For Candaele, the 1,600 Meters Is a Fun Run

Coley Candaele of Carpinteria High may be only a junior, but he is fast becoming one of the premier middle distance runners in the nation.

Candaele easily won the 800- and 1,600-meter runs in the 1-A Division last Saturday at the Southern Section divisional meet at Cerritos College, qualifying for the Masters meet Friday night at Cerritos College.

In the 800, Candaele ran a career-best time of 1 minute 52.18 seconds, without much competition, finishing better than seven seconds ahead of the runner-up.

Candaele, however, considers the 1,600 his specialty.

“I will probably run both in the Masters, but I will only run the 1,600 in the state meet,” said Candaele, whose goal is to run a 4:06 at state. “It is not a matter of disliking the 800, but I just love the mile.”

In his 1,600 victory last Saturday, Candaele started out slowly, running a 66-second first lap, but recovered to blaze the next 800 meters in 2:02.5, and then finished with a 64-second last lap to post a time of 4:12.58--the second-fastest of the day.

“I had to push it in the middle just to get back to where I wanted to be going into the last lap,” Candaele said. “I knew I had a big lead, so I just tried to run relaxed at the end.”

Candaele, who had extensive foot surgery after his sophomore track season, is also a quarterback on the football team but he views football much as does Bo Jackson.

“I know being a quarterback and a distance runner is a strange double, but I only take football as a fun hobby to go along with track,” he said.

Not so sprinter Curtis Conway of Hawthorne, who won the 4-A 100 and 200, besides anchoring two winning relay teams. He considers track his tune-up sport.

“I really do not have any goals for track,” said Conway, who is headed for USC on a football scholarship next fall. “I am hanging up my track spikes until next spring as soon as the state meet is over to get ready for football.”

Conway may only be running track for fun, but he appears to be headed for his first state individual sprint title, after posting a wind-aided 10.44 in the 100 and a 21.25 in the 200 meters.

Conway also ran anchor on the Cougars’ state-record breaking 400-meter relay team, helping it to a time of 40.36. The Cougars would have had a shot at breaking the national prep record of 40.2, but were victimized by a slow exchange between sophomore Erik Allen and Conway.

“I did not take off too well because of a sore hamstring,” Conway said. “After I got the baton, I was just running to win.”

Allen, who qualified for the masters meet along with Conway in the 100 and 200 meters, blamed a combination of things for the slow baton exchange.

“I said ‘stick’ too slow for Curtis, and he started out too slow,” Allen said. “We just need to get our passes down and we will get the record.”

Hawthorne Coach Kye Courtney was pleased with the Cougars’ sprint relay effort.

“They ran faster than I’d thought they’d run,” Courtney said. “I thought they’d break the state record, but only run a 40.5 or so.”

Courtney laughed and added: “Now, the kids are all juiced up to break the record next week, but I will probably coach them back down to run a 41-flat.”

Russell White of Encino Crespi, another athlete known more for his football exploits, also had a great track day Saturday. He won the 2-A Division 100 and 200, as well as the long and triple jumps.

White, who holds the state records for rushing and scoring in a prep football career, is headed for the University of California in the fall.

White was impressive in every event, running a 10.78 in the 100, 21.47 in the 200, going 48-11 in the triple jump and 23-3 1/2 in the long jump.

“I know that I can jump further and run faster,” White said. “So far, I have just been competing to win.”

Junior Lisa Leslie of Inglewood Morningside is also better known in another sport, but she qualified for the masters in two events Saturday, and won a third as well.

The 6-5 Leslie led the Monarchs to the Division I state basketball title in March, while being named the state player of the year.

Leslie won the 2-A Division high jump with a leap of 5-4, and qualified for the masters in the long and triple jumps.

Leslie has been competing only since early April because she was qualifying for the national junior basketball team tryouts June 4.

Prep Notes

The City Section track and field meet will be held Thursday at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, with the field events starting at 3 p.m. and the running events at 4:30. Two of the top multiple-event runners to make the finals are Dorsey’s Beno Bryant, who will run in the boys’ 100 and 400 meters and on the Dons’ two relay teams, and Angela Rolfe, who qualified in the girls’ 100, 200 and 400 meters, and will also run in the 400 meter relay.

How good is Angela Burnham of Oxnard Rio Mesa? Well, the two-time defending girls’ 100- and 200-meter state champion, would have defeated six boys’ division finalists Saturday with her 11.31 time in the 100 meters.