06.21.08
2008 All-Area boys track and field selections
2008 All-Area boys track and field selections
The Bakersfield Californian | Friday, Jun 20 2008 8:35 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Jun 20 2008 8:53 PM
Athlete of the Year
Foothill, senior
– Area, Central Section and CIF State champion in shot put and discus
– Best marks were high throws of 203-7 in discus and 63-7.75 in shot put
– Two-time All-Area Athlete of the Year headed to Cal State Bakersfield
JOHNNY CARTER
Ridgeview, freshman
– State champion in triple jump as freshman with mark of 49-0.75
– Mark would have been a state freshman record if it hadn’t been wind-aided
– Section-winning mark of 48-3 was one inch from section freshman record
MATT DARR
Frontier, sophomore
– Finished second in the Central Section with 52-8.75 shot put throw
– Fourth in discus at section meet with 157-7
– Threw discus 180-5 in the wind in Salinas and recently had a postseason shot put mark of 55-3; both are second-best in the section
CHRIS KELLY
Ridgeview, senior
– Had season-best triple jump of 47-11 at state finals to finish third
– Also finished third at section meet with 46-10.5 jump
– Long-jump mark of 22-0.5 was sixth-best in section all year
ANTHONY MITCHELL
North, senior
– Fifth in the state in the 800 meters
– Central Section champion in 800; SWYL champion in 400 and 800
– Second-team All-Area selection last year had a top time in the 800 of 1:53.60
ISAIAH PURVIS
Liberty, junior
– Finished second in the Central Section in 200 (21.96) and 400 (49.13)
– Same time in 200 gave him 16th place in the state preliminaries
– Also ran anchor leg of Liberty’s 1,600 relay team, second in section and 13th in state
CHRIS SCHWARTZ
Foothil, junior
– Ran personal-record time of 8:58.50 in 3,200-meter state finals to finish second
– Central Section and South Area champion in 1,600 and 3,200
– Triple SEYL champion (800, 1,600 and 3,200) also was state Division I cross-country champion
TYLER THOMPSON
Shafter, senior
– Finished second in Central Section in long jump and triple jump
– State qualifier in both jumping events
– South Sequoia League champion in four events: 200, high jump, long jump and triple jump
EMANUEL TURNER
Bakersfield, junior
– Kern County’s fastest boy had times of 10.81 in the 100 and 22.05 in the 200
– Finished second in the 100 at the section meet, but focused on relays at state
– Ran legs in BHS’ 400 relay team (section champs, 14th at state) and 1,600 relay team (third in section, 17th in state)
SECOND TEAM
Isiah Griggs, Bakersfield
Daniel Lozano, Stockdale
Phillip McCullum, Garces
Eddie Morrow, East
Kevin Norwood, Golden Valley
Arturo Ramirez, Centennial
George Robbins, West
Matt Sumlin, Garces
HONORABLE MENTION
Bakersfield: Collin Ellis, Walter Hunt
Burroughs: Matt Johnson
Desert: Michael Vaughan
Golden Valley: Emmett Hodges
North: Cody Gragg
Shafter: Alex Thompson
Stockdale: Jay Garber, David Mitchell, Steve Silva
Tehachapi: John Roemer
Wasco: Robert Hernandez
Foothill’s Ragans honored as Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year
BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer
zewing@bakersfield.com | Friday, Jun 20 2008 10:33 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Jun 20 2008 10:52 PM
His high school state championships are behind him, but Foothill graduate Dayshan Ragans keeps throwing — and continues to amaze coach Wayne Brewer.
“I was practicing discus with him the other day,” Brewer said last week. “And he wasn’t turning his feet, just trying to throw it far.
“And his arm is just ‘WHOOOM!’ You cannot teach that, you cannot coach that. I’m standing way back, and I can feel his arm, feel the wind it makes.”
Say hello — or just stand back as he creates a nice breeze — to your Californian Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
Ragans finished his career with the Trojans by winning state titles in both the shot put and discus May 31. He was undefeated in both events this season — maxing out with a 63-7.75 shot put throw and 203-7 in the discus — and will throw for Cal State Bakersfield next year.
“It’s like everything we worked for from the beginning of the year to the end of the year,” Ragans said. “It even goes back to freshman all the way through senior year. Everything you worked for is right there. It comes down to that point — Who’s going to be a state champion?”
All of those accomplishments shine brighter when you consider that Ragans had never picked up a shot put until his freshman-year P.E. class came around to its track unit.
“(I said,) ‘All right, I’ll do track.’” Ragans said. “Went to a few track meets, then ‘OK, it’s kind of fun, I think I’ll keep doing it.’ Then a couple more meets, ‘OK, this is something I want to do.’”
Even with his career in its infancy, Ragans garnered attention at meets with his raw talent. Brewer, who was then at North High, remembers Ragans throwing the shot 50-plus feet without spinning, the favored technique by high-level throwers.
“That just tells you how remarkable of an athlete he is,” Brewer said. “You look at (other elite throwers), they’ve been throwing since they were little. Imagine if he’d been throwing that long.”
In fact, Ragans didn’t truly take the sport seriously — often skipping practices and being held out of meets — until late in his sophomore year, when he qualified for the state meet in the shot put and finished 13th.
“If I knew then what I know now,” Ragans said, “I would have never missed a day of practice.”
Imbued with Brewer’s love of the sport, Ragans has made up for it since then.
“Everything he’s done, he’s really worked hard for and he really deserves,” Brewer said. “He deserves being a state champion. He deserves setting all the records he has. He deserved getting that 3.5 GPA. Everything.
“He’s worked hard, he’s put in the extra time. We throw, we lift, we go in the weight room after practice to jump boxes. Everybody else tries to get out of there; not Dayshan. He doesn’t care. He goes and does it. Those medals he has around his neck, he deserves every single little bit of that.”
The gold medals could increase at CSUB — Ragans, the sixth of seven children in his family, is the first to attend a four-year college, and he said he refuses to waste this opportunity.
“It’s somewhere he never thought he’d be, and he wants to take full advantage of it,” Brewer said. “He’s excited to start this chapter in his life.”
One look in Ragans’ eyes will tell you that’s true. He’s become a standout (a Central Section meet record in the discus and several school records), thanks to determination, hard work and a little bit of WHOOOM! to go with it.
“People can have a love for football, basketball, baseball, anything,” Ragans said. “I just have a love for track. I don’t know where I’d be right now if it weren’t for track.”
