San Clemente senior Caroline Hawkes is very good at the 100-, 200- and 400-meter races in track and field.

Her favorite?

“The 200 is the most fun,” she said.

“The 200 is the most fun because you can pick up your speed and be competitive but it’s not so long that you’re dying at the end.”

Hawkes will run in the 200 and 400 in Division 1 of the CIF Southern Section Track and Field Finals on Saturday at Moorpark High School.

At last week’s CIF-SS Prelims, Hawkes qualified for the 400 with a time of 55.56 seconds. (Roosevelt’s Naomi Johnson had the best 400 time at 54.45.) Hawkes qualified for the 200 with a time of 24.96. (Johnson had the fastest 200 time at prelims, a wind-aided 23.95.)

Qualifying in the prelims can be tricky for runners and field-event athletes. Yes, put in the effort to finish good enough qualify but don’t overdo it and spend all of your fuel too soon. Distance runners have time to adjust if they go too far ahead or fall too far behind, but the sprinters have little room for that.

“It’s definitely a little scary,” Hawkes said. “Mostly you just run your race.”

Hawkes has run on San Clemente’s 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams this season, but she and the Tritons coaches have streamlined her workload for the finals, allowing her to focus on the 200 and 400. Getting a medal for either or both would be special for Hawkes. She has bagged several first-place finishes this year, including the 200 and the 400 titles at the Sea View League finals and at the Orange County Championships, and some dual-meet wins in the 100.

“That would be the cherry on top,” said Hawkes, who is going to Montana State on a track and field scholarship. “This is my first real full season, because of COVID canceling so much the last two years. It’s so good to have all the invitationals and all the competitions back so I can go after my goals.”

OK, the 200 is Hawkes’ favorite race. The most challenging race?

“The 400,” she said. “You should get a little gold star for that because it’s the hardest race in track.”

NOTES

• Servite senior Max Thomas was the CIF-SS Division 3 champion in the 100 and 200 last year. He easily qualified for both for this season’s Division 3 track and field finals.

• Dana Hills junior Allura Markow was the Division 2 champion in the 3,200 last season, at 11 minutes, 6.57 seconds. She had Division 2’s top qualifying time (10:50.88) for the 3,200 at last week’s prelims.

• More track notes: Mission Viejo junior Jada Gatlin qualified in the long jump and triple jump in Division 2 … Canyon seniors Isabella Frisone and Emma Hadley each qualified for two events in Division 2. Frisone qualified in the 1,600 and 3200, Hadley in the 800 and 1,600. … JSerra junior thrower Siena Lambert at the Division 3 prelims threw the discus a personal-best 131 feet, 10 inches. That is more than 5 feet better than her winning mark at the previous week’s Trinity League finals and more than 8 feet better than her winning mark at the Orange County Championships last month.

• In most events, the top nine finishers at the CIF-SS Track and Field Championships, regardless of division, advance to the CIF-SS Masters Meet on May 21 at Moorpark High School. The top 12 finishers in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 advance to the Masters Meet.

• Orange County teams are playing in all four CIF-SS Division 1 baseball quarterfinals Friday: Orange Lutheran at Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks; Huntington Beach at Foothill; Villa Park at Cypress; and JSerra vs. Harvard-Westlake at O’Malley Field in Encino.

• The CIF-SS baseball finals for all seven divisions will be played May 20-21 at Cal State Fullerton. Specifics will be announced after the semifinals are played Tuesday, May 17.

• Look for CIF-SS softball finals specifics to be announced Monday, May 16. Softball finals will be played May 20-21 at Bill Barber Park in Irvine.

• Orange County will have four teams competing in the CIF-SS boys tennis finals Friday at The Claremont Club. Corona del Mar will play University in the Open Division match starting at 11:10 a.m. University beat Corona del Mar 13-5 in the season opener for both team on Feb. 16. The Division 2 final has Beckman vs. Los Alamitos beginning at 11 a.m. Beckman and Los Alamitos played to a 9-9 tie in both teams’ season opener on March 15.

• It’s a rematch in the CIF-SS boys lacrosse Division 1 final in which Corona del Mar plays Foothill on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Downey High. Foothill defeated Corona del Mar 7-6 on April 9.

• It’s a rematch, too, in the CIF-SS girls lacrosse Division 1 final in which Foothill plays Santa Margarita on Friday at 4 p.m. at Downey High. Foothill beat Santa Margarita 16-8 on March 1. Foothill is 20-1, with its only loss to St. Ignatius of San Francisco on March 17.

• Servite named Matt Marrujo as its athletic director to replace Alan Clinton, who remains at the school as the wrestling coach. (Clinton is like most A.D./coaches who find coaching far more enjoyable.) Marrujo will continue to be Servite’s volleyball coach.