Runners Take Their Marks

For the second straight week the Palisades High track & field team hosted a tri-meet at Stadium by the Sea and once again several Dolphins turned in notable performances–this time against Marshall and San Pedro. Perhaps the most anticipated event of the day was the boys’ varsity mile where Palisades junior Carlos Bustamante went head-to-head with defending City champion Pablo Rosales of San Pedro. The two ran side by side for three and a half laps before Rosales finally pulled away down the final straightaway to win by two seconds in 4:30. The result was identical to their meeting a year prior at the San Pedro meet, when the Pirates’ top runner finished in 4:33 and Bustamante in 4:35. “I ran faster than I did last week and I had negative splits–that’s what Coach [Ron Brumel] wants,” said Bustamante, who placed third at the City finals last spring. “It’s always fun running against him because we push each other to run faster. It helps me.” Rosales also enjoys the challenge: “It’s great to test myself against good competition early on just to see where I’m at. I ran 4:22 last year and my goal is 4:15 this year.” In the girls’ 400 meters Lauren Gustafson won easily in 63 seconds. “I like having someone pushing me,” said Gustafson, who also took first place in the long jump with a distance of 15′ 7”more than two feet farther than her closest competitor. “This is about what I was running last year so I should get faster as the season goes on.” Erika Martin continues to excel in whatever race she enters. On Friday it was the 100 meters (where she finished second in 12.73 seconds) and the 200 meters (26.51 seconds). She did not run her best events, the 100 and 300 hurdles, in order to save herself for the Camarillo Classic the next day. Martin plays soccer for Pali in the winter and admits she has no time to train prior to the start of the track season. “Last year I was in really good shape because I was attacking more but we went to a different formation this year and I didn’t run as much.” Martin describes track as “dangerous and exciting” and loves the “adrenaline rush” she gets at the start of a race. “I like the hurdles best,’ she said. ‘There’s something about running full speed at barriers'” Brumel was impressed by the overall quality of the competition at Friday’s meet and said the atmosphere was much different than what the Dolphins will encounter this week in their first league meet. “San Pedro always has a great program but Marshall really surprised me,” he said. “Not only did they have athletes in every event but they had a lot of high-caliber kids–especially in the sprints. These last two meets are two of the best we’ve had here in years.” Martin won the 100 and 300 hurdles in Camarillo, Gustafson was sixth in the 800 in 2:31 and Chidera Izuchukwu was fifth in the shot put with a throw of 35′ 5.’ Bustamante lost his shoe in the first 50 meters of the two-mile race and eventually had to pull out after six laps with his feet badly blistered. In the frosh/soph division Kolmus Iheanos was seventh in the boys’ shot put (his best throw was 40′) and Eric Lopez was second in the 800.