Southern Section-CIF Track Finals

Covered the Southern Section-CIF Track Finals at Cerritos College this Saturday.

Field events started at 11am while the track events started at 1pm.  The schools I cover are listed as D1 with there being 4 levels (D1, D2, D3, D4)  and D1 being the highest.  This means that in each event, the schools I cover will be the last heat.  With that being said, my events won't be starting until after 1pm so I always take the opportunity to get there early to shoot some action to get my timing down.

This is also the time I'll get some great shots of the high jumpers, long jumpers, and pole vaulters.

For the day I used my newly acquired used 1DX and my trusty 300 f/2.8L for all of the below shots.

The key to getting great action at a track meet is to watch those competing and based on what you see find that position that will give you the result your looking for.  Weather it'd be a high jumper like below or a long jumper that ends with a huge sand spray.  There is usually something to see in each athlete and its up to you to find and capture it.

With all that said, you may not have the best options when it comes to position, so you need to find and next and best alternative to give you great results.

Below are my favorite shots from the days events, hope you enjoy them.

The below two sequence shots are my first pole break.  This was very early in the day and before the track events started.  After taking a few high jumper shots I went to the pole vault area and starting shooting this young man as he just began his pole bend and upward motion.  Just then I heard a very loud pop and saw that his pole broke and down he went.  As it turned out the pole hit him in the back of the head / neck area and from what I heard he will be needing stitches. 

In the first shot you can see the dust from the chalk, which goes from the right side (middle) near the person in red all the way to the left just above his rear.  I've placed the first shot right when the pole broke and then the following shot, which shows the broken pole.