SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Track & Field

State meet/San Diego Masters report

Ramona's Rhoades makes most of junior year

By Phillip Brents

Posted June 26, 2003

Ramona High School junior James Rhoades can now say that he’s been there and done that. But in Rhoades’ case, make sure that he wants to go back and do it all again.

The place is the California high school track and field meet: the dreamed of destination for any prep runner, hurdler, vaulter or thrower in the state.

Rhoades finished eighth in the boys 400-meter dash in finals competition June 7 at Cerritos College in Norwalk with a time of 49. 14 seconds. He was one of three San Diego Section qualifiers for the final race of the season in the event to close out a memorable 2003 spring campaign.

The Ramona runner posted his best time of the season in the event at 48.48 the previous day in preliminary qualifying at the same site. A total of xxx runners competed in the prelims to narrow the field down to the final nine runners.

University City senior DeSean Cunningham, who won the San Diego Section Masters and Division II CIF title May 31 at Poway High School, finished second in the state finals with a time of 47.50 to state champion David Gettis, a sophomore from L.A. Dorsey, who timed 47.41.

Helix senior Deun White was fifth in the state finals in 48.32.

At the San Diego Masters meet, Rhoades (48.62) finished third behind event champion Cunningham (47.19) and runner-up White (47.56) to qualify for the state meet. The top three place-finishers earned berths to the state prelims.

Rhoades finished second to Cunningham among Division II athletes while White earned the Division I title in the event.

The future looks very bright for the Bulldog runner. Of the nine state finalists, seven were seniors. Rhoades ranks as the top returning place-finisher in the San Diego Section in the 400 meters and the second-fastest returner in the 200-meter dash after placing fifth among Division II runners at the CIF finals.

There looks to be a heated rivalry next season between Rhoades and Westview’s Atiba Liverpool. Rhoades topped the Wolverines sophomore by .30 seconds in the 400 meters at Masters while Liverpool edged Rhoades by .01 second in the 200-meter race.

Though Rhoades was the lone Bulldog athlete to make the trip to this year’s state meet, there were a number of excellent performances turned in by Ramona athletes at the combined Masters/CIF championship meet.

Sophomore Samara Matthews won the Division II girls discus competition with a throw of 110 feet, 9 inches to handily out-distance her qualifying mark of 102-11. The throw placed her ninth overall in the combined Division I/II field. She also finished second among Division II athletes in the girls shot put with a finals mark of 36-1.75 inches. The put eclipsed her qualifying effort of 34-10.25 and ranked her 11^th overall in the combined divisional field.

Senior Jeremy Adams finished second among Division II athletes in the boys 110-meter high hurdles in a season-best 15.23. The mark eclipsed his previous best of 15.43 and qualifying mark of 15.46. He finished seventh overall in the combined divisional field. Clairemont senior Jake Symons won the Division II title in 14.52 en route to a second-place finish overall in the section and state qualifying berth.

Junior John Parker was third among Division II athletes in the boys long jump (20-9) and fifth in the 100-meter dash (11.36). Parker ranks as the second-fastest returning runner in the division in both events.

Ramona finished third among Division II schools (ninth in the section overall) in the boys 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:27.52. The Bulldogs girls team finished fifth in the division in the 4x100-meter relay with a time of 50.85.