Saturday, May. 30, 2009

Final-day thoughts from Tacoma

Another high school sports season is in the books.

And it goes by the wayside with another gorgeous afternoon in the Tacoma area -- where has this weather been all spring?

Here's one of the most interesting things about the state track championships -- it's one of the few places where you're find miserable champions and ebullient fourth-place finishers.

Stealing a bit from my track sensei Dave Trimmer of the Spokesman-Review, it comes down to expectations.

You talk to the best athletes, and they expect to place high at a meet. They're judging their performance not on where they place, but with what mark they do so.

Win, but with a subpar mark, and eh, OK, thanks for the blue-ribboned medal.

Lose, but with a huge personal record, and it's WAHOO! can't wait for the next meet now.

Richland senior Jessica Christian is already a subdued person to begin with, so I didn't expect a huge celebration when she won a second state title in the 4A girls pole vault Saturday.

But I did expect some sort of celebration. Nope. Just a wan smile and an exasperated look.

She won by clearing 11-9, a height that is almost perfunctory for her now. She wanted 12-6 and a school record. Or 12-7 and a meet record. Or 13-0 and a state record.

Compare that to the big smile on the face of Pasco senior Yesenia Ortiz, who just finished fourth by almost two seconds in the 4A girls 400 final.

But she finished in 57.36 seconds -- more than a half-second personal-best and the area-leading mark for the season.

It was the culmination of her transformation from short sprinter to quarter-miler.

"In previous years, the 100 was the race I loved," Ortiz said. "This year, I finally realized, I can't run the 100 against (this caliber of competition) any more. Last year, I qualified for state and did really bad. This year, I worked so hard to be at state. This feels awesome."

She's headed to Spokane Falls CC next year to study nursing and continue her track career. I could see her getting into the 55-56 second range next year and becoming a big part of a 4x400 relay team.

Two years ago, Elise Jepsen won the 3A girls high jump state title by clearing 5-2.

Last year, she finished second in 3A, again clearing 5-2.

On Saturday, the Kamiakin senior closed out her career by clearing 5-2 in the 4A meet.

And finished in a three-way tie for eighth.

Jepsen did win one competition, though -- she guessed odd while the other two girls picked even, meaning Jepsen got to take home the eighth-place medal while the others will have to get theirs in the mail.

"5-2 at state seems to be my thing," Jepsen said, her ever-present smile on her face. "I had my chances. Now, I'm looking forward to going to Eastern."

I had a coach come up to me today and ask, "So, have you changed your mind about this place."

And yes, after spending three days at the Mount Tahoma facility, I can say it has grown on me.

It's no Edgar Brown Stadium. And certainly no Hayward Field -- the best track facility around.

But once I got used to my surroundings, I didn't feel so claustrophobic. It handled the Day 3 finals crowd all right.

And as Pasco AD Le Burns pointed out, the view of Mount Rainier beats the view inside the gravel pit any day.

But having the throwing events well outside shouting distance from the stadium is a big turnoff. In fact, for me, it's a deal-breaker.

It's a good stadium. A solid B. Better than I'd been led to believe.

The schedule left something to be desired, though. I didn't understand why, if you're tinkering with the usual meet schedule, you'd still keep the 100 and 4x100 finals in consecutive order. Or keep all three relays on the Saturday slate if you've got a three-day meet to spread them around.

Here was my thought -- why not schedule the meets similarly to how the three volleyball tournaments are run at Toyota Center?

For example, have all the 2A prelims on Thursday night, along with the 3,200 finals and all the prelims for one hurdles race and one relay, and some field event finals.

Then Friday, paired with the 3A and 4A prelims are the 2A finals. By the time Friday night is over, the 2A meet is completed.

That leaves Saturday for the rest of the 4A and 3A field events, along with the 4A and 3A track finals.

Another suggestion (not original to me) -- put up result boards by the field events with all the jumps and throws on them, so the fans can follow along with the action more easily. It's something done at the Pasco Invite, district and regional meets -- and I would imagine at some westside meets as well.

Anyone else who attended Star Track and has suggestions, please post them at the end of this blog.

That's it for now.

Time to get a little R&R.

Til next time ...