1-Man Track Club? Duarte’s Cannady May Fill the Bill

Duarte High Coach Mike Ramos is dead serious when he talks about the importance of sprinter Martin Cannady to his track team.

“He is the team,” Ramos said.

Well, not the whole team, but the most important member.

Take last year when Cannady had a hand in 40 of his team’s 56 points in the CIF 3-A Division finals, when the Falcons finished second to Saugus.

Or the last two seasons, when Cannady won the Southern Section divisional title in the 100-meter dash twice, the 200 meters once and anchored Falcon relay teams to two titles in the 400-meter relay and one in the 1,600 relay.

Ramos gives the 18-year-old senior much of the credit for the emergence of the Duarte track team, which did not have a tradition of excellence before he joined the squad as a sophomore.

“In 1984 the track program lost every meet at every level,” Ramos recalled. “It was so bad that Martin tranferred to Pasadena High when he was a freshman.”

Cannady’s sophomore season in 1985 was also the year that Ramos arrived as coach, along with assistants Ron Arnold and Mike Wilson. But Ramos doesn’t like to take credit for the team’s turnabout.

“There are no great coaches, just great athletes,” he said. “When you go from 0-27 (in dual meets) one year to 22-4 (since 1985) it’s because of great athletes.

Cannady is exceptional. He usually competes in four events at every dual meet, including the 100 and 200 meters, the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and relays.

“Martin’s a tremendous athlete,” Ramos said. “He could probably pole vault 15 feet or long jump 24 feet.”

Cannady has even tried his hand at football, playing running back during his sophomore year but quitting after his first game as a junior because of a disagreement with his coach. Things may have worked out best for Cannady.

“Because I didn’t play football, I had more time for training and to work on distance training,” he said. “I like track more. There’s more competition and you benefit from it. If something goes wrong you don’t have anyone to blame but yourself.”

At 5-11 and 173 pounds, he doesn’t have the size or the long-striding legs of many of the top sprinters. But he does have other attributes, starting with a desire to succeed.

“I run with heart,” Cannady says. “That makes up for the height I don’t have.”

“We have no harder worker and no kid who sacrifices himself as much as Martin,” Ramos said. “As long as I’ve been coaching, I’ve never seen a harder worker.

“He’s just a tough kid. He may not win every race, but you can be sure he’s trying hard every time out.”

In his sophomore year, Cannady finished fourth in the 100- and 200-meters at the Southern Section Masters Meet after winning the 2-A Division 100 title.

Even more impressive was last season, when he won the 100 and 200 at both the 2-A Division and Masters meets. Cannady posted the third fastest time in the state (10.59 seconds) in the 100 and fourth fastest (21.31) at 200.

It is times like those that have made Cannady one of the top college prospects in the San Gabriel Valley. Cannady, a B student, has been recruited by many NCAA Division I schools, including most of the Pacific 10 Conference teams.

Cannady said he is unsure about the school, although he would prefer to stay on the West Coast.

At the moment Cannady is more concerned about making a strong showing at the state meet in June in Sacramento, where success has been elusive.

All Cannady has to do is remind himself of what happened at the state meet last season, when he did not qualify for the final in the 100 meters and finished sixth in the 200.

“I want to win the state 100 and 200,” he said. “People remember you for things like that.”

It is a goal that Cannady says he can probably achieve, despite a formidable challenge from sprint standouts Quincy Watts of Taft and Corey Ealy of Muir.

In his first meeting against them this season, Cannady finished third in the 100 at the Pasadena Games last week. The three will meet again at the Arcadia Invitational on April 11 at Arcadia High.

“It’s right in the palm of my hand,” Cannady says. “All I have to do is close my fist and it’s there. Without underestimating any of the competition, all I have to do is go 100% and I can do it.”

Ramos is among those who like Cannady’s chances.

“Martin has the talent and the ability to win it,” Ramos said. “He’s going to do his very best to be No. 1, and there are some very good sprinters in California. But I know he wants badly to be the best.”