Johnathan Cabral was shocked and pumped with state's fastest 110 hurdles time ever under any condition.
Photo by Kirby Lee
Johnathan Cabral was shooting the breeze after winning his 110-meter hurdle race in an eye-popping 13.27-seconds.
The always talkative Oregon-bound senior from
Agoura was even more vociferous than usual and certainly more demonstrative after blowing away the field at the Southern Section Masters state qualifying meet at Cerritos College (Norwalk, Calif.)
He also would like to have shot the breeze, literally, since the aiding wind of 2.9 meters per second was well above the allowable 2.0 for record purposes, meaning Chris Nelloms' (Dunbar Dayton, Ohio) National Federation best of 13.30 is still the listed standard.
Not that Cabral, who took the spotlight away from four other national and eight state bests (under any conditions) when he doubled back with a sizzling 36.19-second time in the 300-meter hurdles, seemed concerned about the gust that denied him the record.
"I've been thinking about running that fast since my sophomore season," gushed Cabral. "It's so amazing to PR by that much. I'm so happy. I was hoping to run fast but I‘m really shocked."
Cabral celebrated his victory and time just seconds after the race with a massive fist pump.
The time is the fastest ever run under any conditions in the state and No. 5 performer nationally. He got out with the field and took off after the second hurdle, pulling away to handily beat
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) Sam Barkley (14.11) by almost a full second.
But what about the wind?
"It's a little disappointing," admitted Cabral, who quickly added, "but I've got two more shots (the state championships June 3-4 in Clovis, Calif.). I couldn't feel the wind and it didn't affect my race. The difference between this and my previous best (13.43 at the Arcadia Invitational) was the little things. It's always the smallest things that are the difference.
"One hurdle in the middle of the race I felt like I floated but except for that it was a clean race."
In the 300s, Cabral made a huge move coming off the turn to clear himself from the field and poured it on with his technically superior form to take the national lead from Gregory Coleman (Warren, Texas), who clocked a 36.34. Cabral's previous best was 36.42 and now he's hoping to dip under 36 at the state meet.
Cabral's performance was the tip of the iceberg for a stunning qualifying meet into the state finals. Five national and 10 state-leading marks were set. Here is a look at the other national leading marks:
Malia Cox bettered her national-best
100 hurdles time to 13.34.
Photo by Kirby Lee
--
Long Beach Poly senior Melia Cox had a hand in two bests and would have been wearing four gold medals if they awarded them. The University of Southern California-bound standout started her day running the third leg on the Jackrabbits' 4x100 relay team that scorched a 45.04-second time, well under their previous U.S. leading mark of 45.23. The other three runners were Lyday Carisma, Traci Hicks and Akawkaw Ndipagbor.
Cox rested for a few minutes and then checked in to run the 100-meter hurdles which she won almost as impressively as Cabral at 13.34, almost a tenth faster than her previous PR of 13.42. Showing the fickleness of the wind, a barely-detectable 0.5 mps wind aided her.
Later Cox captured the 300 hurdles at 41.32 and finished with a victory in the triple jump at 39-feet, 10¼. "Yes, I plan to do all four events at the state meet," she said with a huge smile.
Like Cox, Akawkaw Ndipagbor won four
events including national best 400
time of 53.51.
Photo by Kirby Lee
-- Cox doesn't anchor the 4x100 relay because Ndipagbor handles those chores and she showed why by flashing her speed and power in the 400-meter dash where she took the national lead from Courtney Okolo (Elkins, Texas) with her 53.51. Okolo had led at 53.79.
Ndipagbor added the 200-meter to give her four firsts, running 23.76.
Those five national marks were joined by some pretty impressive Golden State leaders.
- The Poly girls just missed catching DeSoto, Texas (3:41.41) in the 4x400 relay as the Jackrabbits foursome ran 3:41.75 for the nation's No. 2 mark. That team, consisting of Adriana May, Azia Walker, Arielle Stevenson and Ndipagbor (51.1 anchor) has two more chances to lower its time.
- Katherine Delaney of
JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano) put on a blazing finish over the final 600 meters to capture the 1,600-meter in a state-best 4:42.95 to win by almost four seconds.
- Immanuel Hutchison of
San Jacinto took a half-second off the previous state lead in winning the 800 in 1:50.50, which trails only the 1:49.91 by Nick Hartle of Centennial (Las Vegas, Nev.)
National 200 leader Romantay McLain
was impressive double winner.
Photo by Kirby Lee
Several other fine performances were posted under almost ideal conditions.
- National 200-meter dash leader Remontay McClain
(Covina) was a double winner at 20.87 and 10.34; U.S. 1,600 pace-setter Jantzen Oshier
(Trabuco Hills-Mission Viejo) out-leaned
Loyola (Los Angeles, Calif.) senior Elias Gedyon in the 1,600 in 4:09.06 to 4:09.07; Gedyon came back to win the 3200 by .04 in 8:57.73 over
Camarillo's Heyden Wooff; and national long jump leader Marquise Lee of
Serra (Gardena) was No. 2 to
Vista Murrieta's Jovonte Slater, who reached a wind-aided 24-2.
- For the girls,
Harvard-Westlake's Amy Weissenbach posted the No. 2 time in the nation in the 800 at 2:06.18 and frosh sensation Sarah Baxter
(Simi Valley) ran away with the 3,200 in 10:24.35, winning by nine seconds.
The meet certainly didn't start impressively. Four of the nine boys' 4X100 relay teams were disqualified for various violations and a fifth - Long Beach Poly - did not finish. With five teams automatically advancing to state, Poly just needed to finish to move on. Traditionally, the best teams in the state for this race come from this meet. The winners was Roosevelt in 41.16.
See
complete results.
