The results for our track & field athletes in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 Finals, held at Cerritos College, are now posted on the Booster Club website, in the Meet Results section to the right. For the full meet results posted on DyestatCal, click here http://www.dyestat.com/?pg=dyestatcal-2010-TrackField-Road-To-State-Southern-Section-Finals. For additional videos from the meet, click here http://www.dyestat.com/?pg=videos&cat=&page=1&search=.
Included in the results are both the Race Place and the CIF SS Meet Place (all divisional competitions combined for each event), plus the time/distance scored as well as the Seed mark from last week’s Prelims. Results that qualified for next week’s Masters Meet, and those that represent seasonal PRs (personal records) are noted as such. The team points earned by each person are also listed. The events that are impacted by wind include wind speed data (that would be Haley’s triple jump marks). All multi-lap races include splits. Along with the results and splits of our Redondo athletes, is “friend-of-the-family” Jaye Buchbinder of Chadwick.
According to the CIF Playoff Bulletin, the top 12 performances regardless of division, in the 800, 1600, 3200, and the field events will advance to the Masters Meet, as will the top 9 performances in all other running events.
A contingent of 3 distance runners, one jumper, and a 4-man relay team advanced to this meet to take 7 starting positions in 5 events, including the premier encore event of the high school track world, the 4X400 relay. Our team consists of 3 sophomores, 2 juniors and 3 seniors.
Taking my seat in the stands near the finish line, my Redondo shirt gave me instant recognition and credibility among the hard-core track fans that can always be found there. The program is well known now and widely admired. For me this is always a different group of strangers who are closely bonded for the course of the meet. For the next few hours there is a constant flow of race commentary, track news, history, opinion, trivia, and banter. Someone in the row behind me sat down and began an almost continuous and mostly uninterrupted dissertation on all things track & field, with the occasional football tangent, that lasted more than half the meet. After awhile it became white noise. Almost like the background music at my gym, which offers up something worth listening to every once in awhile, but for the most part I curse myself for not bringing my iPod. By and large though, the comments and conversation are on point and relevant to the race in progress. So it comes as a real complement to our athletes when they make positive comments about them, such as on Chloe’s and Lyndsey’s running form, remarking that it’s apparent from their posture that they have good core strength, and, that there must be a core conditioning component in their training. To which I reply, well that’s an understatement. One guy says just before the 1600 goes off, if I were Chloe Curtis, I’d be more worried about Lyndsey Mull than anyone else in the race. These guys know their stuff, and they know Redondo. Yes. We are on the map.
Again our athletes served to advance the reputation of their team as hungry and aggressive. The Girls D2 1600 was not unlike most of our dual meets. Chloe spent the first turn moving to the front and Lyndsey dogged her by scarcely a step. A lap and a half into the race and it was Chloe pulling away, and some poor girl from West Ranch banking on the hang-on-and-hope-to-out-kick-your-opponent tactic with Lyndsey. Chloe enters the bell lap with a commanding 6.5 second lead and cruises to a 4:50.43 win. The real race is for second, but West Ranch never really gets a chance as Lyndsey holds her strong pace on the windy backstretch, picks up the tempo through the turn and sprints down the final straight pulling away from her rival, who offers a credible end-of-race burst of her own, never for a moment giving up. Lyndsey’s last lap, clocked at 69.7 may well have been the fastest finish of the day in the Girls 1600s. I didn’t get a last lap time on Simi Valley’s Liberty Miller in the D1 race, but if it was faster it couldn’t have been by much. Lyndsey’s close was all the more impressive as most of it happened in the last 100 meters, indicating a big jump in speed at the very end of the race, showing her instinctual will to win. The ol’ wait & kick ploy is not going to work on her. Chloe’s 1st was good for 10 points and Lyndsey’s 2nd was good for 8, for a total of 18 points toward the team title.
The Girls D2 800 was similar in that Chloe dominated the race from the start. She blew through the 400 in 65.2, and established a comfortable lead that allowed her to hold off the late stage rush of a trio of runners fighting it out for 2nd. Lyndsey, followed through the 400 2 seconds back from her teammate, but faded late in the back stretch and finished out of the money with a 2:18.32. Chloe picked up another 10 points and Lyndsey scored one, to add 11 points to the tally.
