Restart Means a Bad Start for McNair

Long Beach Poly’s Kareem Kelly was disqualified in the 100 meters Friday and his false start was also bad news for Mater Dei’s Mike McNair.

“My first start was good, I came out with everybody and then they shut it down,” McNair said. “The second one I kind of rocked back a little and I had no tension anywhere. I was just kind of wobbly.”

The slow restart probably cost McNair a spot in the state finals. He finished sixth in the 100 with a time of 11.03. McNair’s best time this season, a 10.55 run on the same track at last weekend’s divisional championships, would have bettered Poly’s Darrell Rideaux winning time of 10.62.

McNair did advance in the 200 by finishing fifth in 21.68.

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Mission Viejo’s Mark Gleason and teammate Chris Kemp were also hot and cold during the meet.

Kemp finished ahead of Gleason in the 1,600 for the first time this season, winning the event in 4:13.54. Gleason, who led until the final steps, was second (4:13.56). University’s Martin Brix was fourth.

But Kemp failed to qualify in the 800. He holds the top time in the county this season. “I thought I could have at least gone top five [in the 800], but the race didn’t go how I had planned,” Kemp said.

Gleason, the Division II and Orange County champion in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200, will be limited to the mile at next weekend’s state meet after finishing last in the 3,200.

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The Mission Viejo girls’ team didn’t do as well as expected. Pole vaulter Sarah Higham, who cleared 11-11 this season and was fifth in state last season, failed to clear her starting mark of 10-0.

Ashley Bethel, who was seventh in the state in the long jump last season, didn’t qualify in the event after finishing eighth (17-8 1/2). Bethel also was unhappy with her second-place finish and her time in the 100 hurdles (14.29), despite qualifying for state for the fourth consecutive season.

“If I would have jumped what I did last week, even my second best jump, that would have got me in,” Bethel said.

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Other athletes that had off-nights included Mater Dei long jumper Oseas Palacios, who has the top mark in the county (22-11 3/4), but only went 21-4 1/4 to finish last, and Huntington Beach thrower Sam Lightbody, who finished seventh in the shot (53-2 3/4) and discus (165-5).