Zeitler, Eagles Bounce Back

Sean Zeitler had been there before. Sprawled across the track, inches from the finish line of the 300-meter hurdles. And this time, the Santa Margarita senior was leading by 10 meters.

But Zeitler didn’t let Saturday’s untimely spill at the Orange County Championships get in the way of his ultimate goal, as it did when a similar spill ended his junior season at the Southern Section finals. Zeitler stretched his arm across the finish line and triggered a fourth-place finish, then got up and two hours later helped the Eagles win the 1,600 relay.

The victory in 3 minutes 18.53 seconds clinched the team title at Trabuco Hills High, a first for the Santa Margarita boys’ program, and helped erase a painful experience for Zeitler.

“I felt like I let the team down in the 300 hurdles,” Zeitler said. “But luckily I have a lot of guys behind me.”

Zeitler was referring to teammates Brad Slinkard, Jeff Jacobs, Scott Langford, Bobby Braun, Steven Murray and Matt Johnson.

Slinkard teamed with Zeitler on the winning 1,600 and 400 relay teams and also won the pole vault with a personal-best mark of 15 feet. Jacobs, a sophomore, was also a member of both relays and posted a surprising victory in the 400 in 49.18.

Braun had a spot on both relays and finished fourth in the 400; Langford ran the anchor on the 400 relay and finished fourth in the 100; Murray was fourth in the 1,600 and third in the 3,200, and Johnson tied for third in the high jump. Zeitler also took third in the 110 hurdles.

Santa Margarita had 73 points. Edison finished second with 60 points.

Darryl Poston earned half of those points, winning the 100 (10.80) and 200 meters (21.85)--with teammate Chuckie Linman finishing second in both--and also was a surprising winner in the long jump. In only his second long jump competition this season, Poston jumped 22 feet 9 inches to win the event over Mission Viejo’s Robert Sickles (22-0).

Tustin finished third with 55 points, getting 20 of those from Alonso Smith’s victories in the 800 and 1,600. Smith defended his title in the 800, running 1:54.00 after a 53.4 first lap.

“I was concerned about going out too slow,” Smith said. “But I didn’t want to let happen what happened at Arcadia.”

Smith went out too fast in the 1,600 at the Arcadia Invitational three weeks ago, taking a huge lead before fading and finishing sixth in 4:17.96.

Smith won the 1,600 just a tick faster Saturday, going wire to wire to win in a county-leading 4:17.87. The top six finishers had personal bests, including second-place finisher Nick Arciniaga of Fountain Valley (4:18.67) and third-place finisher Dan Fogal of Mission Viejo (4:22.53).

In the shotput, Esperanza’s Travis Jones and Huntington Beach’s Brian Ruziecki had personal bests on their final throws. Jones threw 57-7 1/2, bettering his previous best by more than 10 inches, but Ruziecki, who had fouled on his previous four throws, hit 57-11 on his next attempt, bettering his previous best by more than nine inches.