Christian Hauge’s ascent has been nothing short of meteoric. Quite fitting actually, considering he runs the 100-meter dash.
The Live Oak High junior only started competing in track and field last year but now has the title of Central Coast Section champion. Hauge crossed the line first in 10.75 seconds to win the 100 meter dash in the CCS Finals May 20 at Gilroy High.
Hauge entered the race with the fifth fastest time in the section this season—a 10.65 from the CCS Top 8 Invite on April 21—so perhaps that’s why he said he was surprised to win. Three of the four athletes who have posted a faster time than Hauge this season—Andrew Fu, Zach Fagin and Zach Jones—were in the race.
But it was Hauge who was strongest from the start, getting out of the blocks well and holding his form to the finish to beat Jones by 6/100ths of a second.
“This week in practice I was just focusing on me versus the clock,” Hauge said. “I’m not racing anybody but myself. So I kept my drive phase low, tried not to panic, came up slow with big arms and finished the race off. … I know it’s some hard competition, some fast guys out there. I was proud of my performance today.”
Hauge advances to the CIF State Championships May 26-27 at Veterans Memorial Stadium on the campus of Buchanan High in Clovis. He also qualified in the 200 meter dash, finishing third in a PR of 21.82 seconds.
Hauge said he wants to go 10.5 in the 100 meter dash at State, which would likely advance him into the Finals on Saturday. Whatever happens, Hauge has already made history and is only getting started. Last year he never went sub-11 seconds in the 100 and even got off to a slow start this season before ramping things up, having posted 10 sub-11 second times this season.
In CCS, Hauge continued his months-long surge.
“I felt really good,” he said. “Definitely staying relaxed helped a lot. Worked on my mechanics and did everything I needed to do. Come out here and execute it.”
