Johnathan Cabral is aiming high this season - a state record in the 110s and to break 36 seconds in the 300s.
Photo by Kirby Lee
Johnathan, like any teenager, occasionally locks horns with his father and expresses his independence in numerous ways. But he shares the same goals and can't knock the success that has produced a full-ride scholarship to the University of Oregon and the nation's fastest times.
The goals are pretty special and could come as soon as the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational this weekend.
"I want the state record (13.39) and I want to break 36 (in the 300s)," said Johnathan, who might have gotten the state mark at Arcadia but came off the last hurdle awkwardly and staggered to the finish line. "The first hurdle is the key. I want to get to that hurdle as fast as I can. Getting over the hurdle, getting your lead foot down, makes you faster. I haven't changed my number of steps between hurdles or anything. The less time you spend in the air, the better."
Standing 6-foot-3 ½ certainly helps, but clearly it's his form that makes him a threat to eclipse the high hurdle record of 13.08 seconds by Wayne Davis of Southeast High in Raleigh, N.C. in 2009.
Johnathan has decent speed — 11.1 in the 100 — but there are plenty of others in the race who are faster. Just last week one of his victims came in with a best of 10.5 in the 100. He doesn't run on the 4x100 relay like many hurdlers because Agoura is not loaded with sprinters this year.
His forte is the shorter race, but he's not half bad in the 300s, an event he calls "the hardest in track and field."
"I run that race to survive," said Johnathan, who scorched the first 100 meters of that event at Arcadia and used his incredible strength to simply pull away for the win. "It would be hard enough if it were just (sprinting) a 300, but then you put hurdles in the way.
"That event is unforgiving. At the state meet last year, I had a problem with the second hurdle and before I knew it, the entire field had gone past me."
Although he finished fifth, Johnathan realized that one hesitation, one mistake at a high-level meet can produce disastrous results, so he went back to polishing his form. He also has already started to test the college hurdles, which at 42 inches are three inches higher than the high school barriers. While he's zeroed in on eclipsing state and even national records this spring, he can hardly wait to start at Oregon.
"School has a priority over track and my social life," said Johnathan, 18. "When I visited Oregon, I felt like I fit right in."
That might be because when he needs some time away from the big-city environment that is Agoura, a suburb of Los Angeles, Johnathan heads to the mountains — specifically the fresh air of Mammoth Mountain.
"I'm an avid outdoorsman," he admits. "I like rock climbing, hiking, camping. There's nothing better than a hard hike or climbing up Lady Face (one of the rocks he scales) during the summer. It's so tranquil, so peaceful."
A little like Eugene, Oregon.
