Williams eighth in shot put at CIF meet

Fallbrook High School shot put thrower Amanda Williams placed eighth among Division I girls at the CIF track and field meet.

During the CIF section finals May 25 at Mount Carmel High School, Williams threw the shot put 34’10”.

“She’s just come so far,” said Fallbrook head coach Troy Hamlin. “She just kept improving all season long.”

The CIF meet began with preliminary races and flights May 18 at Mount Carmel. The top nine in each event (top 12 in the distance races) advanced to the “A” race or flight in the finals while the next nine (or 12) returned the following week for the “B” competition. Although preliminaries results for the finals are for Division I and Division II combined, team points and medals are given for each division. Williams threw the shot put 34’9” in the preliminaries to place ninth among Division I throwers and earn an invitation to the “B” flight.

Williams, a junior, threw the shot put for the first time this year. “It’s just a huge amount of improvement, and she’s established herself as one of the best throwers in San Diego,” Hamlin said.

In the 3,200-meter preliminary races Fallbrook freshman Hannah Niebel placed 33rd with a time of 12:11.47 after a 5:47 first mile. “She was looking pretty good through about six laps and it just fell apart on her,” Hamlin said.

Three Fallbrook girls competed in the pole vault preliminaries. Senior Shavonne Donaghue and sophomore Taryn Ransbury both cleared 8’9” and shared 14th place. Sophomore Mikala Tidd was 19th with a height of 8’3”. “They jumped okay for them,” Hamlin said.