The last big track and field event of the Pacific season, the Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools Invitational, is drawing nigh.
Who will win the following matchups Saturday at Niiza Park in Tokyo's western suburbs, based on Pacific's best times/distances and expected attendance at Saturday's meet:
Boys shot put, discus -- Miles Peterson, Christian Academy In Japan; Cliff Collins, Nile C. Kinnick; Mark Lieberg, Seoul Track Club; Lawrence McClain, Kubasaki; Simon Ruiz, St. Mary's International.
Boys high jump -- Brandon Brown, Nile C. Kinnick; Shorai Ash, Christian Academy In Japan; Brandon Lightburn, Yokota; Miles Atkinson, St. Mary's International.
Boys long jump -- John Bures, Nile C. Kinnick; Brandon Lightburn, Yokota; Ernest Carr, Kadena.
Boys 100 -- Marquette Warren, Kubasaki; Shun Bowens, Kadena; Miguel Rodriguez, Zama American; Sung Jun Son, Christian Academy In Japan.
Boys 200 -- Miguel Rodriguez, Zama American; Roosevelt Payne, Kadena; Shun Bowens, Kadena.
Boys 400 -- Roosevelt Payne, Kadena; Sung Hyun Kim, Christian Academy In Japan; Ken Moyer, St. Mary's International; Eric Tank, Zama American.
Boys 800, 1,600 -- Blake Bannister, Christian Academy In Japan; Sam *****h, American School In Japan; Andrew Quallio, Zama American.
Boys 3,200 -- Andrew Quallio, Zama American; Kelly Langley, St. Mary's International; Thomas Kim, Seoul Track Club; Zach Davis, Kubasaki.
Boys hurdles -- Phillip Williams, Yokota; Randall O'Bannon, Kubasaki; Donavan Brown, Nile C. Kinnick; Daniel Park, Christian Academy In Japan; Ken Tsunoda, St. Mary's International.
Boys relays -- Kadena, Kubasaki, Christian Academy In Japan, Zama American.
Girls shot put -- Retsel Alvarez, Kubasaki; LaKesa McClain, Kubasaki, Cherice Williams, Yokota.
Girls discus -- Retsel Alvarez, Kubasaki; LaKesa McClain, Kubasaki; Jessica Orona, Zama American.
Girls high jump -- Kelly Colbert, Zion Christian Academy; Kristy Taylor, Seoul Track Club; Julieta Osella International School of the Sacred Heart; Shannon Steele, Kadena.
Girls long jump -- Kana Maeji, American School In Japan; Gwen Thornton, American School In Japan; Natasha Copeland, Kubasaki.
Girls 100 -- Lorien McKinney, Kadena; Jazzmine Baker, Kadena; Kristy Taylor, Seoul Track Club; Anya Brown, Yokota; Rebekah Siebach, American School In Japan.
Girls 100 hurdles -- Gwen Thornton, American School In Japan; Madelyn Sneed, Nile C. Kinnick; Shannon Steele, Kadena; Alisha Juko, Kadena.
Girls 200 -- Jazzmine Baker, Kadena; Anya Brown, Yokota; Gwen Thornton, American School In Japan; Rebekah Siebach, American School In Japan.
Girls 300 hurdles -- Gwen Thornton, American School In Japan; Shannon Steele, Kadena.
Girls 400 -- Gwen Thornton, American School In Japan; Kiki Wells, Kubasaki; Anya Brown, Yokota.
Girls 800 -- Jennifer Stolle, American School In Japan; Nako Nakatsuka, International School of the Sacred Heart; Hannah Boeman, Seoul Track Club.
Girls 1,600 -- Nako Nakatsuka, International School of the Sacred Heart; Teauna Baker, Zion Christian Academy; Jennifer Stolle, American School In Japan; Krysta Carrick, Christian Academy In Japan; Gee Mi Jorde, Nile C. Kinnick; Quirina Cohn, Kubasaki.
Girls 3,200 -- Nako Nakatsuka, International School of the Sacred Heart; Teauna Baker, Zion Christian Academy; Izumi Kershaw, Seisen International; Jennifer Stolle, American School In Japan.
Girls relays -- Kadena, Kubasaki, Seisen International, Zion Christian Academy, American School In Japan.
Somebody get left out? Let me know. Best of luck to all competitors come Saturday. :)
Join Dave on Facebook
Throwing
This meet is going to be an exciting one for sure. I can't wait to meet all the atheletes again from the Mike Petty Meet in Okinawa.
I'm ready.
