Bardone Thriving in Multi-Shoe Event
For Orange Coast’s Ray Bardone, the most difficult part of a decathlon doesn’t have anything to do with the energy required to perform the events.
It’s the shoes.
Bardone will have eight pairs in his bag today when he competes in the two-day Southern California championship in Santa Barbara.
“I’m always changing shoes,” Bardone said. “That’s what tires me out the most during meets. I’ve always got to change them.”
Actually, having that many pairs is a luxury for Bardone, who was a sprinter and a long jumper at Edison High.
Last year at OCC, he didn’t have a pair of high-jumping shoes so he did the event in the boots he wore during the javelin competition.
“They weighed a ton,” he said. But he still jumped a personal best of 6 feet 4 inches on his way to winning the Southern California championship.
Bardone finished fourth at the state meet behind three athletes from Northern California schools.
Once the competition was over, he went to work preparing for his sophomore season. That dedication is something Bardone is well known for.
“He expects every day to set a personal record in whatever he’s doing and when he doesn’t he gets down on himself,” Orange Coast Coach Fred Hokanson said.
“But he’s just a great kid; you wish you had about 10 of him. . . . He’s fun to coach and he tries hard. When he gets hurt a little bit you have to tell him to slow down. I wish we could have him for four years.”
Bardone had hoped to gain weight this season to help him in the throwing events but has found it hard to put on pounds because he works so hard.
The Southern California championship is the only decathlon before the state meet, so Bardone has had to make the most out of track meets this season. He took part in eight events last Friday during OCC’s dual meet.
During competition, he has added nearly two feet to his pole vault and six feet to his shotput.
“I have a lot more confidence than I did last year just because I’ve been through it once,” Bardone said. “I just feel more comfortable.”
TAKE YOUR PICK
Cypress baseball Coach Scott Pickler likes to use the spring break tournament to give playing time to several reserves. But he also picks one game of the four in the Hancock tournament to use his regular lineup.
Pickler said he will wait until today’s bus trip to Santa Maria to select which game to use his regulars, but the choice seems obvious. The Chargers (18-6-1) are ranked first in Southern California and play at No. 3 Cuesta at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
“That game might be important down the line [when it comes to playoff seedings],” Pickler said, “but I don’t look at it that way. I think that the way you come through our [conference] is more important.”
Pickler’s point is well taken considering the Orange Empire Conference has had six state champions this decade.
Even if Cypress doesn’t use its regulars, it’s a good bet Cuesta will. Cypress, seeded 15th in the Southern California playoffs last season, eliminated No. 2 Cuesta in a best-of-three series by sweeping a doubleheader.
That came after Cuesta had won the regular-season meeting, 27-6.
In local games: Fullerton (14-12) and Santa Ana (16-11) each host four games in the Hardball Classic with one Wednesday, two Thursday and one Friday.