CIF SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS:

For a photo gallery of the meet, click here.

WALNUT — Cecil Whiteside, this year’s CIF Southern Section Division II discus champion, couldn’t stand the heat, so he got out of the stadium.

Confident that his discus throw of 168 feet, seven inches would be good enough to allow him to advance to next week’s CIF Southern Section Masters meet at Cerritos College, the Newport Harbor High sophomore elected to drive home before the Division I results from Mt. San Antonio College were finalized.

The top 12 throwers across all divisions advance to Masters.

“I’m pretty sure I’m already in,” said Whiteside, who had no desire to bake in the 97-degree weather in Walnut. “Something weird would have to happen if I don’t make it.

“It was extremely hot and extremely bad conditions for throwing. But it’s one of those things everyone has to do deal with.”

Besides, after missing the finals last year when he faulted on his last throw in CIF preliminaries, Friday’s triumph was more than enough for Whiteside. Whiteside, the only local CIF champion, was seventh in the Division II shot put with a throw of 51 feet.

Whiteside, who qualified fourth in the discus, was one of three Masters qualifiers for the Sailors.

Rex Nelson was the only participant Saturday to qualify in two events, the 1,600 meters and the 3,200, and senior Sophia Ditty qualified 12th in the 3,200.

Nelson qualified 11th in the 1,600 and fourth in the 3,200. Now, he and Coach Nowell Kay must make a decision about which event he’ll run at Masters Friday.

“That was really awesome to be able to qualify in both of those distance races,” Kay said. “The mile was at the peak of the heat.”

The big shock of the day was that no one from Corona del Mar, winners of the last three girls’ CIF Division III titles, advanced to Masters.

“We got nobody,” said Sea Kings coach Bill Sumner.

Sumner couldn’t remember the last time the Sea Kings didn’t have anyone on the boys or girls’ side advance, but estimated it had to be at least 10 years.

“You can’t have a world record every time you go out,” Sumner said. “It just doesn’t happen. That’s the hard part. Everybody expects that they’re going to win. But we can’t take that for granted. Nothing happened! You’re not supposed to win every year. We’ve got more than our share of championships.”

Senior Shelby Buckley, who will run for UCLA next season, was forced to pull out of the 1,600 because of a sore quadricep. She’d been nursing it with ice baths five days a week for the past three weeks, and she was unable to train at her usual level.

Saturday, Buckley was getting ready to run when Sumner yelled at her to step off the track, not wanting to make the injury worse.

“He said it a second time and I figured I should listen,” said Buckley, who was marked as “did not finish.”

Buckley finished third in the state last year with a time of 4:45.39, and she was disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to compete again in Sacramento.

“I have to get OK with it and I guess enjoy the rest of my senior year,” Buckley said. “Everything happens for a reason and I guess I’m trying to drill that into my mind. I’m not OK with it, but I guess I’ll have to become OK with it.”

Buckley finished second in the 800 meters with a time of 2:16.70, her only event of the day. She was also scheduled to run in the 1,600 relay, but Sumner replaced her with Allison Damon, who missed six weeks out of the season because of mononucleosis.

Damon took fifth in Division III in the girls’ 1,600 with a time of 5:09.93.

“Everything was up in the air after the 800 because my leg was acting up,” Buckley said. “It just gets tight in my quad by my knee area and makes it difficult to run.”

Tina Theriot, who finished ninth in the 800, said she, Buckley and Kim Condino were all adversely affected by the heat.

But Sumner said nothing was different this year for the Sea Kings, injury wise, except that they all came later in the season when there was less recovery time for the postseason. Junior Blaine Bolus took fourth in the triple jump after having problems with his hamstring.

“As far as kids getting injured, that comes with the territory,” Sumner said. “You can’t compete at this level and not get banged up. You just don’t want to get banged up during this time of the year.”

Neither Sage Hill nor Costa Mesa had any Masters qualifiers.

— From staff reports

CIF Southern Section Finals

DIVISION II

Newport Harbor Boys

1,600 — 3. Rex Nelson, 4:20.60, *Q11; 5. Michael Puncel, 4:23.97.

3,200 — 2. Rex Nelson, 9:19.40, *Q4.

SP— 7. Cecil Whiteside, 51-0

DT — 1. Cecil Whiteside, 168-7 *Q9; 7. Nate Talbott, 157-0.

Newport Harbor Girls

300 H — 7. Cassidy Gaynor, 47.17.

3,200 — 4. Sophia Ditty, 11:06.24, *Q12; 5. Erica Pearson, 11:06.70.

DIVISION III

Corona del Mar Boys

1,600 — 4. Thomas Dialynas, 4:24.49.

TJ — 4. Blaine Bolus, 45-4.

Corona del Mar Girls

800 — 2. Shelby Buckley, 2:16.70, 5. Kim Condino 2:19.91; 8. Tina Theriot, 2:27.10.

1,600 — 5. Allison Damon, 5:09.93.

1,600 relay — 6. Sarah Craig, Tina Theriot, Allison Damon, Claire Schmidt, 3:59.24.

Costa Mesa Girls

TJ — 6. Tatiana Williams, 35-1 3/4 .

DIVISION IV

Sage Hill Boys

400 — 4. Lion Wintemute, 50.64.

800 — 2. Connor Rose, 1:57.52.

1,600 relay — 8. Connor Rose, Lion Wintemute, Andy Multari, Sean McElroy, 3:35.34.

SP — 6. Cody Gates, 48-8.

Sage Hill Girls

800 — 6. Cait Williamson, 2:22.90.

1,600 — 8. Cait Williamson, 5:34.85.

* denotes Masters qualifier