STATE JUNIOR COLLEGE TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS : No Going Halfway : Glendale College’s Isaac Turner Doubles Up on Training Effort, Becomes Top 800-Meter Runner

He’s heard it numerous times since, but Burbank High cross-country and distance coach Cal Linam still jokes about Isaac Turner’s first “You’re full of it” chuckle.

Turner, a Glendale College sophomore, enters today’s State junior college championships in Bakersfield as the No. 2-ranked 800-meter runner in the state with a personal best of 1 minute 49.93 seconds.

Yet there was a time when Turner figured he’d never be a top-flight half-miler.

After running 50.3 seconds in the 400 as a Burbank High junior in 1992, Turner was content to be a solid quarter-miler who dabbled in the jumping events.

But as Linam watched the 6-foot-3 Turner lope effortlessly around the track at Burbank after the end of that season, he was convinced that Turner, if he worked hard, could contend for the state title in the 800 as a senior.

Turner listened attentively before laughing and giving Linam a “You’re loco” look.

“I was totally surprised when he said that, and I really didn’t believe him,” Turner said. “But he turned out to be right.”

Linam’s prediction was based on Turner’s long, fluid stride--ideal for an 800 runner. Also, Turner ran 2 minutes-flat in his first-ever 800 during a 4 X 800 relay in the Mt. San Antonio Relays earlier that year.

“We figured he might run 2:12 or 2:13,” Linam said. “So we told him to just try to keep up with the guys around him. He did that and ran 59 for the first lap. Then he started passing guys on the second lap.”

When Turner told Linam and Burbank track Coach Tom Vessella that “it was the easiest race of my life,” Linam was convinced the 800 was where Turner’s future lay.

Although Turner ran several personal bests in the 800 during the first half of his senior season, it took a victory over Canyons’ Mike Wenz (who ran 1:53.82 that year) and Hart’s Paul De La Cerda (1:54.29) in the Foothill League finals to convince him that he belonged in the 800.

“I started to believe it might happen when I won the Foothill League finals,” Turner said. “I remember thinking before the race that if I can win a race of this caliber, I might be good enough to make it to State.”

Turner finished fourth in the Southern Section Division I championships, then lowered his personal best to 1:53.86 while placing second in the Southern Section Masters Meet the following week.

After running 1:55.11 in his qualifying heat of the State championships at Cerritos College, Turner thought he had a good chance at a top-three finish in the finals.

His confidence got an additional boost when he received a phone call from Johnny Gray, the U.S. record-holder in the 800 at 1:42.60, on the morning of the meet.

Gray, a friend of a friend, gave Turner some advice about racing strategy and wished him well. Turner was feeling great as he drove to Cerritos with Linam and Vessella, but he soon discovered that the State meet was canceled because an inch of rain had fallen during the morning and early afternoon.

“I was pretty disgusted,” Turner said. “By the time we got there, it was clearing up and there were only a few puddles left on the track.”

The meet was rescheduled for two weeks later following complaints by athletes, coaches and fans, but Turner didn’t run because of a planned senior trip to Hawaii. He was also past his competitive peak.

“He was at the tail end of his peak for the State meet,” Linam said. “We had squeezed the lemon as hard as we could and there was nothing left.”

Missing the State championships might have cost Turner a scholarship to a four-year school. Linam said that UCLA was ready to make him an offer if he had broken 1:52.

Turner instead landed at Glendale.

Vaquero Coach Tom McMurray, a 1:49.7 half-miler in the late 1960s, was sold on Turner’s talents. However, McMurray said Turner “kept thinking he was a quarter-miler when he first came out here.”

Turner said he liked the 800, but did not feel he was in proper shape to run it well.

“That’s why I wanted to run a lot of 400s,” Turner said. “The 400 doesn’t hurt as much as the 800 and I didn’t have the confidence in my last lap that I do now. If I got behind, I wasn’t sure if I could take off with a 300 to go and maintain it. I was afraid of dying at the end.”

Despite those doubts, Turner ran a personal best of 1:51.58 to finish fourth in last year’s State championships.

To improve Turner’s strength this season, McMurray had him train with the Vaquero cross-country team two or three times a times a week during the fall. McMurray also increased the distances of Turner’s track intervals--from 300-400 meters to 600-1,200.

A more aggressive and confident runner emerged. Turner has signed a national letter of intent with USC and has lowered the school record twice this season.

The school record could fall again tonight. Turner and state leader Brian Wilkinson (1:49.30) of Hartnell are expected to duel for the title.

Wilkinson defeated Turner, 1:50.79-1:51.24, in the Mt. SAC Relays last month after Turner made a tactical error by falling behind early in a race which included nearly 20 runners. Although Turner closed fast in the final 300 meters to place second, he was too far back to challenge Wilkinson, who was among the leaders from the start.

“That’s the only big mistake he made in a race this season,” McMurray said. “I don’t think it’ll happen again. We don’t want Isaac to take the lead [in the State meet], but we want him to be in contention with 300 to go.

“The last 300 of the race is his strength.”

That was evident in last week’s Southern California championships, which Turner won in 1:51.60 despite coming through the first 400 in a slow 56.8.

“This past race I guess I realized how good of shape I’m in,” Turner said.

“To run that fast off that pace and to feel the way I did over the last 150 meters was something I’ve never felt. I was so relaxed, but I was moving.”

Said McMurray: “He looked like he was running a leg of the 1,600 relay, not the last lap of an 800.”

Just the way an elite 800 runner should.