Davidson Proves Father Does Know Best : Track and field: After his dad’s suggestion, Saddleback hurdler started competing in the event midway through his junior year. This season, he’s undefeated.

Charlie Davidson III grew up running everywhere he went. He ran to the store. He ran to the homes of friends. He ran in his house. When he was old enough, he ran the sprints in age-group meets in Santa Ana.

Charlie Davidson II--or Big Charlie as most folks know him--watched his son intently, thinking of the day when the boy would run the hurdles in high school just as he had.

When young Charlie joined the track team at Saddleback High as a freshman, he ran the 100 and 200 meters and the 400-meter relay. He occasionally participated in the long jump and high jump when the team needed the points.

Big Charlie seemed pleased with young Charlie’s marks and finishes, but couldn’t shake the feeling that the hurdles would be his son’s best event. “Run the hurdles and you’ll make the State meet for sure,” Big Charlie told young Charlie.

When young Charlie finally made his first serious attempt midway through his junior season, he flew over the hurdles so easily that it seemed as if he had been doing it all his life.

Big Charlie smiled knowingly.

Two months later, young Charlie trotted around nervously at the starting line awaiting the State meet 110-meter hurdles final. Big Charlie, in the stands at Cerritos College, was equally anxious.

At the gun, Davidson was out of the blocks first, powering toward the first hurdle. By the third of the 10 hurdles, he was still leading. “Not by a little, but a long ways,” Big Charlie said.

It seemed a major upset was in the making. Davidson had been third in the Masters Meet the week before and second in the Southern Section 3-A final the week before that.

Perhaps the pressure of competing against the best, with all of two months of hurdling experience to call on, got to Davidson at that point. He faltered over the final meters, slipping to sixth place.

He and his father knew the runner would learn from the race, however. They knew he would run faster and more confidently in his senior season. And they knew the young sprinter was about to become an accomplished hurdler, one who had just taken the first step on the way to becoming the state’s best.

So far, so good.

Davidson is undefeated this season and coming off an impressive victory at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational Saturday. His time of 14.37 seconds was a seasonal best, although he ran a hand-timed 14.2 on Saddleback’s dirt track two weeks ago. (Fully automatic times are preferred over hand times for record-setting purposes). If not for clipping a couple of hurdles, Davidson said a sub-14-second clocking might have been possible Saturday.

“I never lost my concentration, and I stayed focused the whole time,” he said.

When he hit a hurdle last year, Davidson’s concentration sometimes wavered.

“This year, you know every mistake you made last year,” Big Charlie told his son the day before Arcadia.

Now, Davidson can feel it in his bones when he has a good race going. There is fast, and then there is fast .

“Usually I can tell after the third hurdle, or about 40 meters,” Davidson said. “I shift into another gear, stay smooth and relaxed.”

And if he hits a hurdle?

“I try to blot it out and concentrate on the next hurdle,” he said.

On the right day, with a competitive field to push him--perhaps at the State meet, perhaps sooner--Davidson figures he can run 13.5. If he does, it will be the second-fastest time in Orange County history. Steve Kerho of Mission Viejo holds the county record with a 13.41 clocking in 1982.

“I’ll go 13.5 this year,” Davidson said. “That’ll win State this year.”

Big Charlie nodded in agreement.

It won’t surprise Saddleback Coach Jim Knapp, who also favored Davidson’s move to the hurdles.

“I think 10.7, 10.8 guys (for 100 meters) are a dime a dozen,” Knapp said. “Guys who can run in the 14s (for the high hurdles) are rare. And he could even be in the 13s.”

That’s not to say Davidson has given up on the sprints entirely. He still runs the 100 or 200 at dual meets. And he loves the feeling of blowing along down the track, untroubled by leaping over the hurdles.

He has hand-timed bests this season of 10.9 for the 100 and 23.1 for the 200 and has a leap of 22 feet 3/4 inches in the long jump. He also has career bests of 50.0 in the 400 and 6-4 in the high jump.

All of which leads Knapp to believe that Davidson could someday become a decathlete.

“I’ve thought about it,” Davidson said. “I’ve thrown the shotput before, but I’ve never pole-vaulted. It would be nice to try a decathlon and get it behind me for the experience.”

Big Charlie smiled broadly. He’s not about to talk his son out of something. With a little persuading, young Charlie hurdled his way into the State meet. Who knows what might be possible in a decathlon?