastest woman alive" after running a 10 ...

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 Archdiocese of Los Angeles. BMHS was founded in 1957, and staffed by the Sisters of St. ...

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 competitions 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