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Joseph
Phillips:
The Birds and The Beese
Don Track Team Brings Home Division Gold
By
Gene C. Johnson Jr.
Bulletin Staff Writer
COMPTON – Prior
to his team recently winning the Southern Section-Toyota Division I
Championship at Mt. San Antonio College May 17, longtime Dominguez
High track coach Darryl Smith believed he had assembled a team at the
start of this season that could loosen Long Beach Poly’s seven-year
run as division champs.
“After the state pre-lims, last year this time, we were in a
hotel room and we sat them all down because the only person that could
qualify
for the finals was our hurdler, De’vron Walker. We were going
over the season and they (the team) just said: ‘Coach, we’re
going to win it next year,’” said Smith, who has been the
Dons’ track coach since 1984.
“They (the team) just stayed focused all year. We knew what we
had last year and they were all returning,” said the 1970 Dominguez
High graduate. “We had mishaps and injuries, different things
that kept us from doing real well last year. We knew we were just as
good
as anybody in the state. We knew what we had.”
As a result of the team’s focus at this year’s section
championships, the Dons ended Long Beach Poly’s seven-year reign,
earning 63 points followed by Vista Murrieta High School with 48 and
their cross-town rivals in third with 45.
But with focus, Walker said, came sacrifice.
“It felt good to win (the title). But it took a lot of practice
to win it. A lot of practice,” said the 110-meter hurdler, who
is also on the school’s football team and carries a 3.2 grade
point average. “We
practiced almost every day of the week – even on our supposedly
off days, on rainy days and on cloudy days.”
In securing the title, the Dons won the meet-ending 1,600-meter relay – breaking
a 23-year-old meet record – as well as the meet-opening 400-meter
relay, producing the fastest time in the state this season, and matching
the fifth-fastest time in the nation with a time of 40.99 seconds.
Members of that record-winning 1,600-meter run included Kivon Grant,
Manoah Wesson, Leon Dillihunt and Aaron Hester. Moreover, Hester, Dillihunt
and Wesson combined with Manessiah Lewis to win the 400-meter relay.
At the May 17 meet, Walker won the 110-meter hurdles in 13.87 seconds,
a state-leading time, equaling the fifth-fastest mark in the U.S. this
season.
“It’s his (Walker’s) work ethic,” said Smith,
adding that the 5’11”, 185-pound senior has drawn interest
from schools such as Fresno State, UCLA and the University of New Mexico. “He
comes in (to practice), doesn’t’ have too much to say.
He just comes in and gets the work done. He comes in everyday and leads
by example.”
Walker said he was looking forward to stepping up his game to the collegiate
level.
“I’m hoping to improve. The adjustment to collegiate hurdles
shouldn’t
be that much,” he said. “By the time I get to college I
should be ready to roll. I should be ready."
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