The feeling of being disqualified in the 400-meter relay Friday
at the elite Central Coast Section Top 8 Classic was all too
familiar for T.J. Ornduff
LOS GATOS
The feeling of being disqualified in the 400-meter relay Friday at the exclusive Central Coast Section Top 8 Classic was all too familiar for T.J. Ornduff.
Last year, he was part of a decorated Live Oak foursome that was poised to break the school record (43.89 seconds) and challenge for a spot in the CCS championship heat. That is until Blossom Valley Athletic League Finals, where Ornduff stood at the last turn on the Mount Pleasant High School track waiting for a baton that never came.
Live Oak was DQ’d because of a missed hand-off between Jacob Daw and then-senior Taylor Alonzo.
“Worst sound I ever heard,” Ornduff said Monday. “It haunts me.”
Friday at Los Gatos High School, it was a muffed final exchange that doomed an even faster Acorns relay team of Ornduff, Kean Vaziry, Jacob Daw and James Walker. Though Ornduff was involved with the latest mishap — he and Walker could not connect in time — the senior had plenty of reasons to keep his head up. His relay team was tied for second and on pace to shatter the school record — and there are many races left.
“We are going to smash it for sure,” Ornduff said. “It’s exciting to know what we can do against the best competition. It’s all about just setting up. We know how fast we are.”
The Acorns missed their chance to make a statement in the 4×100 Friday, but their solid effort set the tone for a splendid evening capped by Live Oak’s 1,600-meter relay team clocking the second-fastest time (3:26.40) in the section this year.
That foursome — Walker, Daw, Alex Hafenbacker, Jacob Montoya — obliterated its heat and placed second overall in a performance that Live Oak distance coach Mike Sullivan deemed a “perfect race.”
“They finally ran the way we’ve been waiting for them to run all season,” he said. “Their (personal records) have added up; they just haven’t had that one big race.
“James and Jacob (Daw) were really excited after that 4x(100). They just missed that hand-off, but they felt like they ran their best against the best teams in CCS.”
Walker parlayed that into a surprising third-place finish at 100 meters (11.22), where he ran as the first alternate.
“He made the most of it,” Sullivan said.
Daw tied for eighth in high jump at five feet, 10 inches, well below his personal record.
Sobrato’s contingent was led by pole vaulter Jackson Reid, who fed off his competition to tie for fifth at 12-06.
Teammate Marissa Benjamin took eighth at 400 meters (1:00.64) and ran in the 12th-fastest 400 relay with Kate van Keulen, Cybil Pace and Cassandra Valenzuela.
Also for the Bulldogs, Winston van Keulen placed 21st in the two mile (10:08.42).
