Stockdale's Collatz completes rare triple with wins in shot, discus, triple jump
| Wednesday, May 13 2009 10:16 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, May 13 2009 11:19 PM
Images
Casey Christie / The Californian Bakersfield High School 4x100 relay team runner, Walter Hunt, center, gets ready to sprint to the finish line with a first place win at Liberty High Wednesday.
Casey Christie / The Californian Bakersfield High's third leg of the women's 4x100 meter race, Asha Brown, right, hand off to anchor Brushay Wandick, Wednesday, at Liberty during track and field competition. BHS came in first in 48.37 seconds.
Casey Christie / The Californian Golden Valley's Matt Jones competes in the men's 110 high hurdles, Wednesday afternoon at Liberty High during an area track and field meet.
Casey Christie / The Californian Golden Valley's Matt Jones competes in the men's 110 high hurdles, Wednesday afternoon at Liberty High during an area track and field meet.
Casey Christie / The Californian Sarah Baker, right, women's 1600 meter runner keeps an eye on her competition, Monica Guzman, left, at Liberty High, Wednesday afternoon during an area track and field meet. Baker was the winner of this event.
If you waited behind the bleachers at Liberty's track stadium on Wednesday, you might have caught a glimpse of a blonde girl in a silver-and-black track singlet jogging from the shot put venue, on the left side of the bleachers, to the triple jump pit on the right side.
Stockdale sophomore Alex Collatz, you see, was entered in both events at the Central Section South Area meet, and both run at the same time. The juggling act is impressive enough -- before you consider that Collatz won both, then added a victory in the discus for a unique triple title.
"I like to say it's athletics, even though they're totally different things," Collatz said. "It just works for me, I guess. I'm kind of proud of it, I guess."
Collatz has been nursing a bruised heel, so her triple-jump status was up in the air at the area meet, where the top four finishers in each event -- plus three wild cards with the best marks between the South, Central and North Areas and Sierra/Sequoia meet -- advance to the section championships May 23 at Clovis-Buchanan.
Apparently bored while she was recovering from the heel injury, Collatz decided to pick up the shot put and give that event a try. It paid off with an SWYL championship last week and now a South Area title with a 39-9.75.
"I guess all of my weightroom training has paid off," Collatz said.
She added a solid 160-2 in the discus -- her personal record is 165-3, good for third in the nation -- and used a 36-9.5 in the triple jump to outpace Centennial's Alana Alexander by half an inch.
Collatz was the only triple winner on the day, but there were other star performers. Taylor Jackson of Frontier won her customary double in the 100 hurdles (14.41, which would be a PR but it was wind-aided) and 300 hurdles (45.12).
Liberty's Amanda Klinchuch took the pole vault crown, equaling her personal-best mark of 11-6. Her teammate, Erica Wilcox, lowered her PR in the 400 to 58.07.
Bakersfield's Sarah Baker, after winning three SEYL titles last week, took the area title in the 800 (2:22.29) and 1,600 (5:24.53). Brushay Wandick led 1-3-4 finishes for the Drillers in the 100 (12.31) and 200 (25.39). BHS qualified 16 times in girls events for next week.
On the boys side, Ridgeview -- probably the biggest threat to upset heavy section favorite Buchanan at next week's meet -- had an up-and-down day. Sophomore Johnny Carter, defending state champion in the triple jump, returned to action after nagging groin and ankle injuries had kept him out for the past month. Limited to one event, he recorded a 46-5.5 to win the triple jump.
"It's been a nail-biting year," Carter said. "I didn't know if (the injuries) were serious, if they were gonna affect my jumping. I've just kept my head up."
Jerrid Lewis blew past his season-best in the 800 and ran a 1:54.63, more than 2.5 seconds ahead of second place. He now owns the section's best time.
"I was planning to PR for sure," Lewis said. "I just said, 'Why not go big and let all the guys in the other areas know what I could do?'"
The Wolf Pack's Isiah Purvis was out-dueled in the 400 by Liberty's Marty Affentranger, who ran a PR 48.90. But Purvis came back to win the 200 (a wind-aided 22.11) and anchor Ridgeview's winning 1,600 relay team (3:20.23).
Despite a few struggles in other events, Ridgeview qualified 14 individuals for events next week. Buchanan likely will have many more.
"We're not giving up or anything, but it looks like it's going to take a miracle," Lewis said.
Frontier's Matt Darr won a double in the throwing events, with a 188-6 PR in the discus and a 60-4.5 in the shot. Affentranger also won the long jump at 21-9, and Foothill's Chris Schwartz doubled in the 1,600 (4:29.61) and 3,200 (9:35.06).
