Boys track and field: Yelsey, McMillen heading to state

Tony Altobelli

NORWALK - The 1,600-meter race at Friday night’s CIF Southern

Section Masters Meet had a ton of local flavor.

Corona del Mar High senior Josh Yelsey, Newport Harbor senior Chris

McMillen and Estancia sophomore Humberto Rojas, joined the rest of the

best and all performed well.

To the surprise of no one, Big Bear’s Ryan Hall dusted the field with

a time of 4:04.24, surpassing the CIF Southern Section record of 4:05.40,

set by Garden Grove’s Mark Schilling in 1972.

In the battle for second place, Yelsey and McMillen battled Burroughs’

Tony Ahr and Don Lugo’s Arturo Garcia for most of the race.

Yelsey, making his first appearance to the Masters Meet, hung near the

back of the pack before making his move in the final lap, jumping into

the second spot.

“I tried to stay patient and in the fourth lap, I reeled them in,”

Yelsey said. “I’m looking forward to Sacramento. It’s going to be a lot

of fun.”

McMillen was one runner Yelsey caught, but the senior didn’t go down

without a fight. He stuck to Yelsey and the two went at it for the final

250 meters.

Yelsey’s 4:14.62 edged out McMillen’s 4:15.42. Both times are personal

bests for the second week in a row. Ahr (4:16.76) placed third, while

Garcia (4:16.76) placed fourth.

“I’m whipped,” was all McMillen could say afterward.

Newport Harbor Coach Bim Barry was a little more talkative, saying,

“It’s a testament to four years of hard work. He’s done a great job all

year and he deserves to be right where he’s at.”

Rojas also put in a late kick and finished sixth with a 4:18.67.

Despite nearing his best-ever time, he narrowly missed the automatic

qualifying time of 4:18.40 to advance to the state preliminaries.