SALINAS – Clara Adams, who won a state title in the 400 meters last spring in track only to see it stripped from her, is transferring to Woodrow Wilson High school in Long Beach this semester, following a family move.

The former North Salinas High sprinter will begin the second semester of the school year next Monday, as her dad landed a new job in Southern California.

“I’m excited for new scenery and more competition,” Adams said. “I’ll be fine. It’s a really good school for track. One of the reasons I wanted to go there is I have friends there.”

The 17-year-old became arguably the most talked about athlete at last year’s state track and field championships when she won the 400-meter title as a sophomore.

After the race, Adams sprayed her shoes with a fire extinguisher in celebration off the track. The celebration was considered excessive and unsportsmanlike by meet officials and she was stripped of her title and disqualified from the meet, keeping her from competing in the 200 meters.

The nationwide attention earned Adams and a name, image and likeness deal with Politely Raw, a podcast company. She and her family are still hoping she’ll be reinstated as a state champion and have threatened legal action.

“It doesn’t eat at me anymore,” Adams said. “I wouldn’t say I’ve let it go. But I’m not dwelling on it. It does serve as motivation to get back to state and finish.’’

Adams put her name in the spotlight for her work on the track over the summer, capturing AAU Junior National titles in the under-18 division in the 200 and 400.

Her marks of 52.58 seconds in the 400 and 23.42 in the 200 – both legal times – shattered the Monterey County records. Adams was the only double event winner in her age division.

“This is her last two years of high school track,” said Adams’ father, David. “The first two went by so fast. I want her to be in a position to be successful.”

Adams, who has signed a deal with Nike and will compete in an Indoor meet in New York in March, hopes to qualify for the Youth U20 World Games later this summer.

“This was Clara’s decision to attend Wilson,” David Adams said, “not mine. She was the one that made contact with the school. No one called her.”

While David Adams has been her personal coach since she began tearing up AAU track in the fifth grade, he’s confident in the staff at Woodrow Wilson.

“I will always be Clara’s sprint coach,” David Adams said. “But I have to start my own journey. I’m comfortable with the decision she’s made. I can still support my kid.”

Because it’s a family move to Southern California, Adams, who is changing schools for the third time in a calendar year, should be immediately eligible to compete for Wilson.

The start of spring sports is slated for Feb. 2.

Adams left North Salinas after her sophomore year and enrolled at Watsonville High, where she played volleyball in the fall, but still lived in Salinas.

“This is where I’ve (Salinas) grown up,” Adams said. “So, I’ll miss my friends and family. It’s just time to move on for me and my career.”

Last fall, Adams took recruiting visits to the University of Houston and Miami, with at least three more visits on the table in the coming months.

“I’ve been in contact with a lot of schools,” said Adams, who couldn’t put a number on the amount of colleges that have made contact with her.

Adams will be competing for a program that has won three straight state girls track and field team titles and will be the favorite this spring to four-peat.

Last year, the 5-foot-7 sprinter shaved nearly two seconds off her career best in breaking the Central Coast Section record in the 400 meters.

As a 15-year-old freshman in 2024, she stunned a talented field at the CCS finals and won the 200. She holds North Salinas school records in the 200, 400 and 800.

“I’m still a 400-meter runner first,” Adams said. “But I’m a 200-400 runner. That’s what I do. My 200 has gotten a lot better. I want to go sub-23 this spring.”

Adams has spent the last six weeks improving her endurance, as she has set her sights on the California record of 50.74  in the 400, held by former Olympian Monique Henderson.

Last week, she won the 300 meters at an all-comers meet in 38.64, which is the No. 2 time in California.

“The training has been hard because it’s in the winter and I’m being timed,” Adams said. “But I want that state record in the 400. I’ve got two years to dip under 50 seconds.”

The county records in the 200 and 400 that Adams broke last spring both came from Monterey graduate Sani Roseby, who went on to qualify for two US Olympic Trials meets in 2004 and 2008.

Adams was the first North Salinas female athlete to win a section track and field title, finishing fourth in the state in the 400 as a freshman.

The most decorated female track and field athlete to ever come out of North Salinas, Adams never lost a Pacific Coast Athletic League race, capturing two CCS titles.