09.08.08
Posted in Schools, Championships, Valley, State, McFarland, Foothill, Wasco, Shafter, Taft, North, East, Golden Valley, Liberty, Stockdale, Centennial, Delano, South, West, Ridgeview, Highland, Arvin, Garces, Frontier, Tehachapi, Bakersfield, Bakersfield Christian, Mira Monte, Independence at 12:52 pm by Administrator
2008-2009 CENTRAL SECTION FALL PLAY-OFF DIVISIONS
GIRLS CC
D-1
BAKERSFIELD
BUCHANAN
BULLARD
CENTENNIAL
CLOVIS
CLOVIS WEST
CLOVIS EAST
GOLDEN WEST
MADERA
STOCKDALE
D-2
CENTRAL
EAST
EL DIAMANTE
EDISON
FRONTIER
FOOTHILL
GARCES
LIBERTY
MT. WHITNEY
MONACHE
NORTH
REEDLEY
SANGER
SJM
SUNNYSIDE
TULARE
TULARE WESTERN
YOSEMITE
D-3
ARVIN
CESAR CHAVEZ
CLOVIS NORTH
DINUBA
DELANO
EXETER
FRESNO
GOLDEN VALLEY
GRANITE HILLS
HANFORD
HANFORD WEST
HOOVER
HIGHLAND
MADERA SOUTH
Mc LANE
LEMOORE PORTERVILLE
RIDGEVIEW
REDWOOD
ROOSEVELT
SELMA
SHAFTER
SOUTH
TEHACHAPI
WASCO
WEST
D-4 501-1250
AVENAL
BAKERSFIELD CH.
CARUTHERS
COALINGA
CORCORAN
CHOWCHILLA
DOS PALOS
FIREBAUGH
FOWLER
KERMAN
KINGSBURG
LIBERTY M/R
LINDSAY
MENDOTA
Mc FARLAND
ORANGE COVE
PARLIER
RIVERDALE
SIERRA
TAFT
TRANQUILLITY
WASHINGTON UN.
WOODLAKE
D-5 6-500
STRATHMORE
CVC
IMMANUEL
COAST UN.
MISSION PREP
FRESNO CH.
LATON
KINGS CH.
BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
D-1
BAKERSFIELD
BUCHANAN
BULLARD
CENTRAL
CENTENNIAL
CLOVIS
CLOVIS EAST
CLOVIS WEST
MADERA
MT. WHITNEY
STOCKDALE
D-2
EAST
GARCES
GOLDEN WEST
HIGHLAND
HOOVER
LIBERTY
MONACHE
NORTH
REDWOOD
REEDLEY
SUNNYSIDE
TULARE UN.
TULARE WEST.
D-3
ARVIN
CESAR CHAVEZ
CLOVIS NORTH
DELANO
DINUBA
EDISON
EL DIAMANTE
FOOTHILL
FRESNO
FRONTIER
GOLDEN VALLEY
GRANITE HILLS
LEMOORE
HANFORD
HANFORD WEST
MADERA SOUTH
Mc LANE
PORTERVILLE
RIDGEVIEW
ROODEVELT
SANGER
SHAFTER
SELMA
SJM
SOUTH
TEHACHAPI
WASCO
YOSEMITE
D-4 501-1250
AVENAL
BAKERSFIELD CH.
CARUTHERS
COALINGA
CORCORAN
CHOWCHILLA
DOS PALOS
FIREBAUGH
FOWLER
KERMAN
KINGSBURG
LIBERTY M/R
LINDSAY
MENDOTA
Mc FARLAND
ORANGE COVE
PARLIER
RIVERDALE
SIERRA
TAFT
TRANQUILLITY
WASHINGTON UN.
WOODLAKE
D-5 6-500
STRATHMORE
CVC
IMMAUNEL
COAST UN.
MISSION PREP
FRESNO CH.
LATON
KINGS CH.
Join Andy at the biggest poker site in the world - PokerStars.com.
