Looking for a Little Luck : Hawthorne Quarter-Miler to Chase State Title for 3rd Time

Travis Hannah, Hawthorne High School’s deluxe quarter-miler, is hoping that the third time is the charm.

Hannah has seen a pair of state 400-meter dash titles slip through his fingers during a two-year streak of hard luck. In his sophomore year, Hannah held the best marks in California in the 400 going into the CIF Master’s Meet. But he stepped on the line three times in that race and was disqualified.

Last year, Hannah was beaten by Steven Lewis of American High in Fremont in the State Championship Meet. Hannah’s coach, Kye Courtney, insists that films of the race show Lewis false-starting when he jumped out to his insurmountable lead.

Courtney hopes that this Friday, at the State Championship Meet at Cerritos College, luck does not defeat Hannah as he faces a pair of the best sprinters in California.

Quincy Watts of Taft and Tony Miller of San Francisco Riordan are 100- and 200-meter specialists. However, both Watts, the L.A. City champion, and Miller are favoring hamstring injuries, so they’re moving into the 400 to set up a showdown with Hannah.

“They may have bitten off a little more than they can chew,” Courtney said. “If they don’t build up a big lead early in the race, they’re going to be in a world of trouble.”

That’s because Hannah again has the fastest 400 time in the state at 46.6, and he’s known for his blazing finishes. Courtney said Hannah “runs the last 100 of the race faster than anyone Hawthorne’s ever had.”

Hawthorne will need another of Hannah’s trademark kicks to the finish line on Friday and Saturday to have a shot at the school’s fifth state title in six years.

“It seems that Travis has an unbelievable lift at the end,” Courtney said. “That big kick is devastating. He goes by you like a rocket, and you don’t have any time to react.”

“I just seem to find the strength to carry it home,” Hannah said.

That’s one reason Hannah anchors Hawthorne’s mile relay team, which has posted the second-best mark in the nation this year in 3:11.33. The Cougars set that time in early April at the Arcadia Invitational, when Hannah zoomed from 10 meters back to win at the tape.

“When I caught that . . . dude, I don’t think he heard anything but the crowd,” Hannah said. “I know that’s all I heard.”

Hawthorne’s 1,600-meter relay squad--with Hannah at the anchor and Chris Alexander, all-CIF quarterback Curtis Conway, and Ishmael Delpino on the other legs--figures to win the school’s sixth straight state title in that event. Hannah and Conway are both capable of running 45.6 legs in the relay.

Hannah runs the 100 at roughly 22 miles per hour. In fact, he is fast enough to be one of Hawthorne’s main threats in the 200, except that he pulled a hamstring in the Penn Relays in late April. The CIF passed Hannah through the Southern Section preliminaries in the 400, but not in the 200, in which he has finished as fast as 21.3.

He’s also posted a 10.6 in the 100, but he’d prefer to leave the short sprint to Conway, who has run it in 10.4.

“The 100 is over in a blink of the eye,” Hannah said. “Boom, boom. Once I get ready to get going, it’s over.”

Like Conway, Hannah likes to work out alone. “Most sprinters are like that,” Courtney said. “They don’t like to get into a race every time they come to the track in practice.”

And like Conway, Hannah’s future very well may be forged on the football field instead of the track. Hannah is going to USC this fall on a track scholarship, where he’ll be coached by Ernie Bullard along with Watts and Miller. But Hannah, who was all-Ocean League as a 5-9, 170-pound flanker, insisted that his true love is football.

“I love burning the defensive backs,” Hannah said, “especially when it’s just you and the cornerback, one on one. I love taking the hits. They try to take advantage of me because I’m so little, but I like to run right at ‘em instead of faking ‘em out.”

Hannah has game-changing speed, runs good patterns and has good hands. He led Hawthorne in receiving and had a series of dramatic games last fall, including catching Conway’s last-ditch, 60-yard bomb to set up Eddie Korn’s winning field goal against El Modena.

He has a score of admirers, including Trojan football Coach Larry Smith, who thinks Hannah might be able to make the transition from college track to football, much like former Los Angeles Rams wide receiver and Olympic gold medalist Ron Brown.

“I think Travis is probably a little undersized,” Smith said. “But he has outstanding speed, and as he grows older and more mature, we’d like to have him come out for spring football. But that’s a year or two down the line.”

Courtney himself grudgingly admits that Hannah’s future sport might be football.

“Travis is small for football, but so is Miami Dolphins’ receiver Mark Duper,” Courtney said. “And Travis could run circles around him.

“Football teams are looking for quarter-mile sprinters anyway. By the time the fourth quarter comes around, the 100-meter guy is croaking. Travis could really help USC. They need speed right away on the corners.

“All their receivers are slow and Travis can haul ass.”