The story of this young season continues to be women on the 1600m relays.
With Specelle Williams out with tonsillitis for the Bakersfield meet, the team of Shammeer Dawson, Lindsey Brown, Catlin Barrow and Krystal Johnson impressed in the 1600m relays running a 3:58.19 that placed them third on the day, in what was their second best time of the season.
The Warriors will prepare for some tough competition at the CSUN relays on Saturday. USC, UCLA along with Southern California’s best club runners will be on hand
Track team gives strong showing
Throughout this season, the team of Williams, Dawson, Brown, Barrow and Johnson has come up strong competition after competition.
Two weeks ago at Pasadena in the 1600m relays, the relay team automatically qualified for the So Cal finals with a time of 3:57.83
At the Bakersfield relays, Barrow and Dawson placed fourth and sixth respectively in the 400m. That race saw 34 competitors from all over California.
Star Thurman continued to improve in the triple jump; her jump of 35-9 is up from the Pasadena meet. Thurman also ran in the 400m relay along with Dawson, Barrow and Darina Daniels. The squad placed sixth with a 49.6.
In the Pasadena meet, assistant coach Kevin Hughley called Dawson the “athlete of the meet.”
Competing in the 400m and 1600m, Dawson has been competing in multiple positions for much of the young season.
Sprinter making adjustments
Brown recorded a 2:22.85 in the 800m, 6.4 seconds behind the leader. Brown, who ran the 1500m before the 800m believes she can do much better. Brown grew up a sprinter and is making a transition to middle distance running.
“I feel more comfortable in the 800 meter, my 1500 meter will get better as I gain more experience,” Brown said.
The women saw some very good community college competition including the defending women state champions, Sacramento City College.
With temperatures between 85 and 90 degree’s, it was the hottest competition they’ve competed in all season. With the score not being kept, the women looked impressive but know that their best is still ahead of them.
Two women in particular didn’t sweat the heat. Becky Cherry from PV Peninsula and Stephanie Robbins from South. Each of these freshman set personal records at the meet.
Field team on a fast pace
Cherry ran the 1500m in 5:02.82. That mark placed her in third place on the day, and number one for her career. Dinora Moran, a freshman from Serra placed seventh in the race, 4.37 seconds behind Cherry.
“I ran well because I was relaxed,” Cherry said. “No one really expected anything.”
Cherry will be competing in the 3000m in the CSUN relays. She is looking forward to the intense competition they are going to face.
“I try and have them pull me along and take advantage of the competition,” Cherry said.
Shot putter sets personal best
Robbins threw a 39-10 in the shot put which is sixth best all-time for an EC performer. Robbins placed sixth overall, but was second among So Cal women.
“I’m getting stronger, and that helps a lot in the shot,” Robbins said. “I expect to break fourty feet this weekend, no doubt about it.”
Robbins has increased her shot put throws over the last three competitions. She is 5 feet 9 inches and behind the state leader in the shot put.
“It was a long two days out there. Some of the girls were on the track at 9 a.m. warming up for a 10 a.m. race, and they were still running at 7:40 p.m.,” coach Dean Lofgren said.
This upcoming weekend marks the return of freshman Heather Rosas.
Rosas, from San Pedro, was the conference and So Cal champion in cross-country and finished fifth in state despite a bad knee.
It’s taken her two months to get where she needs to be recovering from that same knee.
The distance group will get a big boost as Rosas can cover distances of 800m to 5000m.
Lofgren says that Rosas stands out from the rest of the group.
“She’s one of the best we’ve ever had,” Lofgren said.
