Seven women in five events moved on to compete Saturday in Bakersfield for the state championships.

Competing in three events was Caitlin Barrow and the rest of the track team, who enjoyed beautiful weather last Saturday in Bakersfield for the Southern California Championships.

Going into the event, it wasn’t certain whether Barrow would be able to run in the 1,600-meter relays.

“We all knew we had to have each other’s back, even if Caitlin’s ankle wasn’t OK,” Krystal Johnson said, “We still had to run it.”

Barrow who ran along with Shameer Dawson, Johnson and Lydnsey Brown finished third in the 1,600-meter relay with a time of 3:55.96 qualifying them for state.

“Caitlin almost tripped in the last one hundred meters,” Brown said. “I knew by then I would have to run harder than I usually do.”

“Her ankle has been bothering her all last week,” coach Kevin Hughley said. “The fact that she was able to compete was incredible.”

Saturday, the 1,600-meter relay team will all be well rested except for Shameer Dawson, who will run the 100-meter earlier that same day.

With a legitimate chance at becoming No. 1 in state, Brown said that she is optimistic.

“We’ve never been able to put all our energy in just that one race,” Brown said.

In her other events, Barrow from Mira Costa, and Star Thurman got the day started when Barrow jumped a 16-10 1/2 and Thurman a 16-2 finishing fifth and sixth respectively.

Barrow missed qualifying by one-inch.

In the high jump, Barrow tied for third at five feet even.

A fault on her first jump, prevented her from doing better, dropping her to fifth place.

Thurman finished third in the triple jump with a 36’5″ while Darina Daniels finished 11th at 31’8.

Stephanie Robbins from South Torrance finished ninth in the discus with a throw of 113’5. But she qualified for state in the shot put finishing second on the day with a throw of 42’11” 1/2.

The only woman competing in two events this weekend is Dawson. Dawson qualified in the 100-meters finishing fourth with a time of 12.20.

“Twelve-twenty got me to state,” Dawson said. “At state I’ll break records.”

Dawson along with Thurman, Krystal Johnson and Specelle Williams ran in the 400-meter relay and finished fifth barely missing qualifying with a time of 48.06.

However, Williams qualified for state in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:06.93.

“I started off slow for the first three hundred meters, then I came back and shocked a lot of people,” Williams said.

Williams placed sixth in the 100-meter hurdles at 16.19.

Heather Rosas and Dinora Moran placed sixth and 11th in the 1,500-meter.

Becky Cherry finished 13th in the 5,000-meter with a 19:09.07.

Brown ran her personal best of 2:18.53 in the 800-meter, but her sixth-place finish wasn’t enough to qualify her for state.