Halsted adds flavor to Halden meet
If you were lucky enough to be on hand to watch Blue Devil distance runner Trevor Halsted win the 1,600-meter race at the rebirth of invitational track at Davis High, you’re probably still rubbing your eyes in disbelief.
Halsted, the reigning Sac-Joaquin Section cross country champion, turned in a performance without peer in the 25-school Halden Invitational on Saturday when he went 4:17.55 – the best time in the region this year.
Sure, that final time is cool. But how the UC Davis-bound senior negotiated his way four times around the track …Well, sit down.
Halsted, matched against the brilliant Robert Pflasterer of Del Campo and accomplished Devil teammate Brian De La Mora, set out quickly and took a 12-yard command of the race into the first backstretch.
Halsted was the rabbit for another 500 yards before seemingly packing it in. Pflasterer, De La Mora and a handful of the 20-runner field passed the Davis dandy.
Frontrunners never recover, especially when they fall 20 yards back with only one turn left. Or do they?
“I went out too fast,” Halsted said afterward. “I could have done a lot better if I hadn’t gone out so fast.”
Better than winning — in section-best time? Holy cow.
Anyway, seemingly well-beaten, Halsted found a gear reserved only for special athletes. Suddenly he was moving past runners again, overtaking Pflasterer in the final turn and winning handily. His fractions read like Secretariat’s 1973 Belmont Stakes win — 61.8, 66.3, 67.7, 61.5. Yes, a final leg at 61.5.
Halsted promises he wasn’t taking a break on his third tour of Halden Field: “I just didn’t have anything left.”
Then from where did that sensational last split come?
“I have no idea. I really don’t know.”
Even his coach, distance genius Bill Gregg, had no answers.
“When his stride is right, he has an incredible kick,” Gregg reported, shaking his head and smiling. “But no, I don’t teach that (style).”
Halsted came back an hour later and ran second to Vacaville’s Tyler Sewell in the 800.
“We had a handful of (other) performances stand out, too,” DHS head coach Spencer Elliott said. “I thought our (relays) were strong, our triple jumpers did an awesome job and others can be proud.”
Sabrina Williams, Bailey Gary, Jordan Banwarth and Lauren Holtz fueled the Davis girls 4×100 victory (51.72).
It was a huge day for sophomore Gary, who later won the long jump (16-07) and finished sixth in the 100 meters. Banwarth (100.49) was second in the 400 meters, just behind Maddie Lummis of Granite Bay.
Alec Zavala, who teamed with Alex Chong, Kento Okamoto and Lee LeVerrier to take second in the boys 4×100 (44.34 behind Sparks, Nev.), also captured the 400 meters in 49.86; an event that saw LeVerrier finish third.
Elliott praised the work of sophomore Nick Denton in the tosses.
“He’s getting better and the guy he finished behind (Saturday) threw a state-qualified distance in the discus,” Elliott said.
Denton’s 131-08 in the discus was good for third. Marcus Monteiro of Lodi went 138-08 for second, but both finished telescopically behind Granite Bay’s James Kinloch, who recorded a 186-06 effort (seventh-best heave in the state in 2011).
Kinloch (48-05) won the shot put, too, with Denton’s 47-02 second.
Ian Rock, bound for Duke where he will try his hand at the decathlon, went 15-06 to dismantle the pole vault field.
Maddie Trost, the Davis girls’ resident jumping jack, earned the triple-jump gold with a 33-01 leap, then managed a 4-foot-10 effort to take second, behind Jessica Emde (Oak Ridge) in the high jump.
DHS’ Rachel Brooks went 9-06 to capture the pole vault and Sophie Meads, the talented freshman, was second in the 1,600-meter race (5:17.03) and eighth in the 800.
Notes: The Halden Invitational drew an estimated 1,400 fans throughout the day, in what Elliott calls, “our biggest fundraiser of the year now … no more cookie dough.” … El Diablo, the DHS mascot, got into the action, running the 100 meters at the varsity level — seriously. The blue streak went 25.83 to finish in purgatory, 14 seconds behind winner William Valentine of Granite Bay. … Local youth group Uncle Tony performed music for the final third of the meet. … Frosh/soph divisions were conducted and several junior high and clubs competed. There were no team standings.
— Reach Bruce Gallaudet at bgallaudet@davisenterprise.net or (530) 747-8047. To view galleries and purchase prints of Blue Devil sports photos, visithttp://davisenterprise.zenfolio.com
Short URL: http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=37359
Posted by Bruce Gallaudet
on Apr 24 2011.
Last Login: Tue 22 May 2012 11:46:20 PM PDT
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