Clearing All the Hurdles

A dream two years in the making will become a reality tonight when Frances Santin of Taft High runs in the girls’ 300-meter low hurdles in the Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High.

The junior is the defending City Section champion in the event and is undefeated in seven races this season.

But two years ago, when Coach Mel Hein urged her to focus on the hurdles, Santin never expected to become one of the favorites in arguably the most prestigious regular-season invitational in the nation.

“I wasn’t really thinking about the hurdles,” said Santin, who had a best of 5 minutes 30.9 seconds in the 1,600 at the time. “But then one meet, coach told me I should drop the distances and concentrate on the hurdles. I didn’t really want to because I was really strong in the distances and not really strong in the hurdles and he was saying to drop the thing I was doing good at and practice at the hurdles.”

Hein, a world-record holder in the indoor pole vault in the 1960s, said it didn’t take a genius to see that Santin, who still runs cross-country in the fall, had all the qualities of a standout 300 hurdler. She was fast, had good endurance and possessed an aggressive personality that comes in handy in an event where it helps to be fearless.

“It came kind of naturally to her,” Hein said. “She’s like one of those old Pac Man video games. She just dives in there and gobbles up the hurdles.”

Athleticism is not the only reason why Santin was invited to tonight’s meet, which starts with field events at 5 and running events at 6:10. She has worked hard to improve her hurdling technique and it shows.

She placed second in the 1995 City Section championships as a freshman and had a personal best of 45.77 seconds, even though her technique wasn’t refined. Hein said Santin floated over the hurdles and her trail leg didn’t help her much.

“She wasn’t snapping [her trail leg] down off the hurdles,” Hein said. “She wasn’t getting any power or creating any forward momentum.”

Santin improved in that area last year and it led to the City title, five sub-45-second clockings, a 43.24 best that ranks sixth on the all-time regional list and a sixth-place finish in the state championships.

Nonetheless, there was room for improvement.

Santin had a chance at a top-three finish in the state meet with 110 meters left in the race, but she chopped her step badly at the sixth of eight 30-inch hurdles because she was afraid to clear the barrier with her left leg first.

“She basically stopped,” Hein said. “She would have been in the top three if she had just busted through that hurdle.”

Santin learned from her mistake.

She clears hurdles this season using either leg as the lead and is confident she can pull off a sub-43 clocking tonight and a sub-42 time--41.93 to be exact--by the end of the season.

“I have faith,” she said. “I just have so much faith that I can run that time.”

Santin gets her confidence from her mother Carmen, an energetic Honduran who has raised five children alone since her husband Robert died of a heart attack in 1989.

“I live for my kids because I know that they are capable of so much,” Carmen Santin said. “I have not dated since my husband died because in this moment, it is most important for me to push my children ahead. When they grow up, I can think about me.”

Robert Santin was a Peruvian of Italian and French ancestry who met Carmen in Guatemala in 1975. It was love at first sight, according to Carmen, and the two were married in Los Angeles in 1976.

They had five children, with Frances and twin sister Heidelle, being next to the youngest.

“Their father was a great man,” Carmen said. “He was so proud of them.”

Frances remembers how proud her father was of the track accomplishments of her older brother Carlos when he was young.

“He used to get so excited to see my brother’s name on the event rankings,” she said.

“He used to be so happy to see that and he would be like, ‘Oh, that’s my son. That’s my son.’ And my mom always says, ‘If only your dad was here. If only your dad was here. He would be so proud of you.’ ”

Carmen Santin is one of the biggest supporters of the Taft track program and Hein recalls how happy Heidelle (pronounced HAY-dle) was last year when Frances won the City title.

“I walked up to her afterward and said, ‘You must be very proud of your sister,’ ” Hein said. “And she could hardly talk. She just had these tears of joy in her eyes.”

Heidelle Santin remembers that moment.

“I’m just so proud of [Frances] every time she races,” said Heidelle, who specializes in the 800 and 1,600 in track and runs cross-country.

“I like it when she gets going and I really enjoy it when she runs well. I guess it’s like a part of me does well when she does well.”

Poor times have been rare for Frances Santin in the 300 hurdles. And when those have come, sometimes they’ve been caused by unusual circumstances, like last year at the Arcadia meet, when Santin crashed to the track after trying to avoid stepping on Michelle Perry of Quartz Hill, who had rolled into her lane after hitting a hurdle.

It is an unpleasant memory for Santin, yet she recalls proudly how her mother rushed quickly to her side.

“My mom has a bad back so she has to be careful,” Santin said. “But when she saw me on the [track], she jumped the fence and was the first one out there. . . . I was amazed how fast she moved when she saw me laying on the [track]. I was like, ‘Wow.’ ”

Santin, who will run legs on Taft’s 400 and 1,600 relay teams tonight, hopes to produce a similar reaction from onlookers when she runs in the 300 hurdles against a strong field that includes Angel Patterson of Penn High in Philadelphia, Nicole Hoxie of Riverside North, Camee Williams of South High in Springfield, Ohio, Hannah Cooper of Hawthorne and Perry.

Santin is undaunted by their reputation.

“It’s weird because I was so scared of running against all these girls last year,” she said.

“I’m not even scared no more. Because I used to look up to them, but now it’s like I’m one of them.”