City runners break records at coast preview
Alex Lamp
The Guardsman
It was a great turnout for City College on Feb. 15 at the Coast/Central Valley Conference Preview track meet at the College of San Mateo.
City College showed veteran superiority, taking first place in more than half of their events, and stunned fans with victorious debut performances.
“Look out for our sprinters,” sprint coach Douglas Owyang said. “Our top performing athletes are in the relay and sprinting events.”
Coach Owyang couldn’t have been closer to the truth, after junior college track and field fans witnessed the Rams charge to victory in all but one sprinting event.
Coming out strong was the duo of sophomores Deondre Anderson and Alex Simmons.
Simmons won the men’s 400-meter in 48.76 seconds, shortly followed by Anderson in 49.22.
The duo also came out victorious in the men’s 4×100-meter relay, smoking the competition with Anderson’s heroic final sprint to the finish line in 41.62 seconds, a new state record.
“My performance was acceptable,” Anderson said. “I know where my standards are and what I need to do.”
Anderson, a former football player from San Francisco’s Burton High School turned track star, does more than fitness training to ensure his clean sweep at City College.
“At practice I do race-pace situations, so that when I’m competing I know what pace I can perform at,” said Anderson.
It helps Anderson to be familiar with a pace that he can keep throughout his race, where he does not have to worry about keeping up with the competition. He simply sets a pace that no one can keep up with, and finishes strong.
As well as they did, the men were not the only top performers of the day.
City College freshman, Atiya Harvey placed first in both the women’s 100 and 200, and broke state records in her college track meet debut.
“Its refreshing, I am still humble but I still have more to go,” Harvey said. “As a freshman, I think I’m coming in well paced so I’m just hoping for the best.”
As much of the fan focus is on the Ram’s sprinters, long distance sensation Alex Foster eliminated the competition in the men’s 800, finishing in 1:56.99.
Though he finished first in, Foster appeared like he was on a mid-morning jog. His slower than usual pace stemmed from blisters on his feet from new shoes.
Foster’s performance is a crowd favorite and spectacle on the track.
The Ram’s track and field squad will head to the College of San Mateo for a meet on Feb. 22 at 12 p.m.