No more taking it easy in City Section track and field. It’s time to start reaching peak form when the preliminaries will take place on Thursday at Birmingham High in preparation for next Thursday’s finals at the same venue.
Field events begin at noon and running events start at 1 p.m. Birmingham has a new Mondo track surface that should produce faster times.
Carson has won nine consecutive City titles in girls’ track and field.
Junior Christina Gray will be back in the sprints. She won the Marine League 100 and 200 events last week.
In the boys’ competition, there’s some terrific matchups, particularly in the 400, where Granada Hills’ Justin Hart will be preparing to face Venice’s Nathan Santa Cruz. In the sprints, Birmingham’s Antrell Harris won the West Valley League 100 meters in 10.85 seconds.
General admission tickets are $12 and $8 for students. The finals next week begin at 4 p.m. with running events. …
The Southern Section track and field championships will take place Saturday at Moorpark High School. Field events begin at 10:30 a.m. and running events at 1 p.m. Admission tickets are $14 for adults and $7 for students and can be purchased in advance at gofan.co. …
The Southern Section baseball playoffs open Thursday in Divisions 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9. Here’s the link to the schedule.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.