Results: RUHS @ CA State Championships

The results for our track & field athletes in the California State Championships meet, held at Buchanan High School’s Veterans Memorial Stadium (and we thought we just got a nice track installed… ) in Clovis (a town in the Central Valley, sometimes assumed to be Fresno, but unfortunately for them, it’s not), are now posted in the Meet Results section to the right.
For the full meet results and race videos of the Finals on June 5th, posted on DyestatCal, click here http://www.dyestatcal.com/?pg=dyestatcal-2010-TrackField-Road-To-State-State-Meet-05-Finals.
For the full meet results and race videos of the Prelims on June 4th, posted on DyestatCal, click here http://www.dyestatcal.com//?pg=dyestatcal-2010-TrackField-Road-To-State-State-Meet-Prelims.
For an additional video of the Girls 1600 meters final which shows a different view of the race with more coverage of Lyndsey, click here http://chloecurtis.us/track_10/finals.htm. This webpage also has a clip of the final dash down the last 100 meters taken at track level, plus the post race interviews of Chloe and Lyndsey, where they each spill the beans about an upcoming attempt at the national record for the girls 4X1600 relay.
The results include a listing of the times, race/heat places and seasonal PR designations for each of our athletes at each post-league race over the past 4 weeks; CIF Prelims, CIF Finals, CIF Masters, the State Championships Prelims, and the State Championships Finals. Hopefully this will make it easier to compare times with past weeks without having to pull up additional pages. There are no lap splits listed, as I was not in attendance to take them live.
And again, along with the results of our Redondo Union athletes, are those of “friend-of-the-family” Jaye Buchbinder of Chadwick in the 800. I was also going to add the times from my old high school’s athletes, but I couldn’t find any.
Our 6 person team included 2 1600 meter runners, and the 4X400 relay team, made up of 1 sophomore, 2 juniors and 3 seniors.
As has been the case since the Bay League Championships, Chloe continued her wining streak by running the 1600 on her own terms. When State Leader Alli Billmeyer of Torrey Pines took the lead at 800 meters and Chloe settled in just off her shoulder, I’m sure she was thinking that she couldn’t allow this to become a kicker’s race. But a half lap later, with 600 to go, Chloe made her move and from that point on Alli never tried to pass. She gamely and courageously held on, but she was now living the reality of racing Chloe Curtis. At one point, rounding that final turn, she ran up behind Chloe so close there was contact. I could be wrong, but when you are gaining on someone that late in the race and you don’t move to pass, it’s because you don’t believe you can. And sure enough she couldn’t. Chloe powered out of the turn and smoothly accelerated away from her to take the championship in 4:46.63.
Lyndsey seemed to be keying off her teammate’s moves until the separation, and then proceeded to run the chase pack ragged, repelling a last stage finishing kick from Jennifer Owens of West Ranch to take third in 4:51.05. I’m sure the same intimidation factor that figures into how people race Chloe, applies to Lyndsey too. Once the first two runners had broken away, everyone else was following Lyndsey around the track, no doubt trying to drive thoughts of loosing contact out of their minds. Only Jennifer Owens made a serious challenge for third, but if she’d come anywhere near her, I’m convinced Lyndsey would have just run all the faster, and there would not have been any change in finishing order.
The times were good, but could have been even better under cooler (temperature reported to be mid to high 90s at race time) and less windy conditions. Still, Chloe’s 4:46.63 was a new stadium record, plus a seasonal and career PR.
The boys 4X400 relay team of Simon Schermerhorn, Christian Bassman, Remi Besnoin and Brandon Boyd finally reached the end of the line. A third place finish in their heat in the Friday night prelims, despite a fast 3:18.93, was not enough to make the finals. Still, this was the Cinderella team that so exemplified the spirit and the never-say-die attitude of the entire Redondo Union track & field program. From those early races at dual meets and invitationals, to the opportunity denied at the Mira Costa meet to give the Mustangs an end-of-meet good-by spanking at the risk of being spanked instead, these young men have learned to give their all for their teammates, and each week they’d come back, dig down deep and give even more. These guys get my vote for the Most Inspirational award, period.
All told, this meet was another great success for Redondo Union, taking eighth place in the girls team rankings, and with a newly crowned individual State 1600 Champ. It was the ultimate grand finale of an incredible 2010 track & field season. Congratulations to all the athletes, coaches, volunteers, and fans who made this a season to remember. Well done!
Next up, the encore. Several of our athletes plan on attending the Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, North Carolina to be held June 17th to 19th. Among the various events they will be competing in, the girls will be making a run at the national record for the 4X1600 relay. Piece of cake. I’ll be watching you on Dystat’s video posts.
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