Noonan, who graduated from Dana Hills this spring, lost by 0.01 seconds Saturday to Iowa’s Quentin Nauman, who was a junior this past school year. Noonan broke the county record of 4:01.04 set by Brea Olinda’s Austin Tamagno in 2016.

ORANGE COUNTY GIRLS OUTSTANDING COMPETITOR 2024-25

This award recognizes an Orange County athlete who was a standout in multiple sports, a team leader and someone who also excelled in areas outside of sports.

Name: Jaslene Massey

School: Aliso Niguel

Year: Junior

Sports: Volleyball, track and field

Notable highlights: An all-league volleyball player. A state champion in track and field. A scholar with challenging courses.

Jaslene Massey’s well-rounded abilities kept her busy at Aliso Niguel in the 2024-25 school year but the junior didn’t mind. She’s more than comfortable as a multi-sport athlete.

“I love it,” she said. “I love working out. I love lifting. I love every aspect of being a dual-sport athlete. The most important part to remember is balance.”

Massey struck a balance at a high level, and for her accomplishments, is The Register’s Orange County Girls Outstanding Competitor for 2024-25.

In the fall, the 5-foot-10 Massey played middle blocker in volleyball. The daughter of former UC Irvine volleyball and track standout Popi Edwards, Massey earned second-team All-South Coast League and MVP at the Bishop Diego tournament for the Wolverines (21-10).

In the spring, she was selected Orange County’s female athlete of the year in track and field, the sport that she plans to pursue in college.

Massey became the first county girl to win the discus at the CIF State championships since El Toro’s Hilary Fraser in 2007 by throwing 163 feet and 9 inches. She took second in the shot with a throw of 45-5 1/4 as she attempted to become only the second county girl to ever to sweep the discus and shot put at the state finals.

Massey also found time to win the long jump at the South Coast League finals with a mark of 17-5.

She extended her success to the classroom by earning a 4.6 grade-point average in the spring. Her classes included AP physics, U.S. history and language.

“Jaslene is an amazing role model,” Aliso Niguel track and field coach Patricia Lusar said. “Not only does she push herself to be the best that she can be, she inspires her teammates.”

Corona del Mar’s Jackson Harlan is the OC Boys Outstanding Competitor

ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Leo Francis, Santa Margarita, Senior

Leo Francis went to work right away when his track and field season ended last year.

“It all started around this time last year,” said Francis, a senior at Santa Margarita. “I focused immediately on my offseason training, getting in the gym and getting stronger and focusing on the coaches’ plan. I really got stronger as the season went on.”

And what a season it was.

Francis was the CIF State champion in the long jump and finished third in the 200 meters at the CIF State meet. He also finished second in the 100 at the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet.

Francis supplied 16 of the 24 team points that gave the Eagles their third-place finish in the CIF State team standings.

His wind-aided mark of 25 feet, ¾ inches in the long jump set the Orange County record in the event for all conditions, the best all-conditions mark in California this season, and was the eighth-best long jump mark under all conditions this season.

Francis’ time of 20.84 seconds in the 200 at the state meet was the fourth-best time in California this season. He finished third in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 finals at 10.45 seconds, the third-fastest time in Orange County this season, and was second in the Masters Meet 100 with a wind-aided 10.43.

He qualified in the 100 for the CIF State meet but opted to limit his state meet activities to the 200 and the long jump.

Francis won the 100, 200 and long jump at the Orange County Championships in April and anchored the Eagles’ winning 4×400 team. He led Santa Margarita to the boys team title, providing 30 of the Eagles’ 64 points.

“If I had to pick one favorite meet,” Francis said, “it would have to be the Orange County meet because I was first or part of being first in four things at Orange County. It was fun finding out I could be that good in so many things.”

Francis will attend the University of Pennsylvania this fall.

COACH OF THE YEAR

Brandon Thomas, Servite

Brandon Thomas of Servite is the Orange County boys track and field coach of the year.