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06.10.08
Posted in Coaches, Schools, Championships, Valley, College, Signings, Centennial, SWYL at 2:41 pm by Administrator
coach randy jones retired this year and will be missed. his boys and girls cross country teams won the valley titles in division two this past fall.
his girls team won the swyl league meet and his boys came in second in track and field.
below are this year’s graduates (please write me about others):
ashlee thomas - byu
brant jones - point loma
april cacuyog - CSUB
arturo ramirez - fresno state
lizzy baker-steimer - U of Chicago,
Ryan Nunez - BC
Monica Morley - BYU-Hawaii
Rachel Tiner - Biola
above provided by brant
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05.31.08
Posted in Profiles, Coaches, Athletes, Schools, Championships, Valley, State, Kern Track Results, Track Meets, Foothill, Results, North, Liberty, Centennial, Ridgeview, Garces, Frontier, Burroughs, Noise Flash!!!, Bakersfield at 11:20 pm by Administrator
Ridgeview’s Carter, Stockdale’s Collatz ahead of the curve
BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer
zewing@bakersfield.com | Thursday, May 29 2008 9:01 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, May 29 2008 9:10 PM
Johnny Carter could see this coming.
No, not the entire explosion of freshman and sophomore talent headed to this weekend’s CIF State Track and Field Championships. But at least his part of it.
“When I was around eight years old, I would get (an empty) TV box and jump into it,” said Carter, a freshman phenom in the triple jump for Ridgeview. “Then I would tell my mom that I was born to run and jump.”
To even Carter’s surprise, it didn’t take long for that prediction to come to fruition. He landed a 48-foot, 3-inch triple jump at the Central Section Championships on May 14 to win the event and head to the state meet with the best seeding mark in California. The meet begins with qualifying today at Cerritos College in Norwalk.
Carter’s 48-3 jump was an inch shy of the section’s freshman record, which was set in 1968 by David Tucker of Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial.
“Nobody really knew he was going to do that,” Ridgeview coach Adam Setser said. “He just didn’t look back. He continued to be real consistent all during the latter part of the season, and then, going into that Valley meet, I kind of thought he might have a really big jump.”
Carter already has passed his right-hand man, Wolf Pack senior Chris Kelly, who finished third at the section meet and has also qualfied.
Even more amazing: Carter has only been jumping since last summer.
“My coach (club coach Kim Jenkins) put me in the California state games, and he said, ‘Go out and try it and show me something big,’” Carter said. “I was like, all right, I’ll go out and try, but I never knew I’d get where I am right now.”
And Carter isn’t the only young phenom headed to Cerritos from Kern County.
Stockdale freshman Alex Collatz is qualified in both the girls discus and triple jump, showing off the versatility of her father, Cal State Bakersfield track coach Alan Collatz.
“Isn’t that amazing?” Stockdale coach Dave Losinger said. “You don’t see hardly anybody doing that. That’s an incredible double.”
Throw in Fresno-Central sprinter extraordinare Brendon Bigelow, and you’ve got a trio of fabulous Central Section frosh.
“For these young kids to be hitting the marks they’re hitting, I have no answer for that,” Garces coach Phillip McCullum said. “It’s just amazing.”
There are sophomores to watch too — Garces sprinter Matt Sumlin, Bakersfield high jumper Isiah Griggs and Frontier shot putter Matt Darr and girls hurdler Taylor Jackson.
“It’s the year of the young athlete,” McCullum said.
The old ones, of course, haven’t given up on their dreams. Kern County’s best chance for state championships comes from Foothill senior Dayshan Ragans and Shafter junior Anna Jelmini, both of whom have the top marks in the state in the shot put and discus. Last year, Ragans was second in the diuscus and fouled out in the shot put finals. Jelmini was fourth in the discus and seventh in the shot.
“We’re looking for big things,” Foothill coach Arron Rietz said of Ragans. “He was disappointed he didn’t win both events last year. … If he doesn’t get hurt and he wants to, he’ll be in the Olympics someday.”
Also of note:
* Foothill junior Chris Schwartz dropped out of the 1,600 to rest up for the 3,200, his stronger event. He’s already won the Division I cross-country state championship and has the state’s third-best time in the 3,200.
If Schwartz can post a top-three finish — German Fernandez of Riverbank is the event’s heavy favorite — and Ragans can win both throwing events, Rietz thinks Foothill will finish in the top three of the team race. Long Beach-Poly is the favorite.
* Alana Alexander, a junior at Centennial, and Tyler Thompson, a Shafter senior, both qualified for state in the long and triple jumps.
* Likewise, Bakersfield High pulled Emmanuel Turner out of the boys 100 so he could focus on the 400 and 1,600 relays, and Liberty’s Isiah Purvis is out of the 400 so he can rest for the 200 and 1,600 relay. All three of those relay teams are capable of reaching Saturday’s finals.
