Masters Meet Is Sweet for Meuse

The double extra-fudge cookies had to go.

So did the snack cakes.

If Ryan Meuse was going to finish first at the Southern Section Masters Meet, the sweets and treats he normally consumed would have to come second.

Two weeks ago, the Simi Valley High senior decided to improve his diet for the meet Friday at Cerritos College.

It was a good move.

Meuse held off late challenges from Matt Torres of Nordhoff and David Juiliano of Bonita--runners who had come from behind to beat him in the past month--and won the boys’ 800 meters for the second consecutive year, this time clocking 1:54.58.

The race looked exciting enough, with Meuse fending off Torres in the final turn and a surging past Juiliano in the final stretch.

Meuse said he didn’t feel any tension.

“I didn’t hear the announcer say anything interesting and I didn’t hear the crowd rise up, so I just kept it going,” Meuse said. “I guess it comes with running so many of these races.”

Juiliano finished in second place in 1:54.72 and Torres was third in 1:55.08. The top five finishers in the event qualified for the state championships next Friday and Saturday at Cerritos.

Fine-tuning was the key for Meuse.

He recently started to correct his career-long problem of leaning too far back while running.

He also spent extra time meditating and working on race visualization.

And he stopped eating chocolate snacks earlier this month, opting instead for oranges, apples and bananas.

“It really worked,” he said. “I felt better at the end. I probably could have gone another 100 at that pace, which gives me hope for next week [at the state championships].”

Meuse started exploring other options after losing to Torres at the Ventura County championships on May 1.

“That point was kind of low,” said Meuse, who was slowed that afternoon by strep throat and was overtaken in the final stretch.

Meuse lost in similar fashion the previous week at the Arcadia Invitational, with Juiliano passing him in the stretch.

On Friday, however, Meuse never gave up a lead he held for more than half the race.

In a stroke of prerace luck, Mark Gleason, a miler from Mission Viejo, chose not to compete in the 800, which bumped Meuse from Lane 3 to Lane 7.

Meuse was thrilled. He wanted to start in his staggered spot on the outside, ahead of most of the pack.

“All I saw straight ahead was the track,” Meuse said. “That’s what I like about the front. I don’t have to worry about fighting people and getting boxed out.”

And it was Meuse’s turn to outkick others on the stretch, much to Juiliano’s chagrin.

“I tried to outkick him, but he got me,” Juiliano said. “I take my hat off to him.”