There is nothing more frustrating than a fourth-place finish in the San Diego Section Track and Field Championships.
The top three finishers advance to the state championships. No. 4 has two choices— stay home or pay your way in after a long drive.
Ramona High hurdler Sterling Bryant decided to stay home.
Instead, he went to work on his speed and form and it showed in Saturday’s Don Jones Bronco Invitational at Rancho Bernardo High when he led for all but the final 10 meters to finish second in 14.14 seconds, almost a full second faster than the 15.11 he opened with a year ago.
An absolutely blazing start gave him the early lead, however with a hurdle remaining, he wavered ever so slightly.
But finishing second shows how you just never know from year to year in track as the winner was a precocious freshman from San Diego High, Jasir Fontenot, whose first name might not ring any bells but whose second — Fonteno t— identifies him as the brother of state girls 100-meter hurdle champion Anisa Bowen-Fontenot.
“That was an amazing start,” itted the Bulldogs senior. “But I got a little wobbly at the end, so now I know what I need to work on.”
Mind you, that time of 14.14 was a lifetime best and, along with Fontenot’s 14.05, erased the 14-year old meet record of 14.16 set by Scripps Ranch’s Jacob Hare.
Fontenot is no one-race wonder, though, as last summer he won the National Junior Olympics in 13.64 seconds.
Still, Bryant has his focus on breaking 14-seconds — as early as this coming Saturday at the Falcon Relays at Torrey Pines — and if not there, for sure the week after when he’ll compete in the Larry Littlefield Invitational in Texas.
It was that meet where Helix’s Shon Martin set the section record of 13.84 a year ago, and Bryant would like nothing better than to break that record.
“I was happy to have the competition (at Bronco),” said Bryant, “that’s how I’m going to get better.”
But wait, he’s also one of the section’s best 300-meter hurdles, especially after collecting his first sub-40 at the Elmer Runge Invitational where he ran 39.75.
“No, I still prefer the 110s,” said the affable Bryant. “I feel that’s more my race. Actually, I was pleased with Bronco because I’d competed in a dual meet two days before and didn’t do very well.
“My goal is to win the state in the 110s and I think I can do it.”
Bryant now has the school record in both events, bettering the 44-year-old standard in the short barriers of 14.60 by Tom Venmo and the 2018 mark of Caleb Berman in the 300s of 39.93.
Had he run 14.14 a year ago, he would have easily finished third and marched out on the track for the state championships in Clovis.
Bryant also jumped into the 100-meter dash Saturday where he posted a wind-aided time of 11.13, good enough for fifth place overall. The wind was 2.2 meters-per-second, just over the allowable of 2.0 mps for record purposes.
HOT VAULT
Bryant’s teammate, senior pole vaulter Parker Doomey, cleared a personal high school best of 14-feet-1 to place tied for sixth overall in a meet that featured three vaulters who had cleared 16-feet.
Defending state champion Kai Anderson of University City won the competition with a meet record 16-9, which is the top mark in the state this season.
Doomey had three unsuccessful tries at 14-7, but has a personal best of 14-4 accomplished at the Reno Indoor Championships back in January.
His teammate, Logan Barrera, won the Open division vault with a personal best 12-7, the same mark as junior Dillon Parks, who was third.
On the girls’ side, junior Ingrid Ferguson was second in the Open division pole vault at 9-7 and junior Natalie Stein captured the Open high jump, clearing a lifetime best of 5-feet.
