Sunday, May 24, 2009

Heat Cruelty

The 800 is the the perfect mix of speed and endurance. How it is run is often not so perfect. Most of the year, it has a waterfall start with numerous competitors but then the championships come and the field is stagger at the start.

For some meets they double up the lanes but in most it is a field of nine who stay in lanes till the beginning of the backstretch. This is how valley and state are run and where things do not go so smoothly.

At valley, they seed the heats by time at the area meets. Which is not very fair. If an athlete is in a slow area, she may have to run against the clock and hope she gets a top nine time or she is doomed to the slow heat. So she is once again going to have to race against the clock and hope to beat the third place finisher in the fast heat. This is almost an insurmountable task.

To be fair, the top girl from each area (there are four) should get a spot in the fast heat and the other 5 lanes should go to the next the next five fastest. But I doubt it will ever changed, so ladies remember to run like the wind and not the win at area.

One who does both is the valley champ Jordan Hasay. At beginning of the backstetch, where they break in for the curb, Jordan was gone and ran an excellent time. In fact, the top three times were real quick.

If Jordan drops the 800 for state, the heat issue does come into play because Bakersfield' Sarah Baker won the slow heat rather easily and ended up 6th overall. She is known as a fierce competitor and if given the chance to be in the fast heat she might of taken fourth and moved on if Jordon dropped the event for state.

Women 800 Meter Run
# Name Year School Finals
1 Hasay,.Jordon
Miss.,Coll.,Prep 2:09.64
2 Fry, Katie
Exeter 2:13.51
3 Brown,,Alish
Madera:South 2:15.13
4 Pahkamaa,`Molly
El.Diamente 2:18.27
5 Carrasco,`Vanessa 10 Tulare Union 2:20.36
6 Baker,`Sarah
Bakersfield 2:21.35
7 Armstrong, Jessica
Buchanan 2:21.67
8 Delarosa,`Alyson FR ontier 2:22.27
9 Mejia, Alyssa
Clovis 2:22.56
10 Nakamura,.Jennifer
Clovis'North 2:23.86
11 Tildahl,'Danielle
Tehachapi 2:24.08
12 Larson,;Jeanette 12 Mt. Whitney 2:24.42
13 Kurushima,.Kacy
Clovis`East 2:24.53
14 Taylor, Katie 10 Mt.`Whitney 2:27.34
15 Mooney,.Annie
Miss.;Coll.;Prep 2:29.11
16 Mcatee,,Sarah
Liberty 2:29.91
17 Thompson, Megan
Taft 2:30.77
18 Lopez,`Cecila
North 2:31.10

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