Sarah Becomes a ‘Player’ on San Diego County Track Scene
Back to 2005 Results

  

Okay, so we went for the obvious headline, but CHS sophomore Sarah Player has quickly become a factor in the San Diego County track and field scene. Islander Head Track Coach George Green provides the details.

"Every now and then an athlete has a good day. Maybe he’ll knock a half second from his 400-meter time, toss the discus a little further, long jump a little longer or high jump a little higher. Last week Islander Sarah Player had a couple of extremely good days.

Her previous best time in the 300-meter hurdles was 48.85 seconds, run in last year’s Harbor League prelims, with a sore hip flexor muscle. Her best mark in the high jump was 5-feet, which she had done several times. Those aren’t bad marks, as they put her at the bottom of the Top 20 in the county-wide lists in those events.

However, in Coronado’s dual meet with Madison last Thursday, she ran a 47.1 in the 300-meter hurdles, to set a new school record, which also jumped her into the fourth spot in the county in that event for the 2005 season. The previous school record was 46.72 set 21 years ago by Gigi English. Two days later at Poway’s Titan Track Fest, Sarah the event was electronically timed and she ran the race in 47.3.

At the Titan meet, she didn’t set a school record in the high jump, because Senior Jamie Klages has put that record beyond the reach of mere mortals with a jump of 5-feet, 10-inches, which places her in the Top 3 in the nation this season. Still, Player added a remarkable 5 inches to her previous best height, while winning her division with a jump of 5-5. Sarah’s high jump mark (as opposed to the hurdles time) is the more impressive result, because the height required for automatic entry into the State meet is an inch lower than her effort over the weekend. In most years, a jump of 5-5 will win the CIF San Diego Section, but this year there are two of the section’s all-time best high jumpers in Klages and Mt. Carmel’s Lindsey Whetstine, who has cleared 5-8. Sarah’s jump is third best in the county, behind only that talented pair.

In a span of 3 days, Sarah jumped from a pretty accomplished athlete at Coronado to being in the top-flight mix in the county in two events. Remember that name; it’s Sarah with an ‘h.’ You’ll be seeing it a lot in the future.

Both the Boys and Girls teams lost their dual meet with Madison, but that’s the way it’s going to go this year. We’re a great big-meet team, with some of the best athletes in the county, but we’re lacking the depth to do well against a large team that can fill all the events. Madison, as an example, came to our meet with 70 athletes.

Other notable marks in that meet were turned in by Adam Munns and Reid McLean, with high jumps of 6-3 and 6-0 respectively, good enough to take the top two spots. Megan Mushovic won the long jump with a leap of 32-feet, 2-inches; Rebecca Waterman won the shot put with a toss of 28-feet, 4-inches; Player won the 100-meter hurdles in 17.2; and Ben Enowitz supplied victories in both the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs in times of 5:02 and 11:01. McLean won the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 42.2 and then came back Thursday evening at the big Arcadia Invitational with a run of 40.26, so he’s back on track to take the county lead in the event."