I THINK THAT YOU SHOULD BE
I THINK THAT YOU SHOULD BE LOOKING OUT FOR YOKOTA'S 4X1 RELAY. I MEAN THEY DID COME IN FIRST PLACE IN THE 4X1 ON SATURDAY AND THEY STILL HAVE A WEEK TO GET READY. I ALSO THINK THAT ANYA BROWN HAS A GOOD CHANCE OF BEATING GWEN THORTON. BACK TO THE 4X1 I THINK JAMES HOPEWELL AND DERRIC SEWARD WILL HELP THE 4X1 TEAM THIS SATURDAY, FOR THE 100 I ALSO FEEL THAT DERRIC WILL BE IN THE TOP 3 WHEN IT COMES TO THE 100,AND 200. THIS SATURDAY WILL BE A GREAT DAY. TELL ME HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS!
Re: I THINK THAT YOU SHOULD BE
Normally, the 100 is the signature event that always draws the spotlight, but with the times and distances being put up in other events this season, the Kanto meet should be off the chart. Who knows how many Pacific bests and area records will fall? It will be something to see. Maybe the Tokyo National Olympic Stadium is available for it ...
I THINK THAT YOU SHOULD...
i want to make a correction james&derick are a big help but we also you have to think that we lost a very good first leg. that put a lot of catch up for montrese gadson on his shoulders and it really did show when he help put the lead on the first leg in the 4x1 on saturday leading to 1st place and kanto plains champions and with brandon at second it will be a good race this saturday. dont doubt this team im telling you!!!
Matchups??
Some of your matchups were right on piont!! But, I really do not write after blogs cause most are opions on someone elses write up but, some of the track atheletes did not get thier justice on who are the top track contenders. I been following www.athletic.net which show alot of the track atheletes times and ratings thier are some atheletes most every week are number one or place second who have just had one of thier hardest track meet last week here in kanto plains with due to weather. If you have time please look and you will see some atheletes are do thier justice to be rated in more events you did not write thier name in i.e. the hurdles, high jump, and you will see others to. I am very excited this year with one of the best competive year yet!!
Good Luck to all the Track Atheletes!!
People
What is that old saying Dave? "You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but if you're a sports reporter you please nobody."
Thanks for all you do
I bet he'd please more people....
if he took of that Red Sox hat!
You need a hat from a GOOD team - like the Twins! =)
Re: Twins
-- Bring back Dean Chance.
-- Whatever happened to Metropolitan Stadium?
-- Harmon Killebrew. Bob Allison. Tony Oliva. Zoilo Versailles. Cesar Tovar.
-- Ray Scott and Pat Summerall calling a Vikings game in the middle of a driving snowstorm.
-- 1991 World Series. Greatest ever played. Three games decided in last at-bat. Four go to extra innings. Five decided by one run. First and only Game 7 to go into extra innings scoreless.
-- Scott Leius. Gene Larkin. Carl Willis. David West. Greg Gagne. Dan Gladden. And all of Kelly's other heroes.
-- Steve Palermo throwing out the first pitch before Game 1 of 1991 World Series. "The emotion and affection shown Palermo from both players and brethren, at once genuine ... and touching," intoned the mellifluous voice of Ernie Harwell on the World Series video.
-- Don Baylor's Game 6 grand slam off John Tudor in the 1987 World Series; that game was the last daylight start of a World Series game. "Forget the sound meter; somebody get out the Richter Scale," said Tim McCarver.
-- Larry Hisle, Lyman Bostock, we hardly knew ye.
Have I earned my Twins cap yet? *smile*
No suprises on your Final Track Meet Write up!!
Again just like I wrote in Matchup?? missed the underdogs or Track Players placing in more events in one day of a track meet on your write up your putting in the paper today. If you know anthying about track meets if the player has one event in running and then go back to back to a field event and then go to running event and then go back to thier field event then back again then back again it takes these player alot of indurence just to place in the top 3.
But, Stayed with the same old story but did not write more about the other players.
I guess thier is a standard to stay with and I guess we should not break it for a new story about other Track Players who should get thier do justice to be notice this yr since it was thier last track meet but this season is over so no more write ups...
Overrated
Why do parents and these news articles continue to blow up these kids heads? Almost every record held in area or whatever you call the league these kids run in; wouldnt even get most of these kids to the finals of a state meet in the US. I mean you Don some kid with "Okinawa's fastest man" yet he cant even go sub 11 in the 100. Most of the Boys records wouldnt even beat he top of the nation girls in the US which is pretty pathetic. You say these kids are great and they will go on to have great running careers, you couldnt be more wrong. Almost all of them even the record holders couldnt get a scholarship to any decent school. Stop filling their heads with crap and bring them back down to reality show them what the real atheltes are doing in america and have them compete for that. Ive met some of these kids and they have such big heads its rediculous I dont have the heart to tell them that I know girls in high school that are faster than them.
