CLOVIS —After Clara Adams appeared to have develop into a state monitor champion Saturday night time, controversy erupted to mar what was considered a historic achievement.
Clara Adams, proven right here earlier this season, gained the state meet 400-meter race however was later disqualified. (John Devine — Monterey Herald)
Adams, a North Salinas Excessive sophomore, was the first-place finisher within the 400 meters within the state highschool championships. Then, in a celebratory second, she took a fireplace extinguisher from her dad, stepped away from the monitor and blasted her footwear with the retardant spray.
“I told Clara, ‘You’re on fire,’” mentioned her father, David. “She did not do it in front of her opponents. She wasn’t disrespecting anyone.”
Apparently, California Interscholastic Federation officers felt in another way. They instantly disqualified Adams and stripped her of her state title, leaving her in disbelief simply minutes earlier than she was scheduled to run the 200 meters.
“I don’t know what’s going through my mind right now,” Clara Adams mentioned later that night time. “I’m disappointed and I feel robbed. I am in shock. They (officials) yelled at me and told me, ‘We’re not letting you on the podium.’ They took my moment away from me.”
The gold medal as an alternative went to Madison Mosby, a senior at St. Mary’s Academy in Inglewood.
The day solely obtained worse. As a result of Adams was disqualified for what was dominated an unsportsmanlike act after profitable the 400, she was additionally disqualified from the meet and was not allowed to run within the 200, the place she was one of many favorites to complete within the prime three.
“I have video of it,” mentioned David Adams, who can also be his daughter’s dash coach. “She was on the other side of the wall. I told her to step off the track. She did not spray her shoes on the track. We have protested the decision. I feel it was racially motivated.” (Adams is Black.)
The protest fell on deaf ears as the choice to disqualify Adams was upheld, stopping her from her second straight podium end within the occasion — having completed fourth final yr as a freshman.
“It’s a very unfortunate event,” mentioned North Salinas head monitor coach Alan Inexperienced. “We are all heartbroken. Clara ran an incredible 400 race and is the fastest 400-meter girl in the state.”
Adams had hoped to match Calvin Harrison’s achievement 32 years in the past of profitable the 200 and 400, even carrying the throwback North Salinas uniforms from that period. However with the protest upheld, her day was completed.
“She was trying to have some fun at the finish line after the 400,” mentioned Inexperienced, selecting his phrases rigorously. “It was interpreted as unsportsmanlike. What an incredible season and run. It’s unfortunate.”
Adams had superior to the finals after clocking the second-fastest time within the trials on Friday, almost matching her state-leading time of 53.23 seconds, achieved on the Central Coast Part finals final week. Within the finals, she blistered the monitor out of Lane 6, clocking 53.24.
Within the 200 trials on Friday, Adams shaved almost half a second off her finest time, clocking 23.71 and going from being ranked twelfth to No. 2 going into the finals.
Adams, who broke the CCS finals report within the 400 final week and is the Monterey County report holder, is now No. 2 all-time within the county within the 200, behind Monterey’s Sani Roseby’s mark of 23.52, set in 1999.
Through the season, the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Cypress Division 100-, 200- and 400-meter champion set faculty information at North Salinas within the 100, 200, 400 and 800.
“Clara is taking it really hard,” mentioned her father. “But she’s had a lot of support from people in the stadium.”
Initially Revealed: June 2, 2025 at 8:37 AM PDT
