Drillers dominate sprint events at Patriot Games
| Saturday, Apr 19 2008 02:11 AM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 08:29 PM
With apologies to Reggie Bush and Nike, Bakersfield High's fast is faster than your fast.
If the Patriot Games at Liberty High were any kind of precursor to track and field's postseason, BHS proclaimed loud and clear Friday, its sprinters are the best in the area, and it's not that close.
The Drillers opened the meet by dominating both the boys and girls 400-meter relays, then had individuals surge to victory in the boys and girls 100 and boys and girls 200 races.
"We all just believe in ourselves," BHS girls sprinter Brushay Wandick said. "We all get along and get better."
Wandick dominated the 100 with a season-low time of 12.45, beating Golden Valley's Shanesha Epps by nearly three-tenths of a second. The 200 was a bit closer, but Wandick held off Centennial's Ashlee Thomas and Liberty's Erica Wilcox.
Wandick said she wasn't satisfied.
"I can do better," Wandick said. "I want to get even better. I'm trying to hit a 12-flat in the (100) and probably in the 24s in the (200)."
On the boys' side, the fastest 400 relay team in the Valley posted a 42.74, more than a second better than second-place Ridgeview.
The Drillers then backed that up with Emanuel Turner's victory in the 100 (10.88).
"I don't have much confidence because I've been running horrible, but that was all right," Turner said after the 100. "I just wasn't working hard, not competing against myself and being cocky. It's my own fault but ... I'm being consistent now."
The Patriot Games host most of the teams in the area. That, combined with the timing of the meet -- the postseason starts in less than two weeks -- and the location -- both the league and area meets will also be at Liberty -- makes it a prime forecasting tool.
Conspicuously absent, though, were several of Kern County's top performers. Foothill, home to elite thrower Dayshan Ragans and distance runner Chris Schwartz, wasn't at the meet, and neither was Stockdale, which boasts several top sprinters, relay teams and field-event competitors.
Also, Liberty's Isiah Purvis didn't compete in the 200 and 400, and Shafter thrower Anna Jelmini was saving herself for a meet at Salinas today.
But there were still several good results. Wilcox, before finishing third in the 200, set a personal record in the 400 with a 58.42.
"I didn't think I was going to p.r., but my coach, I could hear him yelling to stay at that pace," Wilcox said. "I did and then somehow still had a kick at the end."
Other double winners included Frontier's Taylor Jackson in the girls 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles and North's Anthony Mitchell in the 400 and 800.
But Bakersfield High came back to the forefront at the end of the meet too. With several of his victorious sprinter teammates gathered round, Isiah Griggs went into a jump-off with West's George Robbins under the lights in the high jump.
Each missed several jumps in a row in the 6-foot-4 area, so the bar was lowered to 6-foot-1. Then both Griggs and Robbins started making jumps. Finally, at 6-3, Griggs watched as Robbins hit the bar.
"If my leg was hurting right now, it wouldn't be frustration," said Griggs, who was battling cramps and pain in his shin. "But now I'm going to be soaking all day. I've never done that before."
