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Drillers deliver a thriller

BHS boys and girls sweep SEYL team titles; Stockdale boys, Centennial girls win SWYL

BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer
zewing@bakersfield.com | Thursday, May 1 2008 11:15 PM

Last Updated: Friday, May 2 2008 3:54 PM

Chalk up two more track and field league titles for Bakersfield High.

And this time, give an assist to Driller greats of the past.

Buoyed by an emotional trip to the school's record room the day before, the Drillers boys' and girls' teams each took home the Southeast Yosemite League titles Thursday at Liberty High.

"We have all the league titles printed up there and we have 2008 with a question mark," BHS coach Steven Anderson said. "All the kids went up there, and I expected them to be 15 minutes. They were up there an hour, just looking at old trophies and marks. They were ready, they were inspired, they wanted this bad today."

In the Southwest Yosemite League, Centennial won the girls title with 169 points to Stockdale's 137. The Mustang boys returned the favor, beating Centennial 155.75-120.50.

The BHS boys won by a large margin, outdistancing Liberty 128-91 to break the Patriots' four-year title streak.

The girls, meanwhile, had to eke one out. Liberty held the team lead by four points with three events to be scored, including the 1,600-meter relay, in which BHS had already lost twice to Liberty earlier in the season.

Not this time. Bakersfield took the lead early in the race and beat LHS by nearly five seconds with a time of 4:06.71.

"We only ever see football and basketball (trophies)," said Shinead McDonald, who won the 100 and 300 hurdles before running the third leg of the mile relay. "So we went up in there, there were a whole bunch of trophies. West Coast Relays from the 1920s and everything. It was real emotional ... Coach was crying and everything, and I saw a lot of my dad's trophies."

When Marlise Williams and an injured Chanel Reeves came up with a 1-3 finish in the long jump, BHS could start its plans for painting another year on the wall in the record room.

"They don't want people to go, 'well, what happened that year?,'" Anderson said.

Centennial's girls continued an era of dominance, winning at least a share of the SWYL title for an eighth straight year.

Stockdale was hurt when its 400 relay team -- which went on to finish first -- was disqualified because of an illegal baton pass. But Centennial had plenty of firepower, starting with Ashlee Thomas' victories in the 400 (58.70) and 800 (2:31.72) despite a tight hamstring.

"In the 4, I could feel my hamstring, so I was kind of being cautious," Thomas said. "Then a girl came up on me, and I had to beat her to the end."

Stockdale's boys continued their season of success with a dominating victory.

"We thought we had the best team," Stockdale coach Dave Lonsinger said. "Track's pretty cut and dry, and we were undefeated in duals. We don't really have any weak events."

Foothill had a couple of shining performances on an individual scale. Thrower Dayshan Ragans took his first steps of a postseason that could end in a state championship.

Ragans, the state's leader in each the shot put and discus, easily won both events in 57-31/2 and 180-4, even though he's battling a cold. Ragans also tried something new -- letting out a primal scream as he released the shot.

"That's just me trying to get everybody pumped," Ragans said. "That's what we're trying to establish here at the league meet. Get pumped up, make good throws."

Chris Schwartz added a victory in the 800 (1:58.74) to his signature-event wins in the 1,600 (4:35.51) and the 3,200 (10:01.28). Schwartz won't even run the 800 at next week's Yosemite area meet.

Two of the day's best races were in the SWYL boys 100, which Ridgeview's Tynell Robertson won over Stockdale's Steve Silva in a photo finish (both times 10.81) and the SEYL boys 200, in which Liberty's Isiah Purvis edged BHS' Emmanuel Turner, 22.03 to 22.05.