THE RAMS ARE DETERMINED TO CONTINUE DYNASTY
BY HARRY BROWN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Christina Maddox runs the 400m hurdle competition at the meet held at U.C. Berkeley on April 14. She finished 6th with a time of 1:05:36. MICHAEL P. SMITH / GUARDSMAN

Of all the sports clichés thrown around --- guts, mental toughness, heart --- the term “dynasty” seems to stir the most debate among fans.

“That’s for you guys to write,” said track and field coach  Douglas Owyang. “We’ve been good for the last few years – it’s not like we set out for championships every year, but we work hard to take on the traits of a champion – having heart and courage, and being dependable, and this puts us in a good position to perform at pur maximum potential.”

Admitting to being part of a dynasty is difficult for coaches; even more so is defining the term by helping athletes win championships.

Coming off championships the previous three seasons has given City clout that they’ve carried into this season. In the shot put and discus throw, sophomore Erik Howard has excelled. He is ranked third-best in the state for the shot put.

Both men’s and women’s relay teams have dominated the Coast Conference, finishing in the top five in four separate relays: the 4x100m, 4x400m, 4x800m and the 1,600m sprint medley. The  men’s team.

City’s sprinters are again among the state’s elite. This supremacy, Owyang believes, starts with the relays.

“My philosophy is to build around the relay --- if you’re good in the 400- and 1,600-meter relays, then you’ll have a good group to run the 100, 200 (and) 400 races,” he said.

This seems to work perfectly, as LaShannda Worthy, Patrick Holmes, Nick Taylor and DeShawn Waters and others work together to pass batons across the finish line, and then individually into top-five finishes in 100m, 200m, and 400m races.

Coach Owyang acknowledges that until now his team’s meets have been warm-ups for the conference and state championships. The biggest opportunity of  the year  comes the weekend of March 30 when City faces stiff competition, among them four-year schools, at the Stanford Invitational. Owyang has called the meet “one of the most prestigious events on the West Coast.”

With City’s first real challenge upcoming, so is the time for their star athletes to perform at the highest level. As impressive as Waters’ 10.53 second-time in the 100m, Holmes’ in the 20.92 in the 200m, Taylor’s 47.34 in the 400m are, and well as Devin Mays’ previous competing in the U.S. Junior Track Team in Morocco during in high school, they must now perform in peak condition to win their fourth consecutive title.

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