Coaches Bend Rules for Injured Watts

If Quincy Watts was your typical high school sprinter, his season would be over because a hamstring injury will prevent him from competing in the West Valley League preliminaries today at Birmingham High.

League rules state that to qualify for the finals an athlete must place among the top four in his or her heat at the league preliminaries. But league coaches voted Monday to grant Watts a waiver to compete in the 200 and 400 meters in next Friday’s league finals. Watts is nursing a strained right hamstring that he injured three weeks ago in a dual meet at El Camino Real.

The 6-foot, 3-inch, 197-pound Taft sprinter is the defending state champion in the 100 and 200 meters and the two-time defending City Section champion in those events. He was the No. 1-ranked high school sprinter in the country as a junior by Track and Field News and has personal bests of 10.30 in the 100 and 20.50 in the 200, times that qualify him for the Olympic Trials in Indianapolis in July.

“The league coaches were professional and considerate of an exceptional athlete,” Taft Coach Tom Stevenson said. “They appreciate his talent.”

The top four finishers in the league finals qualify for the City Section preliminaries the following week.