Nation's top 1,600 runner once had notion to be weightsmen; Hasay's surprise companion; Fernandez' shameless plug.
MORE DISTANT TALES
California all-time records (according to dyestatcal.com)
Boys 1,600
3:58.1c -Tim Danielson (Chula Vista) 1966 (3:59.4 for full mile)
4:00.29 – German Fernandez (Riverbank) 2008 (state meet record)
4:01.0c -Rich Kimball (De La Salle, Concord) 1974 (4:02.4 for full mile)
Boys 3,200
8:33.4c -Jeff Nelson (Burbank) 1979 (8:36.3 for two miles)
8:34.23 – German Fernandez (Riverbank) 2008 (NFHS record)
8:41.0c -Eric Reynolds (Camarillo) 1983 (8:44.0 for two miles)
Girls 1,600
4:33.65c -Polly Plumer (University, Irvine) 1982 (4:35.24 for full mile)
4:33.82 – Christine Babock (Woodbridge, Irvine) 2008 (NFHS record)
4:36.57 -Christine Babcock (Woodbridge, Irvine) 2008 (CIF SS Masters Meet)
Girls 3,200
9:48.59 -Kim Mortensen (Thousand Oaks) 1996
9:52.13 – Jordan Hasay (Mission College Prep) 2008 (NHFS record)
9:52.51 – Laurynne Chetelat (Davis) 2008
More CIF State Track Stories
Times plus distance equals bedlam (Click here).
No doubting Vashti Thomas (Click here).
Rest of the meet notebook (Click here).
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
NORWALK, Calif. - Christine Babcock was supposed to be a discus thrower.
According to Woodbridge coach George Varvas, the NFHS 1,600-meter record holder was no kind of runner coming into high school and her parents didn’t want her compared to older sister Jessica Babcock.
“They told me she wasn’t a runner at all,” said Varvas, who has taught and coached at the Irvine school for more than three decades. “Jessica was a very good distance runner. She ran something like 10:43 in the 3,200. But Christine came out to throw the discus.”
That didn’t last long.
It became apparent the younger Babcock had some running genes. More than that, Varvas said, she had and has a work ethic. And absolutely no ego.
She never goes to the Internet to check the times of other runners. Never checks to see what people are saying about her.
On the outside, Babcock is calm, quiet and composed. Even after breaking her own NFHS record on Saturday at the CIF State Meet in a time of 4 minutes, 33.82 seconds.
“It really hasn’t sunk in,” she said. “I don’t put much stock into records. I just think it shows a respect to the person whose record you broke.”
In this case, however, Babcock broke her mark of 4:36.57 she set just eight days previous at the same Cerritos College track.
“I just feel blessed to be out here and to stay healthy for such a long season,” she said.
She thanked the raucous crowd that roared its approval starting when Babcock broke away from the pack in the first 300 meters.
“Since I had no one really pushing me, the crowd did it for me,” she said.
Babcock said she was worried that she might not maintain her drive after running a 64.65 first lap. “That was too fast,” she said. “I was just caught up with the nerves and emotions.”
Varvas said Babcock hit every split. Just like she did her entire four-year career. She’s now off the University of Washington.
“Everything we asked, she did,” Varvas said. “Even today. What makes this so unbelievable is who she is. She’s once in a lifetime and we’re all so blessed she came out.”
Even if was to do the wrong event.
TRUE GRIT: When Jordan Hasay kicks, foes falter. So you can guess the Mission College Prep junior’s response when she thought she left Davis senior Laurynne Chetelat out with the short socks to be cleaned.
“There’s 330 to go and I look over my shoulder and (Chetelat) is right there,” Hasay said. “At that point I was very nervous.”
But Hasay, the machine-like diminutive distance queen from San Luis Obispo, had won this 3,200 race the previous two years with little resistance. She won the national Foot Locker cross country meet as a freshman. Her racing resume is longer than her torso.
When it came down to it, Hasay showed her most underappreciated trait: her heart.
With the hard-charging and talented Chetelat pushing every step, Hasay never wavered and won in a new state-meet record of 9:52.13 over the Stanford-bound Chetelat (9:52.51). The old record was by Thousand Oaks’ Kim Mortensen (9:52.80) in 1996.
It’s the first time ever two high school girls finished below 10 minutes in the same race. They were the second and third best 3,200 times ever with the national record at 9:48.59 by Mortensen in 1986.
Folks thought Hasay’s narrow 3,200 victory over Babcock at the Arcadia Invitational two months ago was a classic. This was 10 seconds faster.
“It was hard to get a rhythm at Arcadia,” Hasay said. “(Babcock) took the lead, then I would, then she would. That took more out of me. This were each ran in rhythm. It was fantastic.”
Not so much for Chetelat, who showed a competitive side not seen before. She wasn’t satisfied with second even she had knocked 23 seconds from her previous best two weeks ago.
“I mean it’s great because I know now I can run with an amazing runner of that caliber,” Chetelat said. “But at the same time it’s so disappointing because I was so close to beating her.
“If I could have accelerated just a little faster down the stretch.”
After finishing a distant third to Hasay and Babcock at the Arcadia Invitational, Chetelat seemed to really gain confidence by winning last week’s Sac-Joaquin Section meet in 10:05.
“I figured I could go under 10 today,” Chetelat said. “But that low? That was a little surprising.”
Hasay was thankful for Chetelat’s vast improvement and her fearlessness to take the lead, which the Davis runner did after two laps.
“That was a huge relief to me,” Hasay said. “I didn’t want to control the pace the whole way.”
Hasay said she watched German Fernandez’ record-breaking win in the 1,600 earlier. That helped inspire her.
“What he did was incredible,” she said. “All the distance people were incredible. This was a great state meet overall.”
HAPPIEST PLACE IN RIVERBANK: Asked if he was going to take the proverbial trip to Disneyland after such an amazing performance and Fernandez said no.
“I’d like to but I have to be back (in Riverbank) on Sunday for my job,” he said.
What job is that?
“I’m a host at Applebee’s,” he said. “They’re proud of me there but they always wonder why when I’m in the paper that I can’t give Applebee’s a plug.”
Consider it done.
CRAMPING HIS STYLE: Fernandez would have broken 4:00 in the 1,600 if his legs didn’t lock up down the final 100 meters.
“He said they felt like bricks the last mile,” Riverbank coach John Vizcaino said.
He got the legs to turn over, but as soon as the race ended, Fernandez fell in a heap and endured a couple painful cramps, one in his hip and the other near his calf.
“I was scared,” Fernandez said. “I thought my state meet was over.”
But after a massage and a couple of hours stretching and warming down, Fernandez obviously wasn’t hurting much while running the greatest 3,200 any male has in an all high school event (8:34.23).
The reaction of the crowd from the dynamic eight-lap race was amazing, Fernandez said.
“I had someone come up and tell me that it was the best race they’d ever seen,” he said. “That makes you feel pretty good.”
Fernandez had fans surface from everywhere.
Varvas admitted that he cut his celebration with Babcock short in order to see Fernandez run.
“I probably should have found (Babcock’s) parents to congratulate them,” Varvas said. “But I knew we were about to experience something awfully special. He’s just unbelievable.”
TURNING DOWN PRE: Fernandez’ three-week whirlwind caught the promoters of next week’s Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., site of the Olympic Trials. They invited the high school kid to compete against the world’s finest two-milers, but Riverbank coach John Vizcaino said it was too much. They turned the Prefontaine folks down.
“He’s got a lot more to accomplish and we can’t take a chance of injuring him,” he said. “He’s got Junior Nationals (June 20-21 in Ohio) coming up and after today, he’ll need some rest.”
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com
