Hawthorne Travels a Long Way, Then Loses by a Narrow Margin

For the second consecutive year, the Hawthorne High School boys’ sprint relay teams, which have dominated state competition the last six years, traveled across the country to compete in the Penn Relays but couldn’t win a championship.

After finishing fourth in the 400-meter relay last year, the Cougars finished second last Saturday on a rainy afternoon before a crowd of 27,159 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

In a photo finish, Hawthorne lost to Camperdown High of Kingston, Jamaica, which was timed in 41.23 seconds. Hawthorne’s time was 41.26.

The loss was the frustrating finale to a frustrating day for the Cougars, who had failed to qualify for the 1,600-meter final, finishing third in morning heat at 3:17.7.

“This is a big letdown because we came out here and did not accomplish anything,” said Curtis Conway, who anchored both relay teams.

It was Conway’s inspired anchor leg, though, that made the 400 relay finish so close.

Running in Lane 8, the Cougars mounted their challenge after the final baton exchange between Conway and Erik Allen.

Conway quickly caught the leaders and appeared to have reached the finish line first, but Camperdown’s Anthony Price, running just inside Conway, out-leaned the Cougar star at the finish.

“I thought we had won for a minute,” Conway said. “I knew I had moved into first place off of the curb, but I could not see the guy inside of me.”

With that victory, Jamaican teams swept the three prep “Championship of America” finals, Kingston Calabar having won the 1,600 in 3:13.85, and St. Elizabeth Tech of Santa Cruz the 3,200 in 7:43.32.

Even so, Hawthorne Coach Kye Courtney said the East Coast trip was productive.

“I definitely feel that the trip was worthwhile, in that it is a tremendous learning experience for the kids,” said Courtney, who competed at the Penn Relays in 1956-57 for La Salle Military Academy, in 1958-61 for Manhattan College and in 1962 for the Quantico Marines.

“We have kids that will probably never get a chance to come back here again,” he added. “They do not come from expensive families, so these trips are very educational for them.”

Courtney knew his Cougars were facing adverse conditions in making the trip.

“Whenever a high school team travels, all kinds of things can happen and cause problems,” he said. “The six guys we brought are a pretty young bunch and they handled things pretty well.”

Said Allen, a sophomore: “It was fun to face all of this competition. We wanted to run in the low .40s but things did not go our way.”

Junior Ismael Delpino, who led off the 1,600 relay team, also pointed out the adjustments the Cougars had to make in a different environment.

“The other teams knew the rules, which were different than we are used to,” Delpino said. “At the start of my race, they gave two commands and I was looking at one person, while another fired the gun.”

Delpino’s problem at the start cost the Cougars, as he slipped on the wet track, forcing him and his teammates to play catch-up the rest of the race.

Said Conway: “I would not have been bothered if we had ran 3:13 and did not qualify, but we ran so bad.”

Afterward, Courtney questioned his decision to have Delpino lead off.

“I made a mistake in that I should have had (Chris) Alexander lead off,” Courtney said. “I was just trying to protect him because he is not 100%, having injured his leg last week at the Mt. SAC Relays. He did not work out all week.”

Despite the losses, the Cougars took everything in stride.

“The competition was a lot better here,” Conway said. “There was a lot of pressure for us to beat the Jamaican teams and they love them here. I know we would beat them at a neutral site.

Anthony Smith, who ran on the 400 relay team, said: “We just want the Jamaican teams to come to California to face us.”

Courtney said that the Jamaican schools were at a different stage of the season than the Cougars, having just finished their Caribbean championships.

“The season starts for us now, with our league and state meets coming up,” he said. “We are not in peak condition yet. We will not overpower anyone, but we will be tough to beat when it counts.”

Hawthorne’s appearance will be its last at the Penn Relays for the next three years, since the Southern Section’s revised traveling rule, restricting high schools to only one out-of-state trip of more than 500 miles, will go into effect next term.

It is a rule that upsets Courtney.

“I think the rule is stupid and I wish that it would be changed,” he said.

According to the rule, schools are restricted in each sport to a single trip outside the state--excluding border states Arizona and Nevada--every three years.

“The (Southern Section’s) executive committee wanted to return to the old state rule,” said Dean Crowley, associate commissioner of Southern Section athletics.

“What they noticed is that powerhouse schools were traveling out of state every year,” he added, pointing out that the rule was implemented as a football issue but moved into all sports after a Southern Section survey.

“We just tried to make things equal for every team within a league because it became a recruiting tool for them, even though it was not intentional,” Crowley said.

The Southern Section is aware of Courtney’s unhappiness with the ruling, which was delayed for two years to allow schools to fulfill previous commitments.

“We know that the Hawthorne community feels that its track team is hampered by this rule,” Courtney said. “There is a chance for the rule to be changed, if a league brings it up in a Southern Section meeting.”

Courtney is hoping that will happen.

“We brought it up to the (Ocean) league and they voted it down already,” Courtney said. “However, we are not going to give up. It is just unfair to the kids.”