Battling through a foot injury EC sprinter Shale’ Garland helped the Warrior women to an eighth place finish and the men received a tenth place out of a crowd of more than 45 programs that were in attendance Saturday at the Southern California track and field Championships at Saddleback College.
Garland qualified for next week’s state championships in two of her three events by coming in second place in the 400 meter with a time of 55.93 seconds, and later running the 200 meter race with a personal best of 24.36 seconds.
“I have a little more room for improvement before Saturday,” Garland said. “Each race gives you a chance to improve.”
Garland has been battling a foot pain most of the season. After the state meet, she plans to take a week off before continuing to train for next season.
Another Warrior nursing an injury is KayC Wharton, yet she placed second in the 400 meter hurdles in 63.30 seconds. This time moves her up to seventh on the ECC Performer List.
“I did what I needed to do,” Wharton said. “There are some mistakes I can fix at practice this week, I’m expecting better for state.”
Two more runners that qualified for state include distance runners David Cardona and Jose ‘Tito’ Lezama.
The two freshmen ran the 1500 meter race, capturing the race with a 1-2 finish. Cardona won the race with a time of 3:56.51, and Lezama narrowly edged out two giants for his second place finish of 3:58.16.
Cardona will also run the 5,000 meter race at the state meet on Saturday.
Another Warrior champion is pole-vaulter Kara Kalmar, who improved her school record to 11 feet 1 inch. She tied for the best vault of the day, but placed second based on her misses at the previous height.
For the throwers, Jason Harrell and Benjamin Woodruff managed to qualify for Saturday’s state meet in their respective events.
Harrell clinched the third place for the discus with a throw of 149 feet 2 inches.
“I felt pretty good about my throw, it was my first one of the day,” Harrell said.
This week he plans to relax a little more having already reached state.
“I would feel accomplished if I do well,” Harrell said about the state meet. “I think the So-Cal championships had more pressure because you’re trying to get to state and competing against guys you’ve seen all season.”
Woodruff threw the javelin 177 feet 8 inches, achieving a fifth place finish.
“I feel like I could have thrown farther,” Woodruff said. “There was a lot of wind going against me, but others PR’d (personal record), so I think I could have too.”
Woodruff plans to get a good first throw, that way he can “put pressure on the other guys and not worry about being in the mix.”
Daryl Guerin, throwing coach, expects his guys to have a “big weekend.”
“This weekend they showed a lot of effort, I’m proud of them,” Guerin said.
“This weekend I expect some big throws,” Guerin said. “The pressure is off since it’s the last meet of the season; it’s time for some fun now.”