By Andrew J. Campa, andrew.campa@latimes.comMay 25, 2012| 10:55 p.m.

NORWALK — Perhaps the qualifying standards were too simple, or maybe the Pasadena area’s track and field athletes are hitting their strides at the right moment.

Whatever the reason, there was little doubt Friday evening’s CIF Southern Section Masters Meet was a wild success as all four local competitors — La Salle High’s Daniel De La Torre, Maranatha’s Ebony Crear, San Marino’s Kyle Ezold and South Pasadena’s Claire Kieffer-Wright – qualified to the following weekend’s CIF-State Meet in Clovis.

The ever-hungry De La Torre turned in the most impressive effort as he was the only area athlete to qualify in two events: the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs.

“I know I should be happy, but I really thought I’d do better than my times today,” De La Torre said. “I guess the goal was to advance and I did that. The best thing is that I have one more week to run my best race.”

Like every athlete who competed Friday, De La Torre needed to either finish in the top five in his respective event or hit a state at-large qualifying mark.

In the 3,200, De La Torre moved from fifth after four laps to third with a lap remaining before settling for fourth in 9 minutes, 06.13 seconds.

De La Torre began the day by racing out to third place through the first three laps of the 1,600 before tiring and finishing sixth with a qualifying mark of 4:12.84.

“My muscles were tightening up and I just didn’t feel my strongest today,” De La Torre said, “but I guess it could have been worse.”

Like De La Torre, Crear also hoped to advance in two events, but wasn’t as fortunate, as the sophomore qualified in the 100-meter dash, but just missed out in the 300 hurdles.

Crear, who was sixth after 40 meters, rallied into fourth (14.09) in the 100 hurdles, but fell from fifth to seventh over the final 20 meters of the 300 hurdles as her time of 44.29 missed the at-large mark of 43.75.

“I’m a little disappointed, but this is all a learning experience,” Crear said. “My goal was to make it to state and I did that, so that’s cool.”

San Marino multi-sport athlete Ezold entered Friday’s 400-meter dash having finished second in the Division III championships last weekend and seventh overall with a mark of 48.12, well ahead of the at-large time of 48.65.

Yet, Ezold needed no at-large mark, as he finished fourth in 48.60.

“I worked on my form this week and on finishing,” Ezold said. “I kept a faster pace than last week and finished hard.”

As for the area’s close call, that came from Kieffer-Wright in the high jump.

The sophomore needed two turns to hit 5 feet 3 inches before eventually landing on the state qualifying mark of 5-5 on her third try at that height, which tied her for seventh.

“I’ve never really jumped when it was this windy before, but I know it affected everyone,” Kieffer-Wright said. “When it came around to 5-5 and I missed on my first two attempts, I can’t lie, I was really nervous. I was telling myself, ‘This is it.’“

Friday also marked the end of the road for two Pasadena residents as Loyola 3,200-meter runner Charles Marquardt (ninth, 9:20.38) and Cubs’ junior Josh Lewis, who finished seventh in the 800 (1:54.37), did not advance to state.