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05.21.08
Posted in Profiles, Driller of the Week, Athletes, Schools, Boys, Championships, Valley, State, Kern Track Results, Drillers, Track Meets, Upcoming, Results, BHS, CSUB, DyeStatCal, Noise Flash!!!, Bakersfield at 10:36 pm by Administrator
the driller’s isiah griggs is the #2 sophomore in the state as of 05/21/08. he came in second at the valley with a PR of 6′6 and has qualified for the state meet.
what makes his jump even more amazing is that bhs doesnt even have proper high jump facilities. our high jump gear is locked away in a storage bin and when we do bring it out, there isnt a proper place to set it out.
despite this, isiah (with the help of csub’s alex haver) contiunes to improve. one hopes he can make 6′8 at state.
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05.15.08
Posted in Schools, Championships, Valley, Grand Masters, Kern Track Results, Foothill, BHS, Shafter, Taft, North, Stockdale, Centennial, Ridgeview, Race Summary, Frontier, Noise Flash!!! at 9:39 am by Administrator
Locals claim 10 titles in Masters track meet
Foothill’s Ragans, Shafter’s Jelmini sweep weight events
BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer
zewing@bakersfield.com | Wednesday, May 14 2008 11:31 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 14 2008 11:41 PM
North High’s Anthony Mitchell shed the 400-meter race from his duties at last week’s Central Section South Area meet, preferring to concentrate on the 800.
The decision paid off Wednesday at the section Grand Masters meet, with Mitchell winning a championship in 1:54.19. But afterward, Mitchell was thinking back to his choice.
“I should have ran the 400, too,” he said, his mouth spreading into a grin. “Just from watching that race, I knew I could have done well.”
Mitchell’s 800 conquest was one of 10 section championships for Kern County, a run highlighted by double victories by Foothill thrower Dayshan Ragans, Foothill distance runner Chris Schwartz and Shafter thrower Anna Jelmini.
Team standings were unavailable at press time because of a scoring error, but it appeared Fresno-Central won the boys title and Clovis West easily took the girls. Foothill was in the boys’ top three, and Centennial’s girls were fourth.
Ragans, after launching a couple of discus throws around 210 feet in warm-ups, settled for a 199-2 and a second straight section title. He threw 60-7 in the shot put for an easy repeat victory there also.
“I felt good in both events,” Ragans said. “I feel I could be better, but I’m happy with my performance.”
As for Jelmini, she actually seemed slightly disappointed in her discus-shot put double victory. She threw 162-5 in the discus and 44-0.75 in the shot but felt she could have done better.
“There’s a couple things I need to work on, and I think I’ll have it,” Jelmini said.
As for Schwartz, he won two close races, the 1,600 in 4:15.80 and the 3,200 in 9:24.19. Schwartz, the state’s Division I cross country champion, said he had to slow himself down early in the two-mile race to keep a good pace. He was thrilled with the results.
“There’s state, the 9:01 (a PR in the 3,200), I tripled at league, and then here,” Schwartz said. “That’s four good things I’ve done this year.”
Schwartz, along with the two local throwers who own the best marks in California, have been turning in these kinds of performances all season long. Contrast that with Ridgeview triple jumper Johnny Carter, a freshman who came from near anonymity — his best mark of the season came in a frosh/soph meet — to be a section champion. He led the Wolf Pack’s 1-3 finish in the event with a personal-record 48-3.
“I’m just blessed to have the talent,” Carter said. “It’s only my second year jumping.”
Ridgeview’s Chris Kelly was third in 46-11.5. Shafter’s Tyler Thompson finished second in 47-3.
Bakersfield High’s 400 relay team opened the meet by edging Clovis East for the section championship in 42.28. The Drillers then closed running festivities with a surprise third-place finish in the 1,600, behind only section leaders Fresno-Edison and Liberty. Their time was a personal record by about three seconds (3:20.06).
“I knew it was going to be close coming in” Bakersfield High coach Steven Anderson said. “And just looking at our times, I had a guy I thought could be quicker.”
The other local section champ is Centennial’s Alana Alexander, who used an early 38-3.75 triple jump to edge Clovis’s Jenna Prandini by three-quarters of an inch. Alexander had to wait until the end to know she was a champion for sure; Prandini ended the competition with a 38-0.
The top three finishers in each event move on to the state finals May 30-31 at Cerritos College in Norwalk. There are also two statewide wild cards who will qualify — the best marks from any athlete not in a qualifying position.
