Julius Travis, Romeo Travis, David Guenther and Jourdan Soares,
the Gilroy High 4×100-meter relay team, burst onto the scene like a
fireball in the night at last year’s section championship meet.
Julius Travis, Romeo Travis, David Guenther and Jourdan Soares, the Gilroy High 4×100-meter relay team, burst onto the scene like a fireball in the night at last year’s section championship meet.
Underdogs on paper entering the 2010 finals, the upstarts blazed a trail to a then-school record 42.42 seconds and their first CCS title.
That race opened a window and provided just a glimpse of what they could do.
More confident than ever, the foursome rode the hot streak into this season. The allure of having Olympic champion Alvin Harrison guiding their steps only further stoked their excitement. But quickly, injuries, sluggish practices and a coach lost in his ways began to extinguish what competitive burn the team had constructed.
The group may have let the idea of its potential get ahead of actual results. Visions of grander trumped quality workouts. Times weren’t falling, baton exchanges were sloppy. Talk preceded action without much to show for the hype.
However, it happened to be a royal goof-up by Harrison and the commitment of another coach that set the boys back on the straight and narrow, and it has been full-steam ahead since the beginning of April.
Ryan Johnston, a 21-year-old, stepped up when Harrison stepped out and delivered on his promise to the athletes.
“It was kind of a shock to the system. I just felt like I had to step up, make sure they had confidence in me and make sure they knew I knew what I was doing,” Johnston said. “I said when I took over, ‘if all I do is maintain you, then I’ve done enough.’ I just didn’t want to waste what they have.
“It was kind of like, let’s go out and get better.”
The turnaround began after the Arcadia Invitational. With their former head coach in jail, the Mustangs, under the guidance of Johnston, still made it to the meet. Slow times were a wake-up call though, and the athletes noticed that their peers began to doubt that they could hang with the state’s best.
“People started to ask, ‘what happened to that team?” Romeo Travis said. “That’s when we said we had to do this for ourselves. Not for our friends or parents or a coach. We decided that we needed to take what we wanted. It was our growing point. Everything increased at practice. We were pushed. It felt, for a time, that we were separated from each other. We became a family again like we were in the beginning. We got back to our standards.”
The transformation process was immediate.
“I made sure the first three weeks after I took over, I made sure I worked them hard,” Johnston said. “I wanted to make sure that we did what we were supposed to do to be on the level we needed to be. I wanted to show them that they had to put the work in, it’s not just all natural. Once I said let’s get serious they got it.”
Times started falling, and falling fast. The Top 8, Bill Kearney and Tri-County Athletic League championships followed, leading up to last Friday’s Central Coast Section Championship meet where the boys let loose and posted their swiftest race yet, a 41.77. They did that with a banged up Julius Travis, who hasn’t been the same since an early-season hamstring injury.
“They have been better (with each other) since Arcadia,” Johnston said. “They are a group. There may be no way of knowing how fast they could have been.”
They walk around with their chests puffed, a swagger in their step and their mouths are sharp with guarantees. They are goofy, rambunctious and have the attention spans of hungry flies at a picnic. They know how to entertain, and so far, they haven’t disappointed and are part of the first section champion in GHS history.
Their confidence is contagious and its a joy to be around them.
They could have two days remaining in their season. Two more opportunities to run as a cohesive unit held together by an uncanny ability to run like hell. They have put in the proper work necessary to get to this point. They have used the advice and adhered to the rules.
“The ups and downs of the season, whether it’s the injuries or a coach, it has been nice to finish the season so strong,” Soares said.
The CIF State Track and Field Championships begin today. If they qualify through the preliminary heat, Saturday’s finals await. The Mustangs sit as the seventh-fastest 4×100 relay team, anchored by the state’s fifth-fastest 100-meter sprinter in Soares. Their goal is a 41.5.
“I think we will do well,” Johnston said. “We’d like to get an automatic qualification (for finals),” Johnston said. “From there, you never know. If we medal, that would be great.”
n The foursome will also run in the 4×400 relay. Soares is entered in the long jump as well, while Chima Ikeme makes his state debut in the discus. Results will be in Tuesday’s Dispatch.
