NORWALK — The final chapter in the storied track season of Lower Lake High School senior Mike Perez will be written today when the 1,600-meter final in the CIF State Championships commences at approximately 4:19 p.m. at Cerritos College in Norwalk.
Perez finished third in his heat on Friday to automatically qualify for today”s nine-man final. Each of the top three finishers in the two heats and the next three fastest runners regardless of heat punched their ticket for today”s championship race, while 19 other runners, all pretty good in their own right, are headed home, including St. Helena junior Brian Cole, who just missed out finishing 10th overall in 4 minutes, 16.86 seconds.
Perez did exactly what he wanted to do, expend enough energy to gain the finals but not an ounce more. He”s saving that for today, according to coach Bob Galloway.
“He wanted to get into the finals by expending the least amount of energy as possible and that”s what he did,” Galloway said. “Today really doesn”t matter. It”s only qualifying.”
While Perez had the slowest qualifying time of the nine finalists, his mark of 4:15.72 elevates him into some rarified air as far as Lake County athletes go. While others have reached the CIF State Championships, no other runner has made it this far and it may be a long time before it happens again.
“He”s suffering right now,” Galloway said of Perez just minutes following the conclusion of the second heat. “He”s not happy about how he feels and he”s got a pounding headache right now.”
Perez has been battling some sort of bug for several weeks and a hospital X-ray earlier this week revealed a small amount of fluid in the lungs, which has made it harder for him to breath. Though his doctor prescribed an inhaler to help him breath, Perez said he forgot it when he was packing and left it back home in Lower Lake.
“I used it once before I left, but I didn”t feel a difference,” Perez said. “I honestly do not like going to the doctor. They only tell you”re sick and I already know that,” he said. “They never tell you what”s wrong.”
The weather at Cerritos College didn”t help on Friday, according to Galloway.
“It was humid and he”s not used to that,” Galloway said. “It was about 85 degrees with a slight breeze.”
“I didn”t like it, I”d rather have it be a little cooler,” Perez said of the conditions. “And with all the smog in the air, it makes it harder.”
Marlon Patterson of Franklin High School in Stockton had the top qualifying time at 4:12.98. Michael Coe of Cabrillo (4:13.12), Spencer Knight of La Sierra (4:13.32), Fawad Khan of Palos Verdes (4:13.66), Dylan Knight of La Sierra (4:13.82), Colton Tully-Doyle of Rancho (4:14.99), A.J. Acosta of El Camino (4:15.09) and Austin Jett of Eastlake (4:15.10) were the other 1,600 qualifiers.
Perez said he has “plenty left” for today”s final even though he”s facing the very best of the best in Patterson, Coe and Acosta.
“Yeah, I”ve got some surprises left, you could say that,” Perez said.
Laying out his race strategy earlier in the week, Perez held true to form by letting the other runners set the pace during Friday”s time trial.
“He ran between seventh and ninth nearly the entire way,” Galloway said.
“The last lap I started to move forward and pass guys,” Perez said. “I stayed in lane two most of the way so I wouldn”t get boxed in.”
The only scary point for Perez came about three-quarters of the way through the race when he temporarily got pinned inside.
“I kind of panicked a little bit,” Perez said, “but I just slowed down a little bit and let a guy pass me and then I was fine.”
“The last 200 meters he was running up with the leaders and he was OK coming down the stretch,” Galloway said. “The next closest guy was about 10 meters behind him, so he was never in any trouble (of losing his automatic third-place qualifying spot).”
Perez said he was so focused during Friday”s time trial that he didn”t notice he had been spiked until the race was over and he noticed blood on his leg. “I don”t know when it happened … I didn”t feel it.”
“He”s in the finals, that”s all that matters,” Galloway said.
Perez was on his way to Norwalk Thursday when he was named the Redwood Empire”s co-Small School Athlete of the Year by the Press Democrat. He”s also a finalist for the Record-Bee”s Athlete of the Year award, which will be presented later this month.
