Wildcats forever

Grads Johnson, Kasica shoot for state track meet this weekend

By Phil Sandoval
Grand Junction CO Colorado
May 9, 2008

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    J.J. Johnson and Steve Kasica finished their academic careers at Fruita Monument High School. But the two seniors have some business left to attend to as preps before embarking on their respective paths as college athletes.

    They, along with their Wildcats teammates and track athletes from Central and Grand Junction High, are gunning to earn a berth at next week’s Class 5A state meet in Lakewood at this weekend’s 10-team Region 5 meet at Legacy Stadium in Aurora.

    To qualify for state, athletes must finish among the top three in an event final or reach/surpass preset state qualifying marks.

    Johnson and Kasica are tenths of seconds within hitting those standards. Johnson, who set a season-best 15.61 girls 100-meter hurdles time at last week’s Tiger Invitational, is just over a half-second off the 5A qualifying mark of 15.00.

    To shave off those remaining blips of time, Johnson is working on improving her starts in practice.

    “The starts are the slowest part of my hurdles,” she said. “The start getting over the first hurdle is my slowest part. Then I get into a rhythm. That’s what saves me. So I need to work on that.”

    At regionals Johnson knows she won’t have the luxury of playing catch-up.

    Should she decide to participate, the hurdles field could include Brianna Patton of Eaglecrest, who set the state-best mark of 14.51 earlier this season.

    Heat could also play a factor in performance, Johnson explained.

    “The track gets really hot there, so you’re moving all the time. I guess it will help get out of the blocks more.”

    Kasica mentioned weather and the track’s surface of retaining heat as it pertains to running in his specialty — the 800 meters — where he’s the defending 5A state champ.

    “I’ve been there before and I know what to expect. It’s going to be really hot,” he said. “It is reassuring that I know the track.”

    Last week, the Wlldcats standout won the Tiger Invitational in 1:56.67, a tantalizing half-second off the state meet 1:56.05 standard.

    “That’s two seconds faster than I ran (in the same meet) last year,” said Kasica. “So from my race record I’m feeling pretty confident going into regionals.”

    According to the Denver Post, Kasica’s top foe at regionals is Cherry Creek’s Charles White, whose best of 1:57.55 is almost a full second slower.

    “This weekend’s going to be all or nothing,” Kasica said in summing up the regional meet. “And it’s going to be all in.”

    Other area 5A individuals in the hunt to qualify for state include Herman Gutierrez of Grand Junction (boys 110, 300 hurdles), Tigers sprinter Heather Hopkins (girls 100 and 200) and Central’s Nolan Curtis (boys 200).

    Palisade will be closer to home this weekend as they prepare to compete in the Class 4A, Region 4 meet at Stocker Stadium, where Holly Odneal and Bernadette Pitre are among the contenders for a state berth in the 100 hurdles and triple jump respectively.

    Odneal’s already qualified for the second year in a row for the 4A girls high jump. Pitre earned a return trip to the girls long jump with a season-best 17-foot mark at the Tiger.

    Sprinter Zach Adair currently has the best 100 meters time among area boys. The 11.23 mark is a shade back of the 4A 11.09 qualifying time.

    Reach Phil Sandoval at psandoval@gjfreepress.com.