All-Area Boys’ Track and Field Athlete of the Year: Work, focus led Chahal to greatness
A season for the ages produced wild results for Burroughs High’s Jagdeep Chahal.
The UC Santa Barbara-bound senior didn’t expect to win, didn’t anticipate setting school records and wasn’t sure he’d succeed. Yet, he did.
The only certainty was that Chahal was going to work harder than ever, focus with more intensity and push himself beyond comfort.
In heading down this new path, Chahal set a course future Burroughs distance runners will have a hard time matching.
Chahal won two Pacific League titles, a CIF Southern Section Division I championship, a Masters Meet crown and advanced to state in two events.
Those efforts represent only a portion of a spectacular season that led to Chahal being named the 2018 All-Area Boys’ Track and Field Athlete of the Year by the sportswriters of the Burbank Leader, Glendale News-Press and La Cañada Valley Sun.
Chahal is the third Indians’ boys’ athlete to win the award over the last five seasons and joins pole vaulters Christian Valles (2017) and Matthew Schwartz (2014).
“The season went by really well,” Chahal said. “I made a big improvement. Compared to last year, I didn’t even make it out of Southern Section prelims. I can’t really complain about anything.”
Chahal was a known commodity in cross-country.
The two-time All-Area first-team selection won the Pacific League title by edging friendly rival Colin FitzGerald of Crescenta Valley, finished fifth at the Division I championships and 15th in the CIF State Division I finals at Fresno’s Woodward Park.
That success, however, was not guaranteed to translate into track, contended Burroughs coach John Peebles.
“Track and field and cross-country are different sports,” Peebles said. “Just because you do well in one doesn’t mean you’re going to do well in the other. It’s different running, different distances and disciplines.”
If there was a breakout effort, perhaps that took place at the first day of the 60th annual Mt. San Antonio College Relays at Torrance El Camino College on April 20.
Chahal stamped himself as a state-level contender and set the stage for a successful return to El Camino.
The soft-spoken distance runner was on the heels of CIF State Division I cross-country champion Justin Hazell of El Camino Real High in the invitational 3,200-meter run before Hazell held on for victory in 9 minutes, 0.60 seconds. That time just clipped Chahal’s fabulous mark of 9:00.61, which set a school record.
“I definitely wasn’t expecting that,” Chahal said. “That day, honestly, I was just going for a sub-9:20 and I don’t know what happened. I was just trying to hang with the pack.”
That mark was the seventh-fastest in California.
“I still remember the last two laps,” he said. “A lot of the kids were just staying in the pack and I was expecting the pace to get faster. No one was really making a move and I closed my gap on Justin.
“After I found out I ran 9 minutes flat, I believed that I could do it again.”
Chahal’s next big opportunity came at the Pacific League finals at Arcadia High on May 3.
Chahal shined by winning the 1,600 and 3,200 in 4:21.10 and 9:13.24, respectively.
The victories moved Chahal to the Division I prelims on May 12 at Trabuco Hills High.
During the past two seasons, Chahal had been stopped cold and did not advance beyond the prelims level.
This time around, Chahal broke through twice.
The senior finished third in the 1,600 (4:17.55) and eighth in the 3,200 (9:07.58) to earn a berth to the Division I Championships at El Camino College on May 19.
“For me, it goes back to his cross-country season,” Peebles said. “He carried over this success because he wasn’t satisfied. He worked even harder and focused on how he could improve.”
Back where he first turned heads, Chahal further etched his name into school lore by winning the Division I 1,600 championship in a school-record time of 4:12.73 and became Burroughs’ first boys’ distance champion.
Chahal also became his school’s fourth CIF champion and first since 800-meter runner Carolyne Brown in 2000.
Chahal also finished third in the 3,200 (9:05.85) to punch his ticket to the Masters Meet.
His efforts caught the attention of teammate Elizabeth Switzer, who finished third in the Division I pole vault.
“I saw him at the 1,600 and I was yelling and then I saw him at the 50 push through a crowd of people and I was just screaming,” Switzer said. “He did this side move through them to win and it was crazy.”
In his swansong at El Camino College, Chahal proved himself to be the best in the Southern Section by winning the 1,600 and lowering his school record to 4:11.09. Chahal also finished third in the 3,200 in 9:04.83, his top postseason time.
“What Jagdeep has done this season is remarkable,” Crescenta Valley coach Mark Evans said. “His times have been incredible and his ability to close is really impressive. He has a kick when others are just trying to survive. I would imagine that comes from a great work ethic.”
In earning his place to the CIF State Meet at Clovis Buchanan High, Chahal became his school’s first dual qualifier since Ralph Turner in 1961.
Chahal’s fantastic run went all the way until the season’s last day in Central California on June 2, where the sweltering heat took its toll.
Chahal finished fourth in the 1,600 in 4:12.16 before capping his season by taking 14th in the 3,200 in 9:09.05.
“I definitely wanted to do better at the state meet, but hey, it is what it is,” Chahal said. “You can’t really do anything about it. I think getting a podium spot is all that matters for me. So, even though I wanted to take the state title, it was a great year. I worked hard, focused on doing my best and it paid off.”