The 4 Girls 3200s were combined into 2 races. D2 and D4 ran together, with 18 competitors. Laura O’Neill ran a textbook example of a smart distance race. Coming through the first 400 in 78, and holding a steady pace of 81 for the next 2 laps put her out of contact with the lead pack, but also behind the chase pack. Most had gone out too fast. Alone and running into what had developed by late afternoon, into a good stiff wind on the backstretch, she steadily ran her own race clicking off 83 and 84 second laps. My new friends around me in the stands were not liking the scene… her form looks good, she seems strong but she’s too far back from the next runner… She might be gaining on that next group, but she’s too far back. And that wind! To which I replied, you have no idea how tough that girl is. She will not give up. She will catch people. And as Laura continued she did move up. Most of those girls in the second pack were loosing their form, and they were all slowing down. She was able to sizably reduce the lead the second pack had, and did catch a couple by the end. Knowing her pace and not getting carried away with a too-fast first mile, paid off in that last 600 meters. She had gone from 13th at the 800 to 7th at the finish line to take 6th in the D2 race (only 1 D4 runner was ahead of her). Plus she scored 3 more points for Redondo, with her time of 10:55.83.
I kept trying to keep an eye out for Haley Miller’s triple jumps, but there was so much going on, it was hard to keep track. I did catch her 2nd jump of 34′ 3″, and her 3rd jump of 34′ 10.75″, which put her in 8th place with one jump left. Unfortunately, I missed the 4th jump. It was 36′ 4.25″, good enough to move her up 2 places to take 6th, score 3 team points, and set a new PR.
The Boys D2 4X400 Relay was classic Redondo fare. Simon Schermerhorn ran his traditional lead-off leg, but this time he was out in lane 9. Lonely, desolate lane 9. No body wants it, because you can’t see your competitors unless they’ve made up the stagger and, as a result, are well ahead of you. If you see anyone at all, it’s bad news. Having Simon in as lead-off may have been a tactical error, as he’s the greatest come-from-behind athlete since Spartacus, and in lane 9 there’s nobody to come-from-behind on. So the race gets underway and Simon is off like a shot and flying. He comes off the 2nd turn looking to be in a good position, but there’s still one more turn to go, and Christian Bassman is going to have to run most of it. Sure enough, at the hand off our boys are well behind, despite Simon’s 50.92 split. Now Christian is gaining on those in front of him. It’s a controlled all out effort, a search and destroy mission, as he puts down one runner after another, handing off in a much improved position with a 49.71 split. Remi makes his way around the oval, seeming to be getting faster and faster as he goes. Sprinters who blasted past him at the start of the third leg are now paying their dues and Remi is collecting, all the way around the far turn. Even in the final stretch he’s holding his form and moving fast. He clocks a 50.39 split at the hand off. Anchorman Brandon Boyd accelerates into the turn and powers down the backstretch. Yes, it’s still windy, but who can tell. Brandon is a runaway train hurtling down the tracks. It’s unfortunate that the race for first place, up ahead, becomes a neck and neck dual between Rio Mesa and La Serna, because everyone’s missing the repeated challenges taking place back on the final turn between Brandon and the guy from Damien. Damien comes off that last turn, swings a little wide and pours on the speed in his final effort to regain the lead, but Brandon will not be denied. He responds with his own surge and slowly inches away, continuing to widen the margin through the finish to put his team into 4th place with a 49.37 split, the icing on a 3:20.39 cake, plus a new seasonal best (a school record?), and 5 points for the Redondo Boys’ team.
4X400 post script: Wasn’t Mira Costa in that race too? Yes, but back in eighth place, they had not been a factor for some time. It certainly makes their DNS in the dual meet all the more irrelevant.
Our teams’ accomplishments included a double CIF Champion, a runner up, a 4th, 2 6th’s, and an 8th place. 2 athletes are advancing in individual events to the Masters Meet (one will run 2 events), and the 4X400 relay team made it too. Everyone scored points. The girls team total of 35 points earns them fourth place in CIF Southern Section.
By the way, Jaye Buchbinder scored 18 points for Chadwick with her 1600 win and 800 2nd place, to single-handedly place eighth in Division 4.
Next week the Masters Meet will take place at Cerritos College. See you there.
Bob, awesome recap. I love the description of your experience in the stands concluding with the comment that “we are on the map.” You helped put us there and your pride in this team shows as bright as the color RED.