The nerves had Tyson Miller pacing the field at Ventura’s Larrabee Stadium as he waited for his 400-meter race at Friday’s Channel League Track & Field Championships.
Once the starting gun fired, Miller bolted out of the starting blocks and looked powerful through the first 200 meters. As he rounded the last curve, he felt the presence of Ventura’s Ryan Steven, shifted into another gear and blazed to victory in 50.6 seconds in his final league championship meet.
Miller came back later and beat teammate Matthew Hempy in the 200 to join teammates Jenny Nnoli, Alana Ochoa and Erica Schroeder as double winners for the Royals in the CIF qualifier.
Santa Barbara’s Natasha Feshbach won two events and Hunter Clark of Dos Pueblos scored an impressive victory in the boys 3200, beating hometown favorite Garrett Reynolds.
Miller said he learned the importance of going out fast when he raced at the Arcadia Invitational.
“I tried to get out hard,” he said. “At Arcadia a few weeks ago, some fast guys took me out hard and it ended up working out. I tried to get out hard today, and Stevens in lane four caught me and made it a race. It was fine; he’s a good runner.”
Miller admitted feeling “big-time nervous” before the race. The defending 400 champion said he finally started to relax after 100 meters.
He carried the momentum of his 400 win into the 200 and pulled away from Hempy for a winning time of 22:46. Hempy was second in 22.57.
Hempy won the 100 title in 11.09.
“He’s really come into his own,” San Marcos coach said of Hempy, who comes from a family of jumpers at San Marcos. “He’s just taking charge, he’s feeling really good, he’s running really fast, he works really hard… and he’s a sweet kid — the whole thing.”
Nnoli ruled the sprints at the meet, winning the 100 in 12.10 and took the 200 in 25.03. She also ran on the winning 4×100 (49.00) and 4×400 (3:54.81) relays.
Ochoa swept the throws, winning the shot put at 38-2.50 and discus with a throw of 117-04.
Schroeder worked on her tactics and speed in the 1600 and 800 victories. In the 1600, she stayed patient and with the pack for the first two laps before picking up the pace and running away to a winning time of 5:09.02.
In her 800 victory, she tore into the lead right from the start and hit the finish line in 2:11.54. The next runner came in at 2:20.73.
“I wanted to go out fast because I haven’t gone out faster than a 64 (seconds) this year, so I went on a 62, which was good to test out,” said Schroeder, the defending CIF State Meet champion in the 800. “I know when I go on to the next races they’re just going to keep getting faster, so I have to make sure I’m capable of going out that fast and coming back.”
She was hoping to run 2:10, but it’s difficult when there’s no one to run with her
“I know I definitely could have run (faster) if I had someone there. But it’s good to know I can really go out that fast and at least come back under 70 by myself. I’ve been wanting to go 2:10 all year but I’m OK with (the 2:11) right now. But, it definitely needs to get down as I go into the next weeks.”
In the 1600, Schroeder said she worked on conserving energy. “I tried to sit back and let the race play out without me expending too much energy, but I decided to go little hard the next two laps just to make sure I secured a spot for (CIF Prelims) next week.”
Devon Block-Funkhouser led a Royals sweep in the 300 hurdles, winning in 45.91. Natalie Widmer and Abby Willett were second and third.
Other winners for San Marcos were Carolyn Weisman in the girls triple jump (37-03), Brian Nnoli in the boys triple jump (43-6.75) and Jason Peterson in the 800 (1:58.48).
Kele Mkpado of San Marcos was involved in the closest race of the day. He and Stevens of Ventura hit the line in a photo finish in the 110 high hurdles. Stevens was declared the winner by 2-1000ths of a second. They were both timed in 15.90. Davis Mullin of San Marcos was third in 15.28.
DP’s Clark has been training hard for the postseason and the work paid off on Friday in the 3200 as he pulled away from Ventura standout and 1600 champion Reynolds. Clark ran 9:21.49 and Reynolds came in at 9:29.12.
Christina Rice of Dos Pueblos won the girls 3200 in 11:01.39 and Natalie McClure of San Marcos was second in 11:04.90.
The Yale-bound Feshbach easily won the long jump at 17-09.25 and captured the 100 hurdles in 14.35. She finished second to Nnoli in the 200.
Dons sophomore Cassandra Gordon won the girls varsity high jump with a personal best of 5-3. Gordon was trying to clear 5-5 when she got called away to compete on the third leg of the Santa Barbara’s 4×100 relay. She returned to the high jump but was unable to clear the height.
Kiasa Salgado’s speed enabled him to escape a potential disaster in the 300 hurdles. Santa Barbara’s Salgado had a slight lead over Ventura’s Joey Thompson when Thompson clipped the second to last hurdle, lost his balance and stumbled into Salgado’s lane. Fortunately for Salgado, he was ahead of Thompson and avoided being taken out. His winning time was a personal best of 39.44, his first sub-40 performance this season.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.