Birmingham’s Burt Advances in Three Events

Rodney Burt of Birmingham High decided not to run in the 100 meters at the City Section quarterfinals Friday.

“I didn’t feel too confident about it,” Burt said.

The other 100-meter runners may have breathed a sigh of relief when Burt scratched, but confidence was probably what most of his adversaries were lacking when they saw Burt setting his starting blocks in Lane 5 prior to the 400 at Birmingham.

Burt easily made up the stagger on Alonzo Catia of Van Nuys and Greg Solis of Wilson within the first 100 meters. The Brave senior built a five-meter lead and won in 48.95.

“I knew it was an easy heat,” said Burt, who finished fifth in the 400 at last year’s City final. “I didn’t run for time, just to win.”

Burt also ran a heat in the 200, in which qualifying for next week’s semifinals wasn’t so easy, and the anchor leg for the Braves’ 1,600-meter relay team.

The Valley Pac-8 Conference champion finished third in the 200 in 22.71 behind Washington’s Donovan Burkes (22.02), the third-place finisher in the City final last year who was later disqualified for a lane violation, and Kevin Copeland (22.35) of Dorsey.

“I could do much better. I’ll just keep running it,” Burt said. “I’m sure I’ll make it to City finals.

In the 1,600 relay, Burt covered the final 400 meters in 47.6 seconds to overtake North Hollywood and help Birmingham, which finished fourth in 3 minutes, 26.71 seconds, qualify for the semifinals.

William Childs of Reseda led all qualifiers in the 110 high hurdles, winning in 14.96. Childs, a senior, also finished second in the 300 intermediates in 41.28.

Brian Gastelum of Birmingham surged past Belmont’s Natividad Gaona in the final 50 meters of the 1,600, winning in a personal best 4:22.57.

Feltina Means of Van Nuys qualified for the semifinals in four events.

Means ran 47.11 in the 300 low hurdles. The junior placed second in the 100 low hurdles (16.53), third in the long jump (16-3) and seventh in the high jump (4-8).