Coaching for Pizza: Youth Track Super Varsity Finals

Saturday, May 11, 2024

We gathered one last time for a youth track meet, this time at Royal H.S. in Simi Valley.

This final meet was the Varsity Super Finals featuring the best athletes from two neighboring youth track conferences.

Both conferences had their Varsity Finals Meet last Saturday. Today's meet would see the top three finishers in each event from both conferences get automatic berths into today's meet. After those six athletes were determined, the final three spots in each event would go to the next three best Varsity Finals marks regardless on conference.

The bigger of the two conferences

There are nine clubs in the VCYTC.

Camarillo Cosmos

Gold Coast Spartans

Heritage Valley Blazers

Moorpark Striders

Newbury Park Panthers

Ojai Roadrunners

Oxnard Stars

Thousand Oaks Flyers

Ventura Tigres

Only four clubs in the SCYTFC

Agoura-Oak Park-Westlake United

Calabasas Cheetahs

Santa Clarita Warriors

Simi Valley Running Rebels

It was a BEAUTIFUL day for a

Track & Field meet at Royal H.S.

The home side was filling up fast

Thus we set up camp in the visiting

stands with the Sun at our backs

Jacob and his Camarillo Cosmos

4 x 400 Meters Relay mates on parade

At this point their race was still over six hours away.

These Saturday track meets are full day events to be sure.

Jacob qualified for the maximum

four events at Super Finals in the

11-12 Boys Division

In the VCYTC, in order to encourage participation in the day's always rugged, soul searching final event, the 4 x 400 Meters Relay does not count as one of an athlete's four event maximum rule.

Today at Super Finals it would.

In conversations with people sitting near us, we were repeatedly told that they were here to watch their child's one and only event of the day. They all seemed to noticeably blink upon hearing that Jacob was in four events.

Jacob would, in order, be competing in the 4 x 100 Meters Relay (Third Leg), 400 Meters, Long Jump and 4 x 400 Meters Relay (Anchor Leg).

A sharp dressed coach

Thankfully, he was not a Camarillo Cosmos coach.

On to the 4 x 100 Meters Relay race . . .

The Cosmos had gotten into this race as one of the "next three fastest times" at Varsity Finals last week, not as automatic qualifiers.

Jacob just after getting the handoff

Running the much flatter turn

on Royal's Olympic track

Olympic tracks have much gentler turns than the traditional tracks scene at the majority of USA high school tracks.

I've been told that this track was originally put in place at Royal H.S. as part of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics as a training site for some of the competing nations.

Jacob ran a good leg in this relay

The team finished in 8th Place

with a time of 57.06

This was a seasonal best for the Cosmos team, 0.21 seconds faster than their previous best set last Saturday at the VCYTC Varsity Finals.

Up next for our youngster was the 400 Meters Dash.

Chugging down the back stretch

It looked like he was struggling on

the curve but fighting to the finish

Driving to the finish line

Jacob earned the Third Place Medal

with a time of 1:04.68

This was a personal record for Jacob, 0.75 seconds faster than his all-time best at one lap around the track.

No rest for the weary, he now had to get to the Long Jump.

Thumbs up indeed!

Start of his approach

Striding out

Hitting the toe board

Soaring

Reaching

Landing

Post Landing Fun

Jacob's best jump today was 13'-7 1/4" which was his second best of the year. This mark earned him another Third Place Medal.

What day he's having!

Finally, it was time for the event that we had all been waiting for, the grueling 4 x 400 Meters Relay.

Jacob and his teammates entered the race as the #1 Seed based on last Saturday's Varsity Finals times.

I thought Jacob had a tough day until I found out what his three running mates had already done today. We'll note their efforts below.

Vincent led off and is seen here

fighting off an Oxnard Stars runner

Vincent ran a solid leg, holding off the Oxnard runner and with a good handoff being in second place only a foot behind a Calabasas Cheetahs runner.

Vincent had a busy Super Finals having already finished 6th in the 400 Meters, 4th in the 800 Meters and 3rd in the 1600 Meters!

Andrew opened up a Cosmos lead

on the Second Leg

After another good handoff, as Andrew gave the Cosmos a six meters lead.

Previously, Andrew had finished 8th in the 400 Meters, 8th in the 800 Meters and 6th in the 1600 Meters!

Hunter ran his best Third Leg of

this race this season!

He ran this leg a tad on the angry side as he was not pleased with his other performances today, we were told by his coach.

Hunter's day had already included a 9th in the 800 Meters and a 5th in the 1600 Meters.

When Hunter handed off beautifully to Jacob, he had opened up a ten meter lead with an Oxnard Star in hot pursuit.

It looked like the Oxnard Star

was gaining on Jacob . . .

. . . but no, there was still about

ten meters separating them

Michael rooting Jacob on deep

in the back stretch

Oh goodness, he is breaking away!

He was opening up a bigger lead

Jacob ran a great Anchor Leg as he continued to pour it on down the home stretch to bring home the GOLD!

The team, thanks to courage and impeccable handoffs, clocked a seasonal best time of 4:31.99. That was an incredible improvement of 10.19 seconds over their previous best seasonal mark set last week at Varsity Finals.

They finished an astonishing 8.56 seconds ahead of the second place Oxnard Stars team.

By the way, the Cosmos "B" team finished in fourth place in the race with a time of 4:48.77.

GREAT JOB COSMOS!

The boys 4 x 400 Meters Relay Race

today had historical implications

In the now 47 years, no 2020 COVID-19 season, of Cosmos youth track, today's race time ranks as the fifth fastest Boys 11-12, 4 x 400 Meters Relay race in Cosmos history!

When you consider that the team ran a pedestrian time of 5:09.32 at the first meet of the year, it has really been fun to watch their incredible development!

So PROUD of Jacob's amazing 2024

Camarillo Cosmos Track & Field season!

Laurie and I celebrated the day at

Chuy's Mexican Grill in Simi Valley

While all of the news from the world of youth track today was positive, it was not a good day for Italy in international American football.

Varese Coach Giorgio Nardi, a marvelous

man, with three of his Skorpions

They were all members of Italy's U19 Blue team that took on Team France today in a European U19 Championship qualifying game contested in Piacenzia, Italy.