CLOVIS — Ever since England’s Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile in 1954, it has been the glamor event for track and field.

Even when the race is now contested in meters, it’s still the one that draws the cheers —and San Diego Section athletes were leading the way in the California state championship prelims Friday at Veterans Stadium in Clovis.

As expected, La Jolla senior Chiara Dailey High School blew past the field in the final 400 meters to lead all qualifiers at 4 minutes, 46.80 seconds heading into Saturday’s championships.

Not so certain was Del Norte’s Cam Yarbrough turning on the burners in the last 400 meters of the boys’ race to clock a sizzling 4:06.84 — almost a full second ahead of the next qualifier.

“It felt very comfortable,” said the Stanford-bound Dailey. “I didn’t care about the time today, and I don’t care about the time tomorrow—but I’d like to run 4:30. The most important thing is to be No. 1.”

Dailey has been third in the 1,600 the last two years, but leads the state this year with a section record 4:39.31.

Yarbrough oozes talent and he showed it when he took the lead on the last lap and shattered his previous best of 4:09.65.

“Coach (Chris Jacobs) said I’ve have to PR to make it,” said Yarbrough. “I was scared going in because I ran 4:10 last year and didn’t qualify. I saw Hannah Riggins get back-to-back PRs three years ago, so I know it can be done.”

But that wasn’t all.

Advancing alongside Dailey were Bishops’ Ayanna Hickey (4:48.41) and Cathedral Catholic’s Grace Keefe (4:49.67), while for the boys, Poway’s Cooper Castleberry was the eighth qualifier in 4:08.52.

Elsewhere, Mater Dei Catholic’s Jasir Fontenot started his defense of the 110-meter hurdles title by winning his race in a season-best 13.46 seconds. It held up as the fastest time of the day.

The section girls didn’t run the fastest time, but they made up for it in the 100-meter hurdles.

Grossmont’s Gabrielle Thomas had the second-best time with a personal-best 13.81 seconds, while Steele Canyon junior Evie Allison was third with her first sub-14-second time of 13.92

Earlier, Allison ran the leadoff leg in the Cougars’ 4×100 relay team that coasted to a 46.12, winning their heat but well below the 45.13 clocked by Fullerton Rosary and a blink back of Canyon Country’s 46.07.

The quartet of Allison, Aniya Scott, Asia Brousard and Livia Allison that broke the 49-year-old section record, running 45.78 in last week’s section championship, will be look to lower that time on Saturday.

Helix’s Ava Parker finished second in her heat of the 400 but had the second fastest time of the day as she ran 53.91 seconds behind Long Beach Wilson’s Clara Adams’ 53.53.