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The Week in Review The Week in Review Two huge competitions took place this past weekend with some great Golden State results involving high-schoolers in a club or unattached capacity in the US Cross Country Championships in San Diego and the Simplot Indoor Games in Pocatello, Idaho. US Cross Country Championships - San Diego’s Mission Bay - Saturday February 16 The “A” team done us proud this past
weekend, as Jordan Hasay and German Fernandez romped to wins over
the grass at Mission
Bay on a beautiful Saturday morning near the southern border. German’s
win was a bit tougher to dig for, but the competitive Sac Joaquin
area
star
reached
down to take Iona frosh Ryan Sheridan near the end in a fine 24:18
8k (4.97 miles about 50 yards or 8-9 seconds short of regular five
mile distance), which works out to fine 4:51 mile pace for a couple
more miles than German is used to racing. The race is a qualifer
for the World Cross Country Championships at the end of March in
Ireland, and German related in interviews that his competitive
nature had him go for the win as he and Sheridan were quite a ways
ahead of third at the end. Jordan Hasay battled
with
Stanford’s
Alex Gits, as was expected, for the win, with Hasay becoming the
first repeat winner here in thirty-nine years at the Junior level.
With word of a slight foot problem after the Foot Locker Nationals
and some question about her participating at the World Cross Country
meet if she qualified here, the fitness question was answered
as she romped to her 20:32 win for 6 kilometers which is about
5:30 mile pace for 1000 meters longer than she is used
to racing. First year University of Washington Husky Lauren
Saylor (Buchanan HS of Clovis), part of the “Golden State” north
program in Seattle, was sixth for the final Junior Women’s
team spot in 21:36. Simplot Indoor Games - Pocatello, Idaho - Thursday February 14th-Saturday February 16th
The great Rocky Mountain Simplot Indoor Games gathering
at the Idaho State Football arena where they plunk down a 200 meter
banked
board track during the winter took place this past weekend, with
a ton of Californians racing for clubs or unattached. The usual
great performances took place, with a tad of altitude combined
with some super fields resulting in usually a record or three.
Vashti (say it Vash-tie according to an interview for Track and
Field News) Thomas had a full weekend of action with 60 meter hurdling,
long, and triple jumping. The San Jose area star looked very tough
for a lot of points in the State Meet come June with an 8.27 in
the 60 meter hurdles in chasing Tennessee’s Jacquelyn Coward
to a National Record 8.16, with Thomas’s clocking making
her the #3 prep in US History in the event. Thomas was 42-08.75
in the Triple Jump in Idaho, the #4 in US history (behind Californians
Ke’Nyia
Richardson, Julianna Yendork, and Brittany Daniels), and added
a 19-10.75 Long Jump win. Wow, what a series of performances! Coward
and Thomas hooked up at last April’s Arcadia Invitational
with a super race, and should that come off again it will be a
featured duel of the spring season. Ashton Purvis blazed a National
soph class 200 meter record of 23.54 along with a 7.38 60 meter
dash win at Simplot, a great early outing for the Oakland area
star. Speed City (Long Beach Poly) and Teekay
Track Club (Long
Beach
Wilson) blazed 3:50.97 and 3:52.28 4x400 relay run respectively
while battling in that event, with the two schools looking loaded
once again as they head for the annual Moore League and beyond
showdowns. State 400 champ Jasmine Joseph (Speed City) was handed
a rare 400 meter defeat by Utah’s Natalie Stewart 54.41-55.69,
with Stewart journeying to Arcadia last spring with a return match
possible in April between the two. The state’s
loaded in the Girls’ horizontal jumps, with Amanda
Hunter 40-01.5 second in the Triple Jump and frosh Ciarra
Brewer (James
Logan), the nation’s top middle school jumper for the last
couple of years, competing nicely with 18-07 and 38-08.5 long and
triple efforts. Californians took the top six places in the Simplot
Girls Triple Jump.
Open/Collegiate Scene
University of Arkansas Tyson Indoor action had Jeneba Tarmoh (Mt. Pleasant HS, San Jose-University of Tennessee) a fine 23.29 200 for second there, with Jere Summers (Berkeley HS) who is now at Louisville after starting at Cal State Northridge a fine 54-00 Women’s Shot effort. Graham Hoste (Claremont HS-Stanford) was 18-00.5 in the Pole Vault there. Los Gatos HS Coach Steve Sherer was third at 3:57.81 for a mile behind Nick Willis’s 3:55.93 winner. Nkosinza Balumbu (Logan HS-Arkansas) was one of the lone stars for the sponsoring school with a 53-02.25 Triple Jump second place. Meet video is available The oversized track at the University of Washington in Seattle had another super college/open affair this past weekend. Derrick Jones (LB Poly-Oregon) was 7th overall in the 60 meter event as the former Jackrabbit star put in an appearance for the Duck track team, with his 6.77 clocking just .03 off an NCAA provisional qualifying time for those Championships. Former Poly star Bennie Robinson was third overall in the Finals. Jeshua Anderson (Taft, Woodland Hills-Wash State) cranked a 47.14 400, the nation's quickest frosh 400 so far this winter in the Seattle meet. Miling was a beast in Washington, with Stanford’s Garrett Heath 3:58.71, Matt Centrowitz (frosh star at Oregon) 4:00.26, with Mark Matusak (Loyola HS-Cal) 4:03.15 but only 12th place, with Michael Coe (Cabrillo HS-Cal) 4:03.43 for 13th. Golden Staters showed up in the 3k, with Brandon Bethke (El Toro-Wisconsin) an NCAA Qualifying 7:51.54, Kyle Acorn (Buchanan HS-Az State) a 7:55.63 provisional clocking, and AJ Acosta (El Camino HS-Oregon) a 7:57.45 provisional run. Jake Schmitt (Redwood HS-Univ Wash) was 14:04.40 provisional for 5k, with Ed Wright (St. Mary’s/Cal 7-03.25 provisional HJ) and Scott Roth (Granite Bay HS-Univ Wash) 17-01 (a provisional effort) in the Pole Vault. Looking at the calendar the outdoor prep season is off to a start at the end of this week, with multi-school affairs on the calendar at Buchanan HS in Clovis Friday evening and Saturday at Bellarmine Prep in the Central Coast Section. Wow–time flies------- |