The Friars won the CIF State championship, scoring 33 team points to second-place Clovis North’s 30 points.

Servite finished second to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame for the CIF Southern Section Division 3 championships, 106.50 team points for Notre Dame to Servite’s 104.

Servite’s stable of sophomore and freshmen sprinters set Orange County records in the 4×100 relay (40.00 seconds) and in the 4×400 relay (3 minutes, 9.46 seconds). The Friars also collected points during the season in hurdles and in the long and triple jumps.

Thomas also the assisted the Rosary girls team that was a CIF-SS Division 3 co-champion this year.

All-Orange County girls track and field team, athlete of the year 2025

ALL-COUNTY FIRST TEAM

(Selections made based on top marks and level of performance in the CIF Southern Section Finals and CIF State meet.)

100: Benjamin Harris, Servite, So.

200: Leo Francis, Santa Margarita, Sr.

400: Jaelen Hunter, Servite, Fr.

800: Alden Morales, JSerra, Jr.

1,600: Evan Noonan, Dana Hills, Sr.

3,200: Evan Noonan, Dana Hills, Sr.

110 hurdles: Blaise Burwell, Servite, So.

300 hurdles: Peyton Brown, Tesoro, Jr.

High jump: Brandon Gorski, Mater Dei, Sr.

Long jump: Leo Francis, Santa Margarita, Sr.

Triple jump: Oliver Jones, Fairmont Prep, Sr.

Pole vault: Brady Furr, Santa Margarita, Sr.

Shot put: Jayden Legaspi, Canyon, Sr.

Discus: Jack Paalova, Ocean View, Sr.

4×100 relay: Servite

4×400 relay: Servite

4×800 relay: JSerra

ALL-COUNTY SECOND TEAM

100: Leo Francis, Santa Margarita, Sr.

200: Benjamin Harris, Servite, So.

400: Jace Wells, Servite, Fr.

800: Mattheus Dos Santos, San Clemente, So.

1,600: Max Douglass, Corona del Mar, Sr.

3,200: Aidan Antonio, Woodbridge, So.

110 hurdles: Baron Giacchetto, Orange Lutheran, Fr.

300 hurdles: Jett Gary, Beckman, Sr.

High jump: Henri Huntington, San Clemente, Jr.

Long jump: Brandon Gorski, Mater Dei, Sr.

Triple jump: Judah Clark, Servite, Jr.

Pole vault: Garrett Higgins, Trabuco Hills, Sr.

Shot put: Jack Paavola, Ocean View, Sr.

Discus: Jayden Legaspi, Canyon, Sr.

4×100 relay: Mater Dei

4×400 relay: Northwood

4×800 relay: Beckman

ATHLETE OF THE YEAR 

Jaslene Massey, Aliso Niguel, Junior

If it’s true that we learn more from failure than success, then Jaslene Massey received an excellent education at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays track and field meet in April.

Massey, a junior at Aliso Niguel High, won the shot put competition. She finished last in the meet’s discus because of fouls.

“I feel like that was the turning point,” Massey said. “That’s when I realized this is the season, this is track and field and this is how it might be for however long. It gave me inspiration to never have that happen again and to learn how to be consistent.”

From there, great marks continued in the shot put and resumed in the discus, leading to championships in both events in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 finals and in the CIF-SS Masters Meet. She ended the year at the CIF State meet with a first-place finish in the discus and a second-place finish in the shot put.

Her personal record of 50 feet, 7 inches in the shot put, set this year in the Orange County Championships at Mission Viejo High, was the best mark in California this season and the fourth-best mark in the nation this season. The 50-7 mark is the second best in Orange County history.

Massey’s personal-record discus throw of 165 feet, 6 inches at the CIF-SS Masters Meet was the second-best mark in the state this season. That’s also the fourth-best mark in county history.

She finished first in the discus at the CIF State meet with a mark of 163-9. She finished second in the shot put at the state meet with a mark of 45-5¼.

