Photos by Ray Hamill/HumbpldtSports.com – Action from Tuesday’s league championship prelims at McKinleyville High.

By Ray Hamill — Some of the best athletes on the North Coast will take center stage this weekend at the H-DNL track and field championships.

The highly-anticipated league-concluding meet will take place at McKinleyville High School, with the action getting under way with senior recognition at 11:30 a.m.

The first events begin at noon.

And with individual and team titles on the line, as well as qualification for next weekend’s North Coast Section championships, it should be an exciting day of action.

One of the most competitive events should be the girls high jump, which features two of the top six competitors in the NCS who have battled neck and neck for much of the spring.

St. Bernard’s Laila Florvilus currently is tied for the third-best mark in the section (5’, 5”), while Eureka’s Emily Pesch is tied for the sixth-best jump with a 5’ 4”.

The talented duo are among seven local athletes who feature among the NCS leaders as we head towards the postseason.

In addition to her high jump mark, the outstanding Florvilus also has the best time in the girls 100 meter hurdles, an event she leads by a sizable margin.

Florvilus’ top time in the event this spring is 15.34 seconds, which is almost half a second better than anybody else.

Florvilus also has the sixth-best time in the girls 300m hurdles.

Del Norte speedster Deken Hanks, who recently ran the fastest ever league time in the boys 100m, will be favored to win both sprints for the second straight year on Saturday.

The sensational sophomore has the sixth fastest time in the NCS in the 100m (10.76 seconds) and the seventh fastest in the 200m (21.96 seconds).

Fortuna’s multi-sport standout Russell Pascascio is also riding high in the NCS in the boys high jump, giving the league a legitimate shot at winning a pair of high jump titles at the section championships.

Pascascio’s PR in the event is 6’ 5”, which he set at last month’s Viking Track Classic and is the second best mark in the section, just a quarter of an inch off top spot.

Ferndale’s Isaak Kasso is also having a spring to remember and has two top-10 marks in the section.

Kasso has the seventh-best time in the boys 110m hurdles (15.19 seconds) and will be favorite to win that event on Saturday, as well as the 10th best mark in section in the triple jump (42’ 10”).

St. Bernard’s Madelyn and Del Norte’s Holly Wakefield both also feature among the section leaders.

Shanahan has the third best throw in the girls discus this spring (113’ 1”), which she set at last week’s league meet at Fortuna, while Wakefield has the seventh best mark in the shot put with a throw of 34’ 4.25”, which she also set at last week’s Fortuna meet.

Among the other top contenders this week, Eureka senior Sequoia Ashby will look to close out her H-DNL career with a big showing.

The Loggers senior standout has the best league mark in the 800m, the 1600m and the 3200m.

Arcata’s Nathan Whitney should also be a contender in the boys 1600m and 3200m and holds the best league times in both races this spring.