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

Will She Double Down?

Before she heads off to Oregon for college, the central valley will get to see Jordan run two more times (valley and state). The photo on the left was taken at last year's valley meet at Liberty and is most viewed photo on my flickr account.

Every time I am at a meet that she is running, I never seemed to get good shots. The main reason is at valley cross country, her division runs real early and I seem to get there as she is finishing. Then at track meets, she usually only runs the 3200 and by then the lighting is bad and my cameras do not work well in low light.

But this year's valley, maybe different because she is expected to run the 800 and the light will be better. The 800/3200 double seems to be an odd one since they are fairly close together, the 800 will be at 6:40pm and the 3200 is scheduled to be run at 7:40pm. Usually distance runners do the 1600/3200 double.

Though Jordan has the best time in the 800, Katie Fry (10) is not that far behind and has been improving throughout the season. I first saw her this season at the Buchanan Distance Classic where she won the 800in 2:22. Now she is ten seconds faster.

The battle for the third and last ticket to state should be interesting because there were a lot of girls in the 2:19 to 2:21 range at the area meets. 3rd was 2:19.20 and 9th was 2:21.24 and these nine athletes will be in the fast heat. the tenth through 14th marks range from 2:21.29 to 2:22.37 and will be in the slow heat which is unfortunate for the two Bakersfield athletes who are seeded number 13 and 14.

Sarah Baker (Bakersfield 10) has been under 2:20 in previous races and is such a competitor, that she would have an outside shot at vying for the final state berth if she was in the fast heat. Plus I think that the fourth would qualify for state because I can not see Hasay running the 800 at state especially with the prelims on Friday and the final before the 3200 on Saturday. I think she would drop the 800 and focus on setting the national record in the 3200, like German did last year.

A Kern athlete who did run fast enough at her area meet, is Taft's Megan Thompson who is a good 1600 runner and can hold her own in the open 400. In the end, it will be a race between Fry and Hasay and d it would be nice to see both go under 2:10 and the race for third will be a wild one.

The At-Large standard is: 800m 2:12.33. Which I doubt the fourth fastest girl at the meet will go under.

Event 11 Women 800 Meter Run
Saturday 5/23/2009 - 6:40 PM
Lane Name Yr School Seed Time

Section 1 of 2 Finals
1 Lopez, Cecila North 2:31.71 ______
2 Taylor, Katie 10 Mt. Whitney 2:24.88 ______
3 Delarosa, Alyson Frontier 2:22.37 ______
4 Mejia, Alyssa Clovis 2:21.98 ______
5 Barsarian, Saylah Clovis 2:21.39 ______
6 Bricks, MACY Buchanan 2:21.54 ______
7 Baker, Sarah Bakersfield 2:22.29 ______
8 Armstrong, Jessica Buchanan 2:22.88 ______
9 McATEE, Sarah Liberty 2:31.62 ______

Section 2 of 2 Finals
1 Carrasco, Vanessa 10 Tulare Union 2:21.24 ______
2 Mooney, Annie Miss. Coll. Prep 2:20.27 ______
3 Brown, Alish Madera South 2:19.50 ______
4 Thompson, Megan Taft 2:19.32 ______
5 Hasay, Jordon Miss. Coll. Prep 2:10.42 ______
6 Fry, Katie Exeter 2:12.56 ______
7 Pahkamaa, Molly EL Diamente 2:19.32 ______
8 Nakamura, Jennifer Clovis North 2:20.18 ______
9 Larson, Jeanette 12 Mt. Whitney 2:20.45 ______

Alternates
1 Tildahl, Danielle Tehachapi 2:23.73
2 Van Hofwegen, Kacie Cent. Valley Chr 2:24.07
3 Kurushima, Kacy Clovis East 2:27.70

top marks '09
ss-1 2:10.42a jordan hasay,mission prep-slo  5-13 seq-sie
ss-2 2:12.56a ++katie fry,exeter             5-13 seq-sie
n-1 2:16.38a +alisha brown,madera south      5-1  reedley invit
n-3 2:16.46a ++macy bricks,buchanan-clo      4-17 lemoore
ss-3 2:19.20a +megan thompson,taft           5-13 seq-sie
c-1 2:19.32a +molly pahkamaa,el diamante-vis 5-13 cen area
ss-4 2:20.18a ++jennifer nakamura,clo north  5-13 seq-sie
ss-5 2:20.27a ++annie mooney,mission prep    5-13 seq-sie
c-2 2:20.45a jeanette larsen,mt whitney-vis  5-13 cen area
n-5 2:20.75a +jessica armstrong,buchanan-cl  4-17 lemoore
s-1 2:21.06a ++sarah baker,bakersfield       5-1  reedley
c-3 2:21.24a ++vanessa carrasco,tulare u     5-13 cen area
n-4 2:21.98a ++alyssa mejia,clovis           5-13 no area
s-2 2:22.37a alyson delarosa,frontier-bk     5-13 so area
2:23.73a ++danielle tildahl,tehachapi    5-13 seq-sie-6
2:24.07a ++kacie van hofwegen,CVC-vis    5-13 seq-sie-7
c-4 2:24.88a ++katie taylor,mt whitney-vis 5-13 cen area
2:25.15a ss holly snarr,woodlake         3-27 exeter
s-3 2:25.45a tijerra lynch,ridgeview-bk    4-17 mt sac