Massey competes in the Nike Nationals and the USATF U20 Championships, both in Oregon, this month.

She got her sports start as a figure skater. She said all of the spinning she did in figure skating transfers well to the shot put and discus circles.

She also is adept at the long jump. She won the South Coast League finals long jump with a personal-record mark of 17 feet, 5 inches in the league meet.

COACH OF THE YEAR

Chase Frazier, JSerra

Chase Frazier of JSerra is the Orange County girls track and field coach of the year.

He coached the Lions to the CIF Southern Section Division 3 championship. They tallied 84 team points; second-place Calabasas had 59 points. The 84 points was the second-most of any of the four CIF-SS division champions.

JSerra had athletes qualify for the CIF State Meet in four different events.

Frazier began coaching at JSerra in 2019 after coaching at Mission Viejo High. He was the Orange County boys track and field coach of the year in 2023.

ALL-COUNTY FIRST TEAM

(Selections made based on top marks and level of performance in the CIF Southern Section Finals and CIF State meet.)

100: Maliyah Collins, Rosary, Fr.

200: Justine Wilson, Rosary, So.

400: Justine Wilson, Rosary, So.

800: Anne Elise Packard, JSerra, Sr.

1,600: Evangeline Williams, Trabuco Hills, Fr.

3,200: Holly Barker, Trabuco Hills, Sr.

100 hurdles: Jada Faison, Rosary, Jr.

300 hurdles: Olivia Smyth, Santa Margarita, Jr.

High jump: Julia Teven, Brea Olinda, Jr.

Long jump: Jada Faison, Rosary, Jr.

Triple jump: Skyler Cazale, Calvary Chapel, Sr.

Pole vault: Sydni Harden, Dana Hills, Sr.

Shot put: Jaslene Massey, Aliso Niguel, Jr.

4×100 relay: Rosary

4×400 relay: Rosary

4×800 relay: JSerra

ALL-COUNTY SECOND TEAM

100: Eden Murray, Mater Dei, So.

200: Maliyah Collins, Rosary, Fr.

400: Maya Woolforde, JSerra, Jr.

800: Chloe Elbaz, JSerra, Jr.

1,600: Annie Ivarsson, Dana Hills, Sr.

3,200: Summer Wilson, Irvine, Jr.

100 hurdles: Kendall Jordan, Mater Dei, Sr.

300 hurdles: Natalie McCarty, Newport Harbor, Jr.

High jump: Amber Whipple, El Dorado, Jr.

Long jump: Alia Pasternak, Huntington Beach, Sr.

Triple jump: Amaya Faison, Rosary, Jr.

Pole vault: Olivia Bettinger, Los Alamitos, Sr.

Shot put: Abbey Reichard, Portola, Sr.

Discus: Madison Gallacher, Canyon, Sr.

4×100 relay: Mater Dei

4×400 relay: JSerra

4×800 relay: Trabuco Hills

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Tuesday the Trump administration was considering withholding education funding to California schools, alleging the state’s policies on transgender athletes violates federal law.

“I think that is part of what we found with the state of California just blatantly refusing to be in compliance with Title IX regulations,” McMahon said at an event hosted by Bloomberg News. “So that is one of the tools and the other options that we have with California and I think it’s right that we make them aware that that is a risk that they run.”

Politico first reported that the administration was weighing cutting the funding in response to the state allowing transgender athletes to compete on teams that align with their identified gender. The administration says such a position violates federal bans on sex discrimination.

California officials have defended their policy as consistent with state law.

McMahon said earlier that the administration was not directly targeting individual schools.

“We’re not putting a bullseye out there and trying to find targets for things,” she said. “We’re looking at violations and we want to make sure we’re addressing them.”