Cut the Kids Some Slack
"Stop filling their heads with crap and bring them back down to reality." I can't see Dave really adopting that as his journalistic motto anytime soon. Yes, most of these kids will probably never be household names, but most of the kids at most of the high schools back in CONUS will probably never be household names, either, and nobody begrudges them favorable coverage in their local newspapers. And who knows...here's just a partial list of DoDDS athletes who have gone on to much bigger and better things: Shaquille O'Neal, Eric Zeir, Kevin Maxwell, Wesly Mallard, Mia Hamm, Steve Kerr, Jim Nelson, Danny Wuerffel, Allison Wagner, winner of a gold medal in women's swimming in the 1996 Olympics, and perhaps most relevant to this thread, Alonzo Babers, a 1979 graduate of Kaisersalutern AHS and the US Air Force Academy who won gold medals in the 400 and 1600 meter relay races in the 1984 Olympics, and Debbie Sapenter, a 1970 graduate of George C. Marshall High School in Ankara, Turkey, who won a silver medal in the 4x400 women's relay at the 1972 Olympics.
so true
i saw one time of a kanto meet and the winner ran some thing like a 52 400meter to win it were i live my son cant get on teh varsity 4by4 team with a time of 52 and he's a freshman! is it the coaching at these schools that makes them soo slow?? in japan or is the kids? no talent
Cut Dave Some Slack
It never ceases to amaze me when people criticize Dave's coverage of sporting events. The sheer amount of coverage that these athletes far from home due to their parents choosing to serve their country receive is due solely to Dave's incredible work ethic and caring about these kids. I have been reading Dave's stuff since 1985 and I can tell you for certain that there is no one who could or would do a better job at this. Dave had literally dedicated his entire life to ensuring that these kids' stories get told. If Dave had been hit by a truck in 1983 or earlier, no one would even know what the DoDDS Pacific records were in any of these sports - and if he doesn't get around to writing that book, someday no one will. He has to cover a large number of sports across Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Guam, etc. and goes above and beyond to do it. He can't be everywhere at once - he's a human being. Someday Dave will retire - and then there might be a list of scores of games in the Stripes - if we're lucky. Be glad for the coverage you do get.
Good
Sporty, I'm glad you're done writing, it is hard to understand what you say. Yours must be the only computer in the universe without spellcheck.
And I've never heard of them referred to as as "Track Players" before, thanks for the laugh.
I'd love to have you do the write-ups for a week and see what kinds of comments you would recieve...if anyone understood what you wrote.
In no way am I trying to put
In no way am I trying to put down his work. They should be covered especially if they do something amazing. But you have to be around some of these kids to see how some of this rubs off of them. I coach some of them and they tend to walk around the track like they are gods gift to running. What should be done is they should have their times compared to some of the times in the states at least from their respective areas. That way they would have something to gague themselves off of. I tell them all the time that their times wouldnt do anything in the states and they should strive to work harder. Its only helped a few of my athletes most of them have too much air in their heads.
Do it
If you're their coach show them their times compared to other runners in the states. Make it a nice poster and hang it up at the next track meet you're at. Don't hate on Dave, his job is to report on Pacific athletic events (and he does a great job). Read some of the articles coming from European sports...do you want to trade reporters? I sure don't. Dave does a great job reporting on all our kids, and has a way of making them all feel as though they're his favorites.
REF: Good
Yokota Coach, I am glad you got a good laugh! As you wrote in your discussion block to my discussion block that you apparently read it. And then regurgitated it effectively. Spelling miss takes so be it it is not an offical email or memo and your piont?
Atheletes to Players you take it how it is but, since you want me to use spell check please use Webster.
As three defitions:
Blogs
to read and discuss
play?er ?? (plr) KEY ?
NOUN:
One that plays, especially:
One who participates in a game or sport.
ath?lete ?? (thlt) KEY ?
NOUN:
A person possessing the natural or acquired traits, such as strength, agility, and endurance, that are necessary for physical exercise or sports, especially those performed in competitive contexts.
- I have nothing against Dave or you but theses are blogs and discuss what I want to write as everyone else does as part of freedom of speech as you did to my discussion without getting over carried away to the Blogs. But, facts are facts which I do remember a yr or two yrs ago someone wrote and article to stars and stripes about why thier is nothing or more being writen about high school sports in the paper from stars and stripes and articles on the players or atheletes. Which like everything as I know part of re-action process is once it is writen then it turns action for whom the other person or whatever. All I was writing is thier are more teenagers then four I see every week in the paper out thier. Theses 4 athelets I have seen and I know all of them are great athelets or players but, their are other stories of great atheletes or players that have made the Top 3 (1st, 2nd, and 3rd in many other events which they have done 5 events in one track meet to support thier team) and also have done more for thier high school and thier communities which to me are the real atheletes and players.
Sorry so long on the write-up...
does any one have the times for the 4by4, the 400, and the 800?
im moving from ohio to japan and my son wants to kow what kind of times win your "state" championship. he runs a 1:59 800 and 52 400 and his 4by4 team (hes on jv for it) runs a 3:42 (varsity runs a 3:18)