Changing Gears on Race Strategy Pays Off for Canyon’s Fleshman

So much for running just to qualify for the state track and field championships.

That was supposed to be Lauren Fleshman’s strategy in the Southern Section Masters Meet at Cerritos College on Friday night.

But the Canyon High junior swooped past Irvine University’s Allyson Marquand with 150 meters remaining in the girls’ 3,200 on her way to a season best of 10:46.44.

With the top five finishers in each event advancing to the state championships at Cerritos next Friday and Saturday, Canyon assistant Dave DeLong said earlier in the week that Fleshman wasn’t going to get in any big kickers’ race if she had a top-five spot sewn up with a lap to go.

But that was easier said than done.

After patiently running in the middle of the lead pack for the first half of the race, Fleshman moved into second place with 400 meters to go and exploded past fellow junior Marquand halfway through the final curve.

“I just felt too good to hold back,” Fleshman said. “I didn’t mind doing that because the pace wasn’t very fast for the first part of the race.”

Fleshman’s time was the best in the region this year and gave her a comfortable margin of victory over Marquand, who finished second in 10:48.63, and senior Elaine Canchola of Nordhoff, who placed third in 10:49.63.

“Everything just felt good,” said Fleshman, who finished ninth in the 3,200 in the 1997 state championships. “My breathing felt good. My legs felt good. My knees felt good.”

Fleshman, who earned third-team All-American honors in cross-country by placing 14th in the national championships in December, has developed an impressive kick this season.

She used it to run away from Canchola and Tiffany Burgess of Birmingham in the last lap of the 1,600 in the Van Nuys Rotary Invitational at Birmingham on April 4 and she used it to win the 800 in a personal best of 2:11.87 in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays two weeks later.

“I’m really starting to get a lot of confidence in my kick,” Fleshman said. “That’s not to say that it’s invincible. But if I’m [with the lead pack] with a lap to go, I feel like I’ve got a real good chance at winning.”

Fleshman was one of four individuals from the region who won events.

The others were Canchola in the girls’ 1,600, senior Ryan Meuse of Simi Valley in the boys’ 800 and sophomore Oliver Jackson of Royal in the long jump.

Canchola ran 5:01.58 to win her second consecutive Masters title in the 1,600.

Burris made a small dent in Canchola’s lead with about 60 meters to go, but Canchola shifted into another gear that Burris couldn’t respond to.

“The time doesn’t really matter,” Canchola said. “I was just trying to push down the stretch.”

Although Canchola qualified for the state championships in two events, she might drop one of them to focus on the other.

Meuse won his second consecutive title in the 800 by running a season best of 1:54.58 to turn back seniors David Juiliano of Bonita, who ran 1:54.72, and Matthew Torres of Nordhoff, who clocked 1:55.08.

Jackson, the Ventura County champion in the long jump and triple jump, leaped 22-9 1/4 to win the long jump.

The boys’ 100 was somewhat of a letdown as junior Darrell Rideaux of Long Beach Poly ran 10.62 to defeat seniors Justin Fargas of Notre Dame, who timed 10.68, and Miguel Fletcher of Alemany, who clocked 10.84.

Fargas later ran a 47.0 anchor leg on Notre Dame’s 1,600 relay team to help the Knights to a third-place time of 3:15.46 and Fletcher placed fourth in the 200 in 21.49.

Seniors Aaron Sharp of Santa Clara and Tara Gregory of Crescenta Valley, and junior Becky Rauth of Harvard-Westlake turned in school records in their events.

Sharp, the 1997 state Division V cross-country champion, finished second in the 3,200 in 9:12.06.

Nordhoff senior Dusty Herman clocked a personal best of 9:13.33 in the race, but that left him .02 seconds behind fifth-place Ronnie Buchanan of Righetti.

Gregory finished third in the 800 in 2:13.82 to qualify for the state championships for the second time in three years.

Rauth placed fourth in the 300 low hurdles with a time of 44.01.

* VICTORY WAS A TREAT: Ryan Meuse of Simi Valley High won the boys’ 800-meter race and he might have given himself the margin of victory when he decided to give up sweets two weeks ago. C10