Long-standing tensions between California and the Trump administration have deepened in recent days. Trump bypassed the state’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom to activate the National Guard — and US Marines —- in response to protests over immigration raids.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Name: Leo Francis

School: Santa Margarita

Sport: Track and field

Year: Senior

Noteworthy: He won the long jump with a mark of 25 feet, 0.75 inches (wind-aided) and finished third in the 200 at 20.84 seconds in the CIF State Track and Field Championships. Francis supplied 16 of Santa Margarita’s 24 team points. Santa Margarita finished third in the team standings. HIs long jump mark in the state meet is the eighth-best in all conditions in the nation this season. He will attend the University of Pennsylvania this fall.

The Orange County girls athlete of the week:

Name: Jaslene Massey

School: Aliso Niguel

Sport: Track and field

Year: Junior

Noteworthy: Massey became the first Orange County girl to capture the discus at the CIF State Championships since El Toro’s Hilary Fraser in 2007 by throwing 163 feet and 9 inches in Clovis. Massey placed second in the shot put with a throw of 45-5 1/4 as she attempted to become only the second county girl to ever to sweep the discus and shot put at the state finals.

Trump posted Monday on social media that Newsom “fully understands, large scale fines will be imposed” following the CIF State meet and AB Hernandez’s participation in three events.

Hernandez, a junior on the Jurupa Valley track and field team, won the girls’ triple jump and high jump and finished second in the long jump in the CIF State Championships Saturday despite protests and calls for her to not be allowed to compete because she is transgender.

Under a rule change announced May 28 by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the state’s governing body for high school sports, Kira Gant Hatcher from Saint Mary’s College High School in Berkeley was allowed to stand with Hernandez at the spot for first-place finishers on the podium. Hatcher was second in the triple jump.

The new rule awards biological female athletes the place on the podium they would have earned if not for the presence of transgender athletes.

Saint Mary’s College High School also received 10 points in the team scoring, just like Jurupa Valley High School.

Hernandez was among three high jumpers to clear 5 feet, 7 inches but was declared the winner because she cleared the height on her first attempt while Jillene Wetteland, a senior at Long Beach Poly, and Lelani Laruelle, a junior at Monta Vista in Cupertino, both missed their first attempts, then cleared on their second.

Hernandez was second in the long jump behind Long Beach Wilson senior Loren Webster.

During the competition, protesters outside the Buchanan High School stadium could be heard through a bullhorn chanting phrases like “protect girls sports” and “stop discriminating against female athletes,” the Southern California News Group reported.

A plane with the message “No boys in girls sports!” also flew in circles around the stadium as Hernandez competed, SCNG reported.

Hernandez’s mother, Nereyda Hernandez, praised her daughter after the events in a statement, saying, “As your mother, I cannot fully express how PROUD I am of you.

“Watching you rise above months of being targeted, misunderstood, and judged not by peers, but by adults who should’ve known better, has left me in awe of your strength,” her mother said. “Despite it all, you stayed focused. You kept training, you kept showing up, and now you’re bringing THE GOLD HOME!!!”

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it is opening an investigation to determine if a state law allowing transgender athletes to compete on female sports teams at California schools violates the federal Title IX civil rights law.

The department sent letters to state Attorney General Rob Bonta, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and the CIF informing them of the investigation.

According to the DOJ, the investigation specifically targets state Assembly Bill 1266, the 2013 legislation aimed at preventing discrimination against transgender students and ensuring their right to take part in school activities, including athletics.

It also targets a CIF bylaw “that permits, directs, instructs or requires California high schools to allow males to participate in girls’ interscholastic athletics, thereby depriving girls and young women of equal athletic opportunities.”

Without using her name, the DOJ letter to the CIF specifically references Hernandez.

“Title IX exists to protect women and girls in education. It is perverse to allow males to compete against girls, invade their private spaces, and take their trophies,” Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said in a statement. “This division will aggressively defend women’s hard-fought rights to equal educational opportunities.”

On Tuesday, the CIF announced a change in the entry rules for the state meet, essentially expanding the field of competitors in various events to ensure biological females are not excluded from the competition due to the performance of trans athletes.

