Bruin Recruits at the CA State T&F Finals

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Got home from the California High School Track and Field Championships a little while ago and thought I might offer a few Bruin-related highlights of the event:

While the track and field fan in me says that the girls 300 hurdles was the race of the night (0.01 separating first and second, both times ranked in the top seven all-time nationally), the Bruin in me gives the nod to the boys 300 hurdles.  UCLA-bound R.J. Frasier came out strong and led wire-to-wire, picking up the gold.  Meanwhile, football signee Shaquille Richardson made an unexpected late surge from lane eight to take third.  Frasier also finished 5th in the 100m.  His 14 points provided the biggest push for Jesuit of Sacramento who took home the boys team title (only the second team win for a non-southern section squad in the last 29 years). 

Bruin-to-be Scott Cook also took home a gold medal clearing 16'03" in the pole vault.  The Mater Dei product was one of the more animated athletes of the night, playing to the crowd and building up anticipation and excitement prior to every attempt.  Also scoring points for their respective teams were Bruin recruits Phillip MacQuitty (3rd in the 1600m), Melissa Skiba (4th in the 3200) and Paisley Pettway (5th in the 800).

The only downside of the meet from the Bruin perspective was the fact that Robert Woods looked pretty beastly anchoring a dominant 4X400 and taking silver and bronze respectively in the 400 and 200.  D'Anthony "Black Mamba" Thomas on the other hand was a bit disappointing, fading hard down the stretch in the 200 to finish in ninth.

OT points of interest:

Remember the name Ashton Purvis, it may come up during the 2016 Olympics.  She doubled in the 100 and 200, coming within 0.03 of Marion Jones national record in the 100.  Same goes for Jenna Prandini who took home two golds (long jump and triple jump) and a silver (100m) as a junior.  You might have to wait until 2020 to catch Chimere "Zoom Zoom" Ezumah in the Olympics, the girls 400 champion is only a freshman (she broke the freshman class record previously held by Olympic gold medalist Monique Henderson).  

You might also want to keep tabs on George Farmer, the junior came within one thousandth of a second of winning the 100m.  He also happens to be a five star wide receiver with UCLA on his list.