Granada Hills’ Dijon Stanley to make mad dash at the City Section track championships

Get ready for the Dijon Stanley show on Thursday during the City Section track and field championships at Birmingham High.

The junior running back from Granada Hills High is ready to see how fast he can run 400 meters. Last week in the prelims, he was literally jogging for the first half of the race in what looked like a mere workout, then turned on the speed to run 48.35.

He said afterward he wants to reach 47 seconds or faster. He ran 47.23 at the Arcadia Invitational.

Another speedster primed for a top performance is Reign Redmond of Carson in the girls’ 100 meters. She ran the 100 in 11.78 seconds last week.

Races begin at 3 p.m. Top finishers can earn a qualifying spot at next weekend’s state championships at Buchanan High in Clovis.

The Southern Section Masters Meet will be held Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. at Moorpark High.

Much attention will be focused on the boys’ 100, where Gardena Serra’s Rodrick Pleasant ran a time of 10.16 in the Division 4 100 last week and will take on Division 3 champion Max Thomas of Servite, Division 2 champion Jordan Washington of Long Beach Jordan and Division 1 champion Devin Bragg of Los Alamitos.

Athletes will attempt to qualify for the state championships, which will be held May 27 and 28, the first time since 2019, after COVID-19 restrictions forced the event to be canceled the following two years.