Courtney Allen, boys’ 4×400 relay team complete season at state
track
HOLLISTER
It was Courtney Allen’s goal all season long to simply qualify to the CIF Track and Field State Championships.
And she did that.
But finally at state for the very first time in her four-year career last Friday at Buchanan High School in Clovis, Allen’s never-enough attitude, which has led to a stellar spring season – four Tri-County Athletic League titles and a Central Coast Section title in the 1,600-meter event – took over.
“I thought I did pretty good (at state), but I thought I could have done better,” said Allen, who finished 18th overall and 10th in her heat in the 1,600 Friday after clocking a 5:00.73. The boys’ 4×400 relay team of Justin Williams, Jason Roascio, Nik Soza and Ryan Shorey finished fifth in their heat, but missed the finals cut with a 3:22.75.
“The goal was just to make it to state and then all the other things just came along with it,” Allen added. “But you can always do better.”
With just two heats during Friday’s 1,600, Allen was placed into what turned out to be the faster heat as seven of the 13 competitors advanced to Saturday’s finals, led by Lutheran’s Staci Foster, who ran a 4:50.89.
Chloe Curtis of Redondo, who ran in the opposite heat, clocked the fastest time on Friday with a 4:50.00, while Sammy Silva of San Diego’s Academy of Our Lady of Peace ran a 4:47.67 during Saturday’s finals.
“I was really proud of her because she went in there and did what she normally does,” distance coach Jess Morales said. “She was aggressive and she was in the race for three laps.
“But that fourth lap … it was a real surge.”
Staying with the pack for the first three laps, though – “I felt pretty confident,” she said – Allen couldn’t quite keep pace with the leaders on the final 400 meters.
With her personal record a 4:59.08 – a new school record time at San Benito High that she set at the CCS Finals – Allen’s 5:00.73 at the state prelims missed the finals cut by approximately three and a half seconds.
“They started pulling away and I just didn’t go with them,” she said.
“I tried going, but my legs were really tight. I felt like I couldn’t move.”
Allen’s tightness, she said, was owed to inadequate stretching, but even then, the UNLV-bound harrier still recorded a time a little more than a second off her personal record.
“The first lap, I said, ‘Gosh, she’s going with it,'” Morales said. “But there’s like 10 Courtney’s that are as fast as Courtney and they’re all trying to do the same things Courtney is doing.
“But it was great to see her go out and do what she does. She handled herself real well with strong competition. Unfortunately, those girls are unreal.”
And unfortunately for the Balers – at least from a competition standpoint – four of the five state qualifiers graduated from San Benito Friday morning, owing to one very long day.
Allen said she was tired with her 5:32 p.m. race time, but few could compare to the boys’ 4×400 relay, which didn’t start until around 10:30 p.m., boys coach Iran White said.
“Even so, we still got 13th place,” White said. “Not bad for state.”
Recording a 3:22.75 at the state prelims – slightly off from the school-record 3:21.74 it set at CCS Finals – the San Benito foursome finished fifth in what was the fastest of the four heats.
In what would normally be an ideal situation, though, the Balers instead found themselves in a heat where they weren’t necessarily being pushed.
“They did a good job of staying focused,” White said. “But they kind of ran the race by themselves.
“They were a good 15 meters behind the front pack and a good 15 meters in front of the other pack. After about a lap and a half, we were kind of on our own.”
Behind Millikan (3:17.21), Laguna Creek (3:17.58), Steele Canyon (3:17.73) and Birmingham (3:18.78), all of which qualified to the second day, San Benito’s 3:22.75 was about four seconds behind the heat’s leaders. But then again, San Benito’s 3:22.75 was also far better than Bellarmine (3:26.12), Heritage (3:26.13) and Lowell (3:27.69), which rounded out the heat.
“We were too far behind the leaders but too far in front of the others to be pushing up,” senior Ryan Shorey said. “It really was no man’s land.”
In the end, San Benito’s time missed the finals cut by a little more than three seconds.
“It’s not so much disappointing that we didn’t do better,” senior Nik Soza said.
“It’s not like we wanted to end it, but we went further than people expected.
“Just the fact that we got [to state] was awesome, too.”
Millikan’s 3:17.21 was the top time in prelims, while Lutheran edged Millikan in the finals with a 3:14.53.
San Benito had seemingly shaved time at each and every event recently, recording a 3:25.10 at the Sacramento Meet of Champions; a 3:24.00 at the TCAL Championships; a 3:23.10 at the CCS Trials; and a 3:21.74 at the CCS Championships.
“Considering they ran at 10:30 and ran pretty much all by themselves and were only a second off their best time, I’m really proud of these guys,” White said.
“They had a great run for weeks and weeks. We had a great run and it just came to an end.”