Among notable local qualifiers:
* Versatile Isiah Purvis of Liberty, who lost the 400 in the final 20 meters, finishing five-hundreths of a second (with a 49.13) behind Edison’s Maurice Lewis, but then ran an astounding anchor leg of the 1,600 relay. He was hand-timed at a 47.6 and nearly erased Edison’s big lead in the race. In between, Purvis placed second in the 200 (21.96).
* BHS sprinter Brushay Wandick, after seeing her 400 relay team finish fourth and finishing in fourth in the 100 by one-hundreth of a second (12.01 to a 12.00 from Fresno-Bullard’s Lynn Williams), rebounded to earn a state qualification in the 200. She finished third in 24.69.
* Frontier’s Taylor Jackson, a sophomore who qualified in both the 100 and 300 hurdles. She finished third in the 100 (15.04) and second in the 300 (44.86).
* Stockdale freshman Alex Collatz, who also finished fourth in the triple jump, was part of a 1-2-3 Kern County finish in the discus. Jelmini was first, Collatz second (148-6) and Taft’s Carey Tuuamalemalo third (130-9).
* Centennial’s high finish in the girls team race was buoyed by plenty of high finishes, but the Golden Hawks had just one state qualifier: Alana Alexander, who was third in the long jump (17-6.75) before holding off Prandini in the triple.
* Shafter’s Tyler Thompson also qualified in the long jump and triple jump, finishing second in both.
Ridgeview’s Chris Kelly soars during one of his triple jumps at the section meet at Liberty Wednesday. Ridgeview’s Johnny Carter gets air during one of his triple jumps during the section meet at Liberty High Wednesday afternoon. Just a freshman, Carter and teammate Chris Kelly had the two best jumps heading into the competition.
Centennial’s Alana Alexander lands after one of her long jumps at Wednesday’s section track and field championships at Liberty High.
Chris Schwartz of Foothill had the eighth best qualifying time in the 1,600, but pulled away from top qualifier Jonathan Sanchez to win the event at the Central Section track and field championships Wednesday.
BHS anchor Johnny Norwood takes off after receiving the baton from teammate Jerek Johnson during the 4×100 relay at Wednesday’s Central Section Grand Masters. At left is Stockdale anchor Brandon Henderson (with baton) and teammate Adam Lewis.
Isiah Purvis of Liberty was so close to victory in the boys 400 meters, but Edison’s Maurice Lewis closed in the final yards to win the race. Stockdale’s Daniel Lozano (not pictured) was third.
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05.14.08
Posted in Profiles, Coaches, Athletes, Schools, Championships, Valley, Grand Masters, College, Signings, Track Meets, Upcoming, McFarland, Foothill, Results, CSUB, Wasco, Shafter, Taft, North, East, Golden Valley, Liberty, Stockdale, Centennial, South, West, Ridgeview, Highland, Garces, Frontier, Tehachapi, Burroughs, Noise Flash!!!, Bakersfield at 6:47 am by Administrator
Today’s (May 14) Central Section Grand Masters Track and Field Meet glance
The Bakersfield Californian | Tuesday, May 13 2008 11:07 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, May 13 2008 11:12 PM
CIF Central Section Grand Masters
Where: Liberty High School
Directions: From Rosedale Highway, take Calloway Drive south. Turn right on Brimhall Road, left on Jewetta Avenue and immediately right on Patrick Henry Drive.
Advancement: Top three boys and girls in each event qualify for CIF State Championships, May 30-31 at Cerritos College in Norwalk.
Non-weight events glance
Sprints
Boys favorites: Fresno-Central’s Brendon Bigelow in both the 100 and 200 meters. Hanford West’s Vontrail Love could challenge in the 100, as could Liberty’s Isiah Purvis in the 200. Bakersfield High and Clovis East are the teams to beat in the 400 relay.
Locals to watch: Purvis is a real threat in the 200, and Bakersfield’s Emmanuel Turner (boys) and Brushay Wandick (girls) are coming on strong in the 100.
Middle distance
Boys favorites: North’s Anthony Mitchell has the section’s best times in the 400 and 800, but he didn’t run at the 400 in last week’s South Area meet, choosing to focus on the longer race. Expect him to win it. Liberty’s Purvis, Stockdale’s Daniel Lozano and Clovis-Buchanan’s James Smith could fill the void in the 400.
Locals to watch: Mitchell, Lozano and Purvis, plus the Liberty 1,600 relay team, which was fourth in state last year and leads the section by nearly two seconds. On the girls side, Ashlee Thomas of Centennial has a chance in the 800 and Stockdale’s relay team will be close.
