AREA SPRINTER RUNS HIS PART SEMIFINAL EFFORT PAVES WAY FOR RELAY TEAM'S WIN IN FINALS.Byline: J.J. Bowman Staff Writer Royal graduate Tony Ramirez traveled 6,000 miles to Italy for 46 seconds of work. For his effort he took home a gold medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize . Ramirez represented the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. in the 1,600-meter relay at the World Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy. His split in the semifinals of 46.2 seconds was a personal best, but it was not good enough to earn him a spot as one of the four sprinters who competed in the finals. The U.S. team took a pool of eight runners for the 400 relay. Ramirez and Keith Hinnant, who finished seventh in the individual 400, gave way to Brandon and Johnson and Kerron Clement Kerron Clement (born 31 October 1985 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) is an American sprinter who holds the indoor world record for the 400m sprint. Clement's family moved to the United States in 1998, where he became a successful high school athlete at La Porte, for the finals, which the United States won in three minutes "Three Minutes" is the 46th episode of Lost. It is the twenty-second episode of the second season. The episode was directed by Stephen Williams, and written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. It first aired on May 17, 2006 on ABC. , 1.09 seconds. ``They all deserved it (to race in the finals) just as much as I did,'' Ramirez said. ``I'm not going to cry about it and be a bad sport.'' Ramirez ran the third leg of the semifinals, which the United States won in 3:05.28. The U.S. time was the fastest time of any of the semifinal heats. ``It was kind of scary,'' he said about waiting for his leg of the race. ``But I was excited more than anything. I knew all the people on my team were better than all the people on any other team.'' Ramirez said he took the baton with about a 5-meter advantage over the sprinters from Japan. His goal was to maintain that cushion for Merritt, who won gold in the individual 400. Merritt took off and secured a spot in the finals for the United States. Although Ramirez learned that he would not be competing in the finals, he took a spot at the finish line to watch his teammates win gold. ``It was like I was running there with them, because I was part of the team,'' he said. ``It was still just as satisfying as (it would have been) if I had run it.'' It became clear early in the finals that Ramirez would not have to worry about his teammates faltering. ``It was USA and everyone else was 15 or 20 meters back,'' he said. ``It was kind of funny to watch.'' Although Ramirez was happy to contribute to the team, receiving his medal was a bittersweet bittersweet, name for two unrelated plants, belonging to different families, both fall-fruiting woody vines sometimes cultivated for their decorative scarlet berries. . ``It's hard to have a gold medal (when) you haven't technically earned it,'' he said. The medal will now serve as motivation for Ramirez to continue improving. He helped Royal win the Marmonte league The Marmonte League is a high school sports league primarily made up of schools from Ventura County. The Marmonte Leauge is part of the CIF Southern Section. Click here to view the league schedule. track and field championship in 2003. He now attends Azusa Pacific University External links
His older brother, Tim, was a standout at Azusa Pacific in 2003. He broke a school record in the 800 that had stood for 18 years and became the first sprinter at Azusa to win the 800 at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
Ramirez said he and his older brother talk about running so much, his parents and other siblings sometimes get tired of hearing about the subject. ``My whole family loves running but I think we're into it a little too much,'' Ramirez said. Tim Ramirez left Azusa Pacific for a semester, but this fall the brothers will be teammates. With a year of college completed, Tony Ramirez noted a difference in the level of competition in high school and at Azusa, which has won the Golden State Athletic Conference The Golden State Athletic Conference is a college athletics conference in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The conference commissioner is Dr. Cliff Hamlow of Azusa Pacific University. Conference leadership is shared among the member institutions. championship six years in a row. ``You can be a good high school runner and win a lot of races, but in college you're going to be put in your place,'' Ramirez said. It did not take Ramirez much time before he put his competitors in their place. He won the GSAC GSAC Golden State Athletic Conference GSAC Governance Structural Adjustment Credit (World Bank) GSAC Greater San Antonio Chapter (of the National Contract Management Association) championship in the 400 with a time of 47.83. He also won the NAIA NAIA abbr. National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes indoor