The DOJ Title IX investigation came one day after Trump posted on social media that he would withhold federal funding from California if transgender athletes are allowed to compete in girls sports, and he called on local authorities to prevent Hernandez from competing in the CIF State meet.

“California, under the leadership of Radical Left Democrat Gavin Newsom, continues to ILLEGALLY allow ‘MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN’S SPORTS.’ This week a transitioned male athlete, at a major event, won ‘everything,’ and is now qualified to compete in the ‘State Finals’ next weekend.”

The athlete Trump is presumably referring to is Hernandez.

“As a male, he was a less than average competitor. As a female, this transitioned person is practically unbeatable. THIS IS NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS,” Trump wrote. “Please be hereby advised that large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to.

“The Governor, himself, said it is ‘UNFAIR.’ I will speak to him today to find out which way he wants to go??? In the meantime I am ordering local authorities, if necessary, to not allow the transitioned person to compete in the State Finals. This is a totally ridiculous situation!!!’

The Friars finished the CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High with 33 points to take the top spot on the medals podium. Runner-up Clovis North had 30 points.

Servite kicked off the finals Saturday evening by winning the 4×100-meter relay and they closed it with a third-place finish in the 4×400 relay. In between the relays, they picked up crucial points in individual events.

The four freshmen who made up the Friars’ 4×100 relay – Jace Wells, Jaelen Hunter, Kamil Pelovello and Jorden Wells — couldn’t quite match their state-leading time of 40.00 seconds but the foursome of was fast enough to win in 40.27 seconds.

Mission accomplished

2025 CIF STATE TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONS #credo #gofriars #weareservite pic.twitter.com/YyKwY82AoU

— Servite Athletics (@ServiteSports) June 1, 2025

The same group finished third in the 4×400 in 3 minutes, 9.46 seconds, behind Long Beach Poly and Central East of Fresno.

Hunter also finished second in the 400 in 46.65, falling short of his county-leading time of 46.32.

Servite’s Benjamin Harris took second in the 100 in a personal-best time of 10.3.

“They’ve been accustomed to winning in their youth track careers and so when you put winners together with other winners this is what it comes to,” Servite coach Brandon Thomas said. “They really train hard, they really come together for one another.”

Santa Margarita, led by Leo Francis and Brady Fur, finished third with 24 points.

JSerra tied for 11th with 16 points and Mater Dei was 35th with six points.

The Lions’ boys 4×800 relay team won the event in 7:33.43.

Francis capped his stellar season for the Eagles with an excellent performance in two events.

Francis, who came in as the county leader in the long jump, won the event, with a jump season-best of 25 feet, 3/4 inch.

Later in the night, he finished third in the 200 in 20.84.

The Eagles’ Brady Fur finished second in the pole vault, clearing 16 feet, 4 inches.

Evan Noonan of Dana Hills was expected to contend for first place in the 3,200, but the senior didn’t run in the race.

Rich Gonzalez, who runs PrepCalTrack.com, reported that Noonan, the defending state champion in the event, was “suffering from a severe stomach flu throughout the day.”

Noonan came into the weekend as county leader in the 1,600 and 3,200 and won the 3,200 (8:55.76) in the CIF SS Masters on May 24.

In the girls competition:

Aliso Niguel, led by Jaslene Massey, was the highest-placing Orange County team with 18 points (tied for 8th).

Massey, who leads the county in the discus and shot put, won the discus with a throw of 163 feet, 9 inches, more than 9 feet better than the second-place finisher.

Massey finished second in the shot with a throw of 45-5 1/4, just a half inch behind the winner Aja Johnson of Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks.

‘I feel very proud of what I’ve done in the disc and how far I’ve come this season,” Massey said. “Shot didn’t go as well as I had hoped, but it turned into a valuable lesson. Sky’s the limit from here and I can’t wait to compete again in Nike Outdoor Nationals and looking forward to my senior season.”

