Gettis Able to Repeat in 400

Things didn’t go exactly the way David Gettis of Los Angeles Dorsey had hoped they would in the boys’ competition of the state track and field championships at Hughes Stadium on Saturday. But the Don junior bounced back from a disastrous start with a pair of superb performances on a hot day.

Gettis, who runs the second leg on Dorsey’s 400-meter relay team, ended up sprawled on the track in that event Saturday after he was inadvertently hit by the first runner for the Sherman Oaks Notre Dame team that was in the lane outside of Dorsey.

The mishap forced Dorsey’s Marquise Charles to wait for Gettis to get up before handing him the baton and left the Dons hopelessly behind in a race in which they finished ninth -- and last -- in 44.19 seconds after winning the City Section title in 41.40 the previous week.

“It’s just one of those things,” Gettis said. “You can’t go back in time so I’m trying to shake it off.”

He did that quite well as he won his second consecutive title in the 400 with a time of 46.69 and ran a 46.0 anchor leg in the 1,600 relay to help Dorsey to a second-place time of 3:14.06.

Gettis and senior hurdler Kai Kelley led Dorsey to third in the team standings with 28 points. Union City Logan, led by double hurdles champion Kevin Craddock, won its first title with 46 points and Long Beach Poly finished second with 30.

Poly was led by senior Derrick Jones, who won the 200 in 21.10, finished fifth in the 100 in 10.62, anchored the 400 relay team to a second-place time of 41.40 and ran a 46.9-second anchor leg to help the Jackrabbits win their third consecutive title in the 1,600 relay in 3:13.74.

In other events, senior Bryan Rodie of Simi Valley Royal was a surprising winner in the 800 with a time of 1:52.04 and junior Mark Matusak of Los Angeles Loyola upset favorite Brandon Bethke of Lake Forest El Toro in the 1,600 with a time of 4:15.89.