San Benito High grad Ryan Shorey and his Redlands relay team are
on pace to advance to the national championships
HOLLISTER
It’s not unclear as to what pushed the University of Redlands’ 4×100 relay team earlier this month. Going up against your two biggest rivals in a multi-dual meet has a way of bringing out a team’s best.
But after it registered the top time in the nation, it was perhaps the enormity of the push that may have been the most shocking.
Follow Free Lance Sports on Twitter.
“I wasn’t surprised we qualified. I was surprised we qualified by as much as we did,” said Redlands sophomore Ryan Shorey, a 2009 graduate of San Benito High School and the third leg of the Southern California school’s 400-meter relay team.
On April 2, the Redlands foursome, including junior Richard Nakaoka (Manhattan Beach), senior Andy Green (Seattle), senior Ross Blanchard (Novato) and Hollister’s Shorey, recorded a time of 41.42 seconds in the 4×100 event, which was not only an NCAA Provisional time, but also the fastest recorded time in the nation this year among Division III schools.
It still stands at No. 1 today.
“We’re still ranked first after two weeks, which is kind of surprising. But it’s awesome,” Shorey said Tuesday night. “The fact that no one has ran a faster time this year is surprising, but we still have time to improve upon it.”
The Redlands’ time has actually been No. 1 for three weeks now. The latest rankings were released on Wednesday morning, and the foursome’s time still stands atop the D-III landscape, with five weeks remaining.
Considering their top time meets the NCAA standard of 41.95 seconds, the Redlands team now only has to figure into the top 16 in the nation in order to receive an invite to nationals, which will be held in Delaware, Ohio, from May 26-28.
Still at No. 1, Shorey and the 4×100 team is confident they’ll figure, at the very least, into the top 16.
“We think we will, for sure,” Shorey said. “Our chances are pretty good.”
Running a 41.42 has had a significant influence on the team’s performance since that April 2 dual meet. Consider the fact that Redlands ran a 43.07 just the week before, while its best time this season prior to April 2 was a 43.06, and its best time all of last year was a 42.35.
But since clocking the fastest time in the nation earlier this month, the Redlands relay team has yet to run anything slower than 42 seconds.
“Last year, we didn’t even beat 42 seconds,” added Shorey, noting that the team has run roughly a 41.8 and a 41.7 in two meets since. “Now that we’ve run 41.42 and we know we can do it, it’s way easier. We know we’re good, not to sound cocky.
“The fact that we’re still first in the nation is surprising, but we’re happy.”
The team’s top mark ranks sixth all-time at Redlands, and is the first entry into the school’s top 10 since 1988.
As for that push, Redlands was up against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and the University of La Verne on April 2, the latter of whom is second in the nation in the 4×100 with a time of 41.45 seconds — just three one-hundredths of a second off Redlands’ time — where as Claremont hadn’t lost a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference dual meet in 20 years.
That is, until they lost to Redlands on April 2.
“We’re really confident right now,” said Shorey, whose part of a men’s Redlands team that is ranked No. 8 nationally within D-III.
The Bulldogs will compete in the conference championships next weekend before taking part in two invitational meets prior to nationals — or, in other words, three meets to improve upon their top 4×100 time.
“We’re gonna have the competition to run even faster at conference,” Shorey said. “Assuming everything goes right, it could be an incredible race.”