“I do believe track is about getting better,” she added. “In terms of disc, I think that’s what happened, but in shot I didn’t feel my best. I wanted to hit 50 feet-plus again and I hope to do that in a couple weeks. For now, back to the drawing board to figure out how my coach and I can achieve that.”

Rosary’s Justine Wilson made it to the medal platform with a fifth-place finish in the 200.

The junior’s time of 23.80 is off her county-leading time by about four-tenths of a second.

The JSerra girls were 16th in the team standings with 14.5 points.

JSerra’s Anne Elise Packard finished fourth in the 800 and came back to run the anchor leg of the team’s 4×800 relay. The Lions finished second in the race to Santiago of Corona, which set a state record of 8:49.01. JSerra finished in a county-leading time of 8:52.68,

In the girls 3,200, Holy Barker of Trabuco Hills, the county leader in the event, finished third in 10:10.39.

The top two finishers in the race – Hanne Thomsen of Montgomery of Santa Rosa and Rylee Blade of Santiago of Corona – ran 9:48.98 and 9:50.51, respectively.

Dana Hills’ Sydni Harden finished second in the pole vault, clearing 12-6.

That briefly changed when a small plane with a banner trailing behind it that read “No boys in girls’ sports!” began to circle the stadium as Jurupa Valley’s AB Hernandez, a trans student-athlete, began to compete in the high jump – her first of three events that day.

“It was time for a banner because we’ve done the protests and nothing’s changed. We’ve shown up at all the CIF public comment periods and nothing’s changed,” Julie Lane, co-founder of Women Are Real, said.

@haleymsawyer

A plane with a banner that says “no boys in girls sports!” flew in circles around Veterans Memorial Stadium on Friday as openly trans student-athlete AB Hernandez started competing in high jump, her first event of the day, at the CIF State track and field prelims. #sportsreporter #sports #trackandfield #trackmeet #trans #transathlete

♬ original sound – Haley Sawyer

Women Are Real – or WAR for short – is a grassroots organization with more than 160 members across California who are against trans athletes competing in girls’ and women’s sports. Many members have lost partners, friends or family members over their involvement, but the group remains steadfast.

The group did not have a large physical presence at the track meet Friday aside from the plane. Lane said Women Are Real members were inside the stadium two years ago for a protest but were removed by the CIF.

The CIF is not allowing signs or banners into Veteran’s Memorial Stadium this year.

“We wanted to make a big statement and we didn’t want to be shut down by the CIF again,” Lane said. “They shut us down all the time.”

The plane and its message cost more than $3,000 and was funded entirely by Women Are Real members, Lane said. Members pledged a monetary donation and when enough was raised, Lane began calling companies for quotes.

There were no difficulties getting quotes or finding a company to agree to fly the message, she said.

“It’s really difficult for us to have a voice in this when everybody is censoring us or beating us up or trying to shut us up,” Lane said. “We figured a plane in the air, nobody can stop that.”

The CIF introduced a new pilot entry program related to transgender athletes after the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet, which allowed an extra biological female to advance in the events that Hernandez competed in.

Lane says it’s not enough.

“We’re not preventing anyone from playing,” she said. “We’re just saying, play in your correct category. The CIF ought to be doing that too.

“I’m talking about common sense, that’s all we’re talking about. This is similar to anorexia, it’s similar to suicide, these things are social contagion issues that later people finally figure out and stop doing it. And the Democrats have so much power right now in California that it’s really hard to stop this delusion.”

The federal government launched an investigation into California school administrators, the CIF and the Jurupa Unified School District for allowing transgender student-athletes to compete in girls’ sports.

California state law allows students to access restrooms, sports teams and other facilities based on gender identity. A 2023 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 3.3% of U.S. high school students identified as transgender and 2.2% identified as questioning.

The probe is seeking to determine whether Title IX is violated by California law – specifically, AB 1266.

Jurupa Unified School District did not respond to a request for comment regarding AB Hernandez’s participation in the track and field championships ahead of the event.