NORWALK – Some of the best track and field athletes have melted under the hot glare of having to qualify for the state finals under adverse conditions.
Monte Vista's David Spates was put in that position yesterday, but his blood pressure didn't seem to jump.
It was a day of ups and downs in the state prelims before a crowd of 8,542 at Cerritos College. El Camino's Nelson Rosario led all qualifiers in the long jump at 24 feet, 1 inch; state high jump leader Tynan Murray of Poway failed to clear 6-5; and Mission Bay's Charles Jock barely missed a 51-year-old school record by running 1:52.23 in the 800 meters.
In the shot, though, Spates was Joe Cool.
After reaching 57-8 on his first attempt, Spates kicked up chalk at the 59-foot mark with his second.
The official ran to where the shot landed, looked up, didn't see a white flag indicating the effort was legal, then walked away. When he looked back, the white flag was flapping in the breeze.
Ooops, their mistake.
Unable to determine where the shot landed because this facility has a grass landing area, officials gave Spates another attempt. He hit 58-7, qualifying seventh for today's championships.
“There were no worries,” Spates said with a shrug. “I think (the voided attempt) was a better mark, but tomorrow 63 feet will win it, and I can do that. I feel good, so there was no reason to worry.”
Rosario's hopes of winning the long jump received a boost from two directions.
First, he led all qualifiers with the 24-1 on his second jump. Then he watched as Ryan Butts of Antelope Valley, who took the national lead last week at 24-10½, was unable to qualify because of an injury.
“There will be no holding back tomorrow,” said Rosario. “I still have the section record (25-5¼) in my sights. Dropping the high jump really helped. I didn't have to run back and forth between events.”
Last year in Sacramento, Rosario qualified for the finals in three events and clearly was laboring.
Rosario came back to qualify in the triple jump at 47-7.
Murray, who scaled 7-1 in the section prelims two weeks ago, pulled down the crossbar at 6-5 for a shockingly early exit.
“No excuses, but I've battled shinsplints every year and I couldn't even practice this week,” he said. “I tried icing them, but when I missed twice at 6-3 I knew I was finished.”
Jock, who overcame being boxed in, finished strong. He's taking aim at Jim Cerveny's school record (1:52.14) set in 1957 and thinking about a sub-1:50.
“I'm pretty happy because I know I could have run two seconds faster,” said Jock, who was the leading qualifier. “But I wanted to save something. The thing is, I want to win, whether I run 1:49 or 1:58.”
Other highlights:
The Steele Canyon 400-meter relay team lowered its section-best time by running 41.72 and qualifying for today's finals. The foursome consists of DeAndre Woods, David Klarer, Jamie Dale and Alex Perlin.
Mission Hills junior Joe Cooks won his 200-meter heat in 21.35 seconds, qualifying with the fastest time in the section this year.
With 12 runners advancing to the 1,600-meter final, University City's Mac Fleet conserved his energy and finished fourth in his heat, qualifying with a 4:14.50.
Lincoln's Nico Reaves cruised into the 400-meter final with a heat-winning time of 47.51.
Reaves came back to anchor the 1,600-meter relay team at 47.0 as the Hornets won their heat to qualify for the finals in 3:15.66, the ninth-fastest mark in section history.
Steve Brand: (619) 293-1854; steve.brand@uniontrib.com
