By Timothy Guy
RCC track and field athlete Brian Jones completes his first throw in the Javelin event. (Chris Dietrich)
By Timothy Guy
The great thing about track and field, it’s like going to a buffet; you are likely to find something that you enjoy.
I had the pleasure of attending two track meets in the last month, the RCC Spring Break Open April 12 and the meet against Santa Ana and Santiago Canyon on April 21.
The first thing you notice going into a track and field meet is that there is a lot going on and a lot of the events overlap. At this point you have to make some choices in what events you want to see.
At the April 12 meet, I watched the javelin event first. The lone athlete from RCC competing was Brian Jones. The power and intensity that was put into the throw was awesome to see in person.
I moved on to the long jump event next, which turned out to be one of my favorites. I witnessed a great jump by Damon Dees from RCC of 24-3, but the jump did not count due to Dees stepping over the line before his jump. He did, though, set a distance on the leader board for another jump of 23-10 1/2. This jump put him into the college’s record book at No. 20, replacing C.J. Bell’s record of 23-9 from 1999. At the April 21 meet Dees once again made a great jump with a distance of 23-6 1/4, with teammate Tommy Weathers excited about the outcome saying, “yes!”.
Another great event I watched at both meets was the women’s 400 meter relay. The RCC team of Audane Hayes, Myeshia Way, Jani Starks and Lisa Bowman was exciting to watch. At the April 12 meet, they blew away the competition with a time of 49.53.
As I stood near the finish line I watched the intensity on the face of Starks. She seemed to put every ounce of energy into the last leg of the relay, and it showed as the other teams were a good distance behind her with no way to catch up.
With all of the highs that came with such a successful relay, there were lows. During the same event at the April 21 meet, RCC was disqualified due to a bad first handoff.
The RCC teams are doing well, with a strong showing at the Spring Break Open and dominating wins over Santa Ana and Santiago Canyon, the men’s season comes to 4-2 and the women with an impressive 5-1 going into the Orange Empire Conference Championships April 28-29.
Unlike other sports like tennis or fast pitch, there are 20 plus events that make up each meet. The odds of finding an event that you truly enjoy are likely.