Distance events
Boys favorites: Foothill’s Chris Schwartz wasn’t the Division I state cross country champion for no reason. He has the best 3,200 time in the section by 22 seconds. He’ll take on Eric Battles of Clovis West and Jonathan Sanchez of Clovis-Buchanan in the 1,600.
Girls favorites: Can you say Hasay? It would be the shock of the meet if San Luis Obispo-Mission Prep phenom Joran Hasay didn’t win both events. The junior leads the nation with a 1,600 time of 4:42.50 and a 3,200 time of 10:03.07.
Locals to watch: Besides Schwartz, keep an eye on North’s Cody Gragg and Candace Carlson.
Hurdles
Locals to watch: With a good day, Taylor Jackson could give Frontier its first section title. On the boys side, East’s Eddie Morrow is a threat in the 300 hurdles.
Jumps
Locals to watch: The Ridgeview boys duo of Chris Kelly and Johnny Carter hold the section’s best two triple jump marks. Collatz also is a freshman phenom in the triple.
– Zach Ewing
High school track and field: FLYIN’ HIGH
Foothill’s Ragans, Shafter’s Jelmini are two of the top high school throwers in nation
BY ZACH EWING * CALIFORNIAN STAFF WRITER
zewing@bakersfield.com | Tuesday, May 13 2008 11:13 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, May 13 2008 11:22 PM
On the surface, Anna Jelmini of Shafter and Dayshan Ragans of Foothill High are easy to lump together. After all, each of them represents the next harvest of Kern County’s incredible throwing crop, the next local able to throw a shot put or a discus farther than almost anyone in the country. Each is a heavy favorite at today’s Central Section championships at Liberty. Presuming they advance, Jelmini and Ragans likely will enter the state championships May 30-31 at Cerritos College in Norwalk with the best marks in California in both throwing events.
Foothill High’s Dayshan Ragans is a favorite to win the discus and shot put and today’s Central Section championships at Liberty.
They also have a presence on national top-10 lists — Jelmini has the nation’s best high school girls discus throw and the fifth-best shot put mark, and Ragans is fifth on the boys discus list.
“To be able to do something like that is pretty amazing,” said Alan Collatz, head track and field coach at Cal State Bakersfield and one of the forefathers of Kern County’s throwing success. “I mean, you know, all across the nation, they train just hard. So for someone out of this area, out of Kern County, to be so high on the list, it’s something special. It doesn’t happen all the time, that’s for sure.”
But you don’t have to dig very deep to learn that though Jelmini and Ragans have ended up in the same place, their backgrounds are about as dissimilar as can be.
It’s like a reverse fork in the road.
Just really blessed
Anna Jelmini’s entry into Kern County throwing lore started in the fourth grade at an after-school program. The earliest kids are allowed to throw the discus is fifth grade, so she started that a year later.
Her coaching has also been some of the best Kern County has to offer — and that’s pretty darn good coaching.
Dawn Dumble-Godbehere, a former state champion at Bakersfield High and NCAA champion at UCLA, started working with Jelmini in the sixth grade. John Rexroth spelled Dumble while she was pregnant during Jelmini’s seventh-grade year.
Dumble was impressed, and Jelmini was on her way.
“Anna’s always been real athletic,” said her dad, Rick Jelmini. “She’s a basketball player, been a swimmer for a long time, could have even played volleyball. (Dumble) will just tell you Anna picks things up really fast. She kind of converted Anna to a spin style, and she has good balance and things like that.”
Now coached at Shafter by Dumble’s husband, Matt Godbehere, Anna Jelmini has blossomed into a technically sound, self-analyzing thrower.
“(The success) hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Jelmini said. “Bakersfield has had some really great throwers. I’m just really blessed. I’m just trying to work hard.”
Last year, as a sophomore, Jelmini was fourth in the state in the discus (throwing a 153-5) and seventh in the shot put (41-11.5). Either of those places would be considered a disappointment this year, considering Jelmini has the best discus mark (183-11) in the state by more than 24 feet and the best shot mark (49-2.5) by about 41/2 feet.
Her 183-11 discus throw at the Bill Kearney Invitational in Salinas on April 19 set a Central Section record and equaled the fourth-best throw ever by an American high schooler.
“She’s been working really hard in the last three years, and she’s really seeing the dividends this year,” Godbehere said. “She loves to throw, she’s aware of what it’s going to take for her to get better and she’s willing to put in the work to do that.”
Jelmini isn’t yet sure where she’ll attend college, but throwing has been a huge part of her life thus far, and that will almost certainly continue.
“Sometimes you see kids sign (with a college) their senior year, and then you just don’t see their names anymore,” said Rick Jelmini, who said the family has returned more than 30 questionnaires to Division I colleges. “But Anna’s never satisfied. She’s not going to get burned out.”
The four-leaf clover
Dayshan Ragans probably won’t get burned out either, at least not any time soon. He’s only been throwing for three years.
Nope, that’s not a typo. Ragans was plucked out of his freshman P.E. class at Foothill because he was the first student ever to out-throw track coach Joe Cooper.
It didn’t take long for Ragans to figure out that throwing is what he wanted to do. Wayne Brewer — like Godbehere, a former CSUB thrower — came to Foothill before Ragans’ sophomore year and has groomed him into the state’s premier high school thrower.
“We were lucky to get him,” Brewer said. “It was like finding a four-leaf clover. Seriously, he’s so raw. He hasn’t even been throwing four years.”
But he is strong, especially in his lower body. Ragans can squat 500 pounds and hang-clean more than 300. And to boot, Brewer said Ragans soaks up information better than anyone he’s coached.
“Genetics has a lot to do with it,” Brewer said. “But he’s like a sponge. I can tell him something, and he goes out and does it. No questions asked.”
Ragans took second in the state in the discus last season but fouled out in the shot put finals. This year, he has a 20-foot cushion in the discus with a 203-7 over the next-best throw and a better-than-two-foot margin in the shot put with a 63-4.75.
Ragans has had to come on quickly to the sport, but he also has extra motivation for excelling.
He’s signed to continue the county’s throwing pipeline at CSUB next year, and he’s counting the days till the state meet — not only because those dates represent his goal in throwing, but because it’s the day he can move away from home.
Ragans said his family life can be difficult and that throwing offers an escape. He declined to speak specifically, other than to say, “I don’t want to be another statistic.
“I wake up, and it’s just like a countdown,” he said. “It’s going to be like a new beginning, coming into a new world.”
Meanwhile, a double state championship, obviously, isn’t out of the question.
“My goal is breaking that state record,” Ragans said. “… I have a lot of fun throwing. I went out, and I didn’t realize I what I was capable of.”
The paths converge
Shafter is a smaller school than Foothill, so the schools have different travel plans and often compete in separate divisions. But today, at the section finals at Liberty, Jelmini’s and Ragan’s roads come together again.
They’ll be joined by yet another Kern County thrower of the future in Stockdale’s Alex Collatz, who owns a Central Section record with a 159-4 discus throw as a freshman — that’s behind only Jelmini in the state and is third in the nation.
In the Southern Section, Burroughs junior Kayla Kovar has top-five marks in the state in both throwing events.
“This area is amazing for throws,” said Scott Semar, who coached Collatz at CSUB in the mid-1980s and then oversaw the golden era of Kern County throwing at Bakersfield High from 1987-91.
Young Alex Collatz is a prime example of the area’s recurring success. Collatz’s father is the same Alan Collatz who coaches at CSUB.
Alan Collatz and Semar have helped produce dozens of state-, national- and even world-class throwers from the county, not to mention half of the throwing coaches at Bakersfield high schools.
“It has been very successful here for many, many years, and a lot of it started with Scott Semar when he was out here,” Alan Collatz said. “Then I came out here. Throwers tend to come here. We’ve been lucky, and they’ve worked hard and gone out in the community.”
And groomed prodigious athletes like Ragans and Jelmini. And there we go lumping them together again. It’s not hard. Heck, they even use the same, spinning, style.
But Collatz is wary of pronouncing Ragans and Jelmini so similar.
“You can look at the 10 best throwers in the United States, and they all do something different,” Collatz said. “None of them are the same. This guys starts a little lower, or this guy is more upright, this guy sweeps a little wider. There is no one way.
“… But one is (Jelmini and Ragans) are hard workers. Two is they’re strong athletes. And three is they’re well-coached. You put hard work with physical abilities with good technical coaching, and you’re going to be successful.”
Different methods, different paths, very similar results. And Kern County has two more extraordinary throwers.
“There has been a lot of great throwing over the years,” Godbehere said. “… A lot of people have taken interest in throws. Is it the athletes or the coaching? Probably a combination of all of it.”
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11.13.07
Posted in Kern XC Results, Championships, Valley, XC Course Records, Woodard Park at 7:54 am by Administrator
i made an excel spreadsheet HERE with all the kern girls listed. checkout where you placed.
2007 valley photos HERE
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