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New Mexico High School Indoor Classic

Friday and Saturday - February 16th and 17th 2007
Albuquerque Convention Center Indoor Track
Albuquerque, NM

DyeStat On Site with Salomon Gonzales


 
3000m 1st and 2nd place Kevin Williams and Fawad Khan
photo by Damian Capozzola

Highlights -

The Sprints

Jasmine Joseph (Long Beach Poly High School) blazed away from the competition in all three of her events. Joseph who considers herself more of a long sprinter was not pleased with her times and remarked that she believed that the high altitude affected her asthma. But the sophomore promises "something spectacular" during the outdoor season. Dominick Robert’s (M’ZA Track Club) double in the 400m and 200m may have been the most impressive performance of the weekend. Not only did the sophomore, who attends Denver East, break two high school facility records but he did it within 40 minutes. Following the 400m dash Roberts was noticeably spent but he was able to pick himself up and come back with another dominating performance. About the record Roberts felt it is "feels good to break any record it is kind of like making history for a short period of time."

Distance Racing

Cherry Creek’s Charles White captured the crowd attention with his late race moves in the 800 and 1600m runs. In his first race of the day, the 1600, White impressed by running a 61s 400m split following a tactical first 800 of 2:20 which was led by Kevin Williams (D’evelyn High School). A tight pack formed at the front following some pedestrian laps but the monotony was broken by Williams. That surge was all White needed to tough off his finishing blast. White covered the last 800m in 2:06. White employed the same strategy in the 800m run breaking away with 600m to go in route to running a high school facility record.

The Decathletes

Cutis Beach (Albuquerque Track Club and Albuquerque Academy) and Daniel Gooris (Albuquerque Track Club and Cibola High School) have been friends for 9 years. They became friends on the track as the two raced in the 1500m run for their prospective club teams. At that time Gooris was on a club from Cuba, NM and Beach was running for ATC. Since those early years much has changed. Beach has gone from a middle distance runner to a hurdler/jumper. Gooris has bulked up and become a top level pole-vaulter. Gooris has moved twice; from Cuba to Gallup and then from Gallup to Albuquerque. The last move has brought him to Beach’s home city and club. And now as training partners the twocompliment each other well as Beach notes, "He (Gooris) is much stronger than I am and so he pushes me in strength training; I’m faster and I push him to get faster." This weekend both athletes were participating in four events. Beach was victorious in the Long Jump, and 60m Hurdles. He also placed 4th in the 400m dash running 50.36. In the Shot Put he was only given one attempt because he was running during the throwing event. Gooris had some similar scheduling maneuvers to overcome this weekend. Within 1 hour Gooris competed in the Pole-Vault, 60m Hurdles and High Jump. Gooris was able to win the Pole Vault and the High Jump and finish 7th in the 60m Hurdles. Scheduling problems are not new to Gooris but he does believe it affects his performance now that he has loftier goals, "I rarely get to concentrate on one event. When I did at the Summit (in Reno) a got 16 feet. I’ve thought about just being a vaulter but by best chances of success are in the decathlon." Beach is looking forward to competing at the NCIS Championships and he also has the inside track to represent the USA at the World Your Championships in the Czech Republic. Gooris’ indoor season may be over. The Nike Indoor National Championship was a goal of his but he was not able to finish the season in the top 3 and can’t afford the trip. He will have to stay focused on his goals for outdoor and keep training.

 

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