In the Long Run, Peninsula’s Minami Likes His Chances : Track: Despite modifying his training, the senior says he will be in top form for the 3,200 event at the state meet.

When he learned that the state track and field finals had been canceled June 5, Peninsula High distance runner Dan Minami didn’t spend much time dwelling on his disappointment.

Instead, he reworked his training schedule with hopes of competing in the 27th Palos Verdes Marathon last weekend.

Only Minami had to alter his plans again when the California Interscholastic Federation announced June 10 that it had rescheduled the state meet for 3 p.m. Saturday at Cerritos College.

Although he longs to compete in a marathon, Minami, 18, said he will gladly put his dreams on hold to run the 3,200 meters at the state meet. He has run a state-best 9 minutes 4.13 seconds in the event.

“I’m pretty well focused now, but I was shocked after they first made the decision to cancel it,” Minami said. “They should have rescheduled it sooner instead of waiting six days because a lot of runners like myself already had other things they were doing.”

When he heard that the state meet had been rescheduled, Peninsula Coach Joe Kelly was concerned that Minami might not be in top form.

“The four or five days after the state meet was originally (canceled), he was running but it was on his own and without any set goals,” Kelly said. “But he looked sharp the other day. I think he’s still as ready to race as he was before.”

Minami, a senior, has been pleased with his workouts the past two weeks.

“The only thing that’s negative is that it’s hard to start up again when you stop training for something like this,” he said. “But I feel ready and I think I’ve recovered from my little vacation from training last week.”

This will be Minami’s first appearance in the state meet. He advanced to the Southern Section Division I finals in the 3,200 meters as a sophomore and reached the Southern Section Masters Meet last year, missing a state berth when he finished in seventh with a time of 9:21.97.

“I’ve gone a step farther each year and now I’m finally going to state,” he said. “So it’s kind of interesting how I’ve progressed since I’ve been here.”

Minami’s progress was slowed this season because of an injury.

“He had a problem with his hip, so we backed him off and he couldn’t run as much speed work as he usually does,” Kelly said. “He missed quite a bit in terms of training, but he’s bounced back very well.”

Minami has already surpassed his expectations after running a best of 9:18.17 as a junior.

“I was hoping to get to 9:10 this year, so when I got under 9:05 it was very surprising to me,” he said.

He ran the state’s best time on May 28 at the Masters Meet, finishing .01 ahead of Glendale Hoover’s Margarito Casillas. Minami believes he can improve his time.

“I really don’t think that I’ve peaked yet,” he said. “I think if I work at it, I can go better than 9:04.”

Minami has signed a letter of intent to attend UC Berkeley in the fall.

“He’s coming along very nicely and I know he’ll be a good college runner,” Kelly said. “He has everything you need to succeed at the next level. He is a hard worker, he’s very dedicated and he loves what he does. There are some people who run well and don’t really like it, but he’s not one of them.”

Minami expects to run everything from the 3,000 to the 10,000 at Berkeley and may even try the steeplechase.

But Minami is hoping his final high school race will be his best.

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Morningside will have the most representatives of any area school at the state meet.

The Monarchs have eight qualifiers in the girls division and four among the boys.

The Morningside girls are not expected to unseat defending champion Long Beach Poly, but could finish in the top five.

Morningside’s best event might be the 400, where it has three qualifiers led by senior LaShawn Stringer. The Monarchs also figure to score points with freshman Nicole Thomas in the 300 hurdles and their 400- and 1,600 relay teams.

The Morningside boys will rely on senior Edward Turner, who has advanced in the 100 and 200 meters, the long jump and anchors the 1,600 relay team.

Other top boys include City Section champion Morris Giddens of Gardena in the 1,600 and Leandrew Childs of Inglewood in the long jump.