Track and field gets down to where the rubber meets the road starting this weekend with the CIF-Southern Section prelims.

The prelims in all four divisions start Saturday at 11 a.m. with field events and noon with running events.

The Division 1 meet is at Mission Viejo-Trabuco Hills High, the Division 2 meet is at Moorpark High, the Division 3 meet is at Costa Mesa-Estancia and the Division 4 meet is at Carpinteria.

The Ventura County has schools in all four of the divisions, which are determined by enrollment.

Buena, Oxnard and Pacifica are the only county schools in Division 1 (2,360 students and above).

Camarillo, Channel Islands, Moorpark, Newbury Park, Royal, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Ventura and Westlake are in Division 2 (2,121-2,629).

Agoura, Calabasas, Oak Park and Rio Mesa are in Division 3 (1,080-2,120).

Fillmore, Grace Brethren, La Reina, Nordhoff, Oaks Christian, Ojai Valley, St. Bonaventure, Thacher and Villanova are in Division 4 (1,079 and below).

The most significant change is Rio Mesa moving from Division 2 to Division 3, where the Spartans could have a better chance to dominate the competition.

Gates open to the public at 10 a.m. Admission is $7 with students and children admitted for $5. There is also a $5 parking fee at each venue.

NO, CERRITOS

The CIF-SS Divisional Finals are moving this year from Cerritos College in Norwalk to Mount San Antonio College in Walnut. It's the first time since 2008 that the finals have been somewhere other than Cerritos.

Cerritos has hosted at least one division of the finals 43 times, dating back as far as 1963. Before Mount SAC hosted the 2008 finals, Cerritos had hosted 11 in a row from 1997 to 2007. Cerritos also hosted 13 of the first 14, including 10 straight from 1973 to 1977.

Other venues to host the finals include Veterans Stadium in Long Beach, Arcadia High, Occidental College and 14 times at the Los Angeles Coliseum in a period between 1924 and 1944.

The finals at Mount SAC are Saturday, May 19, with field events starting at 11 a.m. and running events at 1 p.m.

NO PV IN PVL

League championship meets can take a long time to complete. By the time they're done, there's often few if anyone left in the stands. Channel League, Marmonte, Tri-Valley, they all went well past dark last week. All, that is, except the Pacific View League. It's not difficult to figure out why either.

No pole vault.

The PVL does not compete in the pole vault, and while that may be a hardship for athletes at those schools who would like to pole vault, it does make the championships go by faster. The league also doesn't keep team scores.

The league meet on Friday at Hueneme finished shortly after 7 p.m. By contrast, the Channel League went past 9.