With the section record for the 800 meters already in his possession, Josiah Bowman had another milestone in his sights on Saturday at the CIF San Diego Section Track and Field Championships.

“My mindset for this race was that I wanted the meet record,” said Bowman, a Sage Creek High School senior. “It was the longest-standing record since ’64.”

Mission accomplished.

Bowman took the lead on the front stretch of the first lap and never looked back, stopping the watches in 1 minute, 50.67 seconds and surpassing the previous meet best of 1:50.94, a converted time set by Bob Hose of Madison in 1964 when the event was run at 880 yards.

Bowman will be among the section’s top qualifiers at the CIF state meet being held at Buchanan High School in Clovis.

Rancho Bernardo’s Jayden Moffit raced out to Saturday’s early lead, setting a pace to Bowman’s liking.

“When that guy (Moffit) went out hard, he was going my pace and that worked well for me,” said Bowman, who set the section record of 1:49.54 on April 11 at the Arcadia Invitational. “I wasn’t planning on going 100% today. I was at about 85-90%. I wanted to save my legs for state.”

Bowman beat out Poway sophomore Keith Buswell, who surged out of the pack to a second-place time of 1:55.12. Buswell earlier ran a 1:56.4 anchor lap to finish off a winning run by the Poway 4×800 relay team in the meet’s first boys race of the day.

Rancho Bernardo’s Brice Abawi was a double winner in the sprint races after being sidelined last season by a hamstring injury. The senior ran the seventh-fastest 100-meter dash in section history when he crossed the finish line well ahead of the rest of the pack in 10.46 seconds.

“It was definitely my start that won the 100,” said Abawi. “I worked all week on being faster out of the blocks, and I had my best block start of the season.”

Abawi followed up his 100 triumph with a victorious time of 21.12 to win the 200 meters, edging runner-up finisher Lee Smoole of La Jolla (21.18) at the tape.

“Smoole really helped to push me,” said Abawi, who indicated that he has had no hamstring issues this season and plans to compete in both events at the state meet. “It’s all about rehab, training and the right diet.”

Mater Dei Catholic sophomore Jasir Fontenot, the defending state champion in 110 hurdles who established the state record of 13.31 last year in the prelims, defended his section title with a winning time of 13.94. Fontenot is currently ranked No. 2 in the state with a season-best of 13.67.

“I’m not pleased with my time, but my ankle should hold up next week,” said Fontenot, who turned an ankle in his final varsity basketball game, slowing his return to track. “I’m looking at 13.3 or 13.4 at state. I didn’t have a great start today, and I’ll work on that.”

Del Norte distance runner Cam Yarbrough ran a 59.4 final lap while lowering his 1,600-meter time to 4:10:39 as the Nighthawks senior repeated as section champion. As expected, Mt. Carmel junior Jaxon Northcutt won the 3,200 with ease, finishing under nine minutes for the third time this season with a time of 8:57.89 for a winning margin of nearly 18 seconds.

Oceanside’s Jayden Gibbs dominated the weight events this season, and he defended his section crown in the shot put. The Pirates senior surpassed his Division 1 winning mark of a week ago in the shot put by more than two feet with a heave of 59 feet, 4 inches.

Ranked No. 3 in the state in the discus at 189-8, Gibbs failed to qualify for state after his first three attempts at the section meet resulted in two fouls and no mark, denying him a chance to repeat as section champion.

Rancho Buena Vista senior Justian Richardson, the state triple jump leader at 49-7, soared 48-10 to win the section crown. He is one of only two triple jumpers in the state to surpass 49 feet this season.

San Dieguito Academy’s Dylan Yarbrough won the section pole vault title last year at 16-2 as a junior, and he elevated that mark by nearly a foot two weeks ago when he won the Avocado League title with a vault of 17-1, just one inch off the section record. He fell short of 17 feet on Saturday but still repeated as section champion with a winning vault of 16-6.

In the boys team scoring, Rancho Bernardo led the way with 183 points, followed by San Marcos (144) and Helix (94 1/2).