MIDDLETOWN — Middletown High School’s track squad had both ends of the state covered this past weekend as team members competed at both the Arcadia Invitational on Friday and Saturday and the Chico Invitational on Saturday.
Middletown sent its top throwers — discus and shotput specialists Taelor Roderick and Bryson Trask — south to Arcadia while 14 girls and one boy had a shorter trip to Chico State on Saturday. Four more school records fell at the Chico competition as sophomore Isaac Rascon and freshman Brooklyn Huffman bettered their own marks in both the 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters. Grace Southern also won the 800 meters at Chico, just missing a school record, while the 4×400 girls relay team turned in a near record-setting performance even though one of its members was replaced at the last second and another was less than 100 percent.
Middletown first-year head coach Don Cobb said he not only was impressed with his team’s accomplishments during the weekend, but he was “very impressed” as the Chico contingent combined for 19 personal-best times, not to mention the four new school records.
“Our youngest members are starting to give us a boost,” Cobb said of such runners as Huffman, a state qualifier in cross country during the fall season. “Brooklyn is running under control and making progress. She’s learning to race.”
Cobb is quick to credit veterans such as seniors Southern and Kelsey Lemoine with the rapid advancement of the younger athletes on the team.
“Grace and Kelsey have been helpful to the development,” Cobb said.
The will to compete can’t be underestimated either, according to Cobb, who said the saga of the 4×400 girls relay team at Chico is a perfect example.
Lemoine, who had earlier finished third in the 100 with a time of 13.53 seconds, was replaced at the last second by freshman Georgia Guerrero. Giana Tyrrell, battling sickness all day, was on the verge of being replaced as well but simply refused to let that happen.
“Kelsey didn’t want to drop out but I kept her out (for health concerns),” Cobb said.
Tyrrell, battling a bug, had competed in the 1,600 earlier in the day and was scheduled to go in the 3,200.
“She was sick and her time in the 1,600 was really off,” Cobb said. “She came up to me at one point and said ‘I can’t do the 3,200,’” Cobb added. “She laid on the bench.”
Cobb said he initially thought about dropping out of the 4×400 if both Lemoine and Tyrrell were unable to go. Tyrrell helped changed his mind.
“She told me, ‘No, I want to do this. You can’t sub for me,’” Cobb said. “She wasn’t going to let me replace her.”
Tyrrell not only ran the opening leg of the relay but she recorded the fastest 400 of her career (62 seconds). Middletown, competing against a powerful large-school field, ended up taking fifth in 4 minutes, 25.89 seconds, just two seconds off the school record.
“They had never practiced together,” Cobb said of the relay foursome of Tyrrell, Guerrero, Southern and Alyssa Terry.
The dedication and toughness of athletes such as Lemoine and Tyrrell, neither of whom wanted to be replaced in the 4×400 because they didn’t want to let teammates down, hints at a larger team strength, according to Cobb.
“A team can’t be a team unless you give yourself up for the team,” Cobb said. “This group … I have learned so much about how truly special they are. I have strong leaders who are willing to do whatever it takes.”
Chico
Huffman finished ninth in the 1,600 (5:36.16) and third in the 3,200 (12:28.7) while Rascon shattered both of his schools records in the 1,600 (4:44.73) and 3,200 (10:08.87). He finished 13th in the 1,600 and fourth in the 3,200.
Southern already owns the school record in the 400, an event she placed second in at Chico with a time of 1:01.57, and Cobb said it won’t be long before she owns the school record in the 800, which she won in 2:30.99. Terry was seventh in 2:37.04 and Huffman ninth in 2:39.18, personal-best times for both.
Another Middletown veteran, Alyssa Hart, clocked in seventh in the 100 hurdles at 17.68 seconds and was on a school-record pace until she clipped the last hurdle.
Also in the 3,200, Southern was fourth overall (12:56.75) and Erica Kinsel was 10th (13:27.50).
In the frosh-soph girls division, standouts included Zamora Rogers, third in 13.96, and Guerrero, 10th in 14.65. Rogers also finished second in the frosh-soph 200 (28.98) and seventh in the 400 (67.16). Guerrero added a sixth-place finish in the 400 (66.75).
Arcadia
Middletown almost added a fifth school record this past weekend as Roderick uncorked a throw of 119 feet, 4 inches to place 12th in a large-school field of throwers at Arcadia.
Roderick owns the Middletown record at 119-6.
“She just missed,” Cobb said.
Roderick did not participate in the shotput.
In boys competition, Trask was well off his season bests with throws of 171-6 in the discus and 50-9 in the shotput. He placed 13th in both events.
Schedule
Middletown hosts a Coastal Mountain Conference meet on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. A total of nine schools are scheduled to compete. The Mustangs hit the road again Friday to compete in the Woody Wilson High School Classic at UC Davis.
