Anticipation gives Mariner’s Word the edge in 100
Published 9:00 pm Friday, May 18, 2001
Sprinter gets out of blocks quickly to win bi-district race
By Chris McMullen
Herald Writer
SHORELINE — They always say the good runners can hear the click of the starting gun, before it actually goes off.
That talent paid off for Mariner’s Vernon Word, who looked like he was tuned to the starting gun in the 100-meter dash Friday at the 4A bi-district meet at Shoreline Stadium.
Word leapt from the blocks just as the gun went off and easily won the race with a time of 10.5 seconds, just ahead of runnerup Derrick Bradley of Kamiak.
"Sometimes you can hear a click before the gun goes off. There’s a click in the gun and my coach says I have the ability to hear that," Word said. "If it’s quiet enough I can hear it."
Word also anchored Mariner’s victorious 400 relay team that ran a smoking time of 43 seconds flat.
The Cascade Bruins won the team competition with a slim three-point margin over runnerup Lake Washington.
Mariner’s Hobby Un won the triple jump with a jump of 45-feet, 3 inches on his last leap of the competition. Un, a senior, beat Matt Mullavey of Kamiak to win the second bi-district triple jump title of his career.
"I did it on my last jump," said Un. "It was either that I was going to get second."
Kamiak’s Bradley had some revenge on Word in the 200. As Word appeared to stumble out of the blocks, Bradley was lightning quick from the start and ran strong down the backstretch to hold off his pursuers.
Although he came up short in the 100, his time was great and he was anxcious to find out. "When he (the timer) told Word he had a 10.5 (in the 100), I was like ‘What did I run, what did I run,’" he said.
Cascade’s Andy Fader came up big for the Bruins when he won the 3,200. Fader did not fade, in fact, he was stronger as the race went on, kicking it in to outdistance the field with his time of 9 minutes, 28.18 seconds.
The top four athletes advanced to the state meet, scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Lincoln Bowl in Tacoma.
Team scores—Cascade 63, Lake Washington 60, Inglemoor 59.5, Kamiak 56, Woodinville 50, Mariner 49, Oak Harbor 47, Eastlake 33, Marysville-Pilchuck 32, Sehome 32, Snohomish 28, Edmonds-Woodway 25, Garfield 22, Shorewood 21, Mountlake Terrace 19, Juanita 14, Bothell 14, Shorecrest 13.5, Roosevelt 13, Franklin 8, Redmond 2.
110 hurdles—2. Howard (Sno) 15.25; 100—1. Word (Mar) 10.72, 2. Bradley (Kam) 10.89, L. Curtis (MT) 11.09; 400 relay—1. Mariner 43.00, 2. Kamiak 43.38; 400—4. Jenkins (OH) 50.24; 800—1. Sebens (OH) 1:57.0, 2. Robinson (E-W) 1:57.48, 3.Whitaker (M-P) 1:57.61; 200—1. Bradley (Kam) 21.69, 3. Word (Mar) 22.16, 4. L. Curtis (MT) 22.41; 3,200—1. Fader (Cas) 9:28.18, 3. Hansen (Shcst) 9:30.63, 4. Boyd (Kam) 9:31.50; 1,600 relay—2. Kamiak 3:24.58, 4. Oak Harbor 3:25.37; Javelin—3. Sanchez (E-W) 176-4; Triple Jump—1. Un (Mar) 45-3, 2. Mullavey (Kam) 44-10.25, 3. Jenkins (Cas) 44-7.5, 4. Patten (Sno) 43-4.75; Discus—2. Tsiorvas (Seh) 162-10, 3. Holloway (Seh) 158-10, 4. Phaxayseng (Shwd) 145.9.
