Jay, Hernandez Win Channel Coast

One runner bounds around the track with the long, graceful strides of a gazelle.

The other propels himself with a short, powerful stride and the tenacity of a bulldog.

Ramsey Jay of Ventura High and Eleazar Hernandez of Camarillo are at opposite ends of the locomotion spectrum, but both posted impressive victories in the inaugural Channel Coast Invitational on Saturday.

Jay, who finished fourth in the 400 meters in last year’s State championships, won the 200 in 21.8 seconds, the 400 in 48.4 and ran a 49.5 third leg on Ventura’s victorious 1,600-meter relay team that timed 3 minutes 31.5 seconds. He also anchored the Cougars to a second-place time of 43.7 in the 400 relay.

Hernandez, fifth in the Foot Locker national cross-country championships in December, won the 3,200 in 9:19.4 on his home track.

“I definitely wanted to run under 49 seconds in the 400, and I really wanted to break 48.5 so I’d get a good qualifying time for (the Arcadia Invitational),” Jay said. “In the 200, I was looking to break 22 so I’m happy with that time as well.”

Jay’s marks were particularly impressive because he was not pushed in either race.

He won his heat in the 200 by more than a second and his 400 time was more than 2 1/2 seconds ahead of runner-up Michael Khodabakhshyan (51.1) of Crescenta Valley.

He cruised on his leg of the 1,600 relay, yet still blew the race open for the Cougars.

“I’m just looking at today as one step on the road to the State championships,” said the 6-foot-2, 175-pound Jay. “Everything I’m doing is one little block in building up to that meet.”

Hernandez also hopes to peak at the State meet, although he’s taken a different approach than Jay. While Jay was competing in his sixth meet of the year Saturday, Hernandez was running in only his second.

Citing fatigue at the end of the 1994 track and cross-country seasons, Hernandez purposely started his senior track campaign late.

He did not run in any indoor meets--compared to three for Jay--and he won the mile and two-mile in modest times of 4:40.9 and 10:04.7 in a Marmonte League opener against Royal and Simi Valley on Thursday.

“Last year, I had burned myself out when I came to the (Southern Section) and State championships in track,” Hernandez said. “And then I did the same thing in cross-country. So this year, I decided to start the season later.”

The late start didn’t appear to hurt him as Hernandez surged into the lead just before the 1,600-meter mark (4:43.9) and clocked 4:35.5 for the second half of the race to turn back Thousand Oaks teammates Keith O’Doherty (9:25.0) and Jeff Fischer (9:39.0).

“I wasn’t worried about who was in the race. I just came to run a good time,” Hernandez said. “I didn’t think about (making a surge) before the race. I was just running. I just went for it.”

Brett Strahan of Hart, fourth in the 1,600 in last year’s State championships, was entered in the 3,200, but did not run because he didn’t have sufficient time to warm up.

The 3,200 was slated to start at 5:15 p.m., but when Strahan arrived at Camarillo at about 3:15, he discovered that the meet was running well ahead of schedule and the 3,200 was set to begin around 3:50.

“Brett’s warm-up takes about an hour and we would have only had about 35 minutes today,” Hart Coach Larry David said. “We didn’t want to rush him into this big a race.”

Although Strahan’s absence took some of the luster away from the 3,200, there were several other top performances by local athletes.

Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks, Sharika Higgins of Channel Islands and Andrea Wasden of Rio Mesa combined for seven individual victories in the girls’ meet.

Mortensen, fifth in the 3,200 in last year’s State championships, won the 800 in 2:19.8 and the 3,200 in 11:18.1. Higgins, a junior who was academically ineligible last season, placed first in the 100 (12.3), 200 (25.8) and long jump (16 feet 4 inches).

Wasden, a state finalist in the 100 high hurdles as a junior, won that event in 14.7 and the 300 lows in 48.0. She also placed second in the 100 (12.4) and ran a leg on Rio Mesa’s victorious 1,600 relay team that clocked 4:11.9.