No Rest for Weary as Bousquet Lifts Aztecs

The decision was easy for Esperanza senior Ryan Bousquet. His body told him to skip the 3,200 meters at the Orange County Championships on Saturday, but the team scores told him otherwise.

The Aztecs trailed Tustin by four points and were tied with Santa Margarita with two events remaining, the 3,200 and the 1,600 relay. Bousquet, who had already won the 1,600 before finishing a disappointing fifth in the 800, was feeling drained from the previous races, but he summoned enough energy to win the 3,200 in 9 minutes 22.66 seconds.

Bousquet’s victory lifted Esperanza into first place in the team standings and the Aztecs put together a strong effort in the relay to hold off Santa Margarita in the team scoring, 62-53.

Bousquet, who ran a nation-leading time in the 1,600 last weekend, said he never would have run in the 3,200 if the Aztecs didn’t have a chance at the team title.

“That’s one of the big reasons why I did this,” Bousquet said. “My coach [Al Britt] said, ‘Ryan, don’t even do it. If I were you, I wouldn’t.’ But I got rested between races and I’m on spring break. I’m going to take my time and recover and I’m not going to race again for two weeks.”

Bousquet came into the meet with the intention of matching Mark Gleason’s effort two years ago, when the Mission Viejo senior won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200. Bousquet, who also won an Orange County title during the fall cross-country season, was disappointed with his result in the two-lap race.

“I kind of wanted to pull the Mark Gleason triple, but I got the points in my events, the mile and two mile,” Bousquet said.

Though his team finished third in the team standings, Newport Harbor’s Trevor Jones was even better than Bousquet. The UCLA-bound senior won the 110 hurdles (14.44) and 300 hurdles (37.76), finished second in the 100 (10.87) and ran a 47.8 anchor while blowing by Santa Margarita’s Phil Sardis and Esperanza’s Robert Morrell in the final relay.

“I knew that I was going to catch anybody that was in front of me,” Jones said after the Sailors won the relay in 3:22.82.

Edison junior Darryl Poston was a double winner in the 100 (10.77) and 200 (22.04) and anchored the Chargers’ 400 relay team to a second-place finish behind Tustin.

The Tillers received sensational performances from Alonso Smith, who won the 800 in a state-leading 1:52.87, and Alex Marbley, who finished second in the high jump with a personal-best leap of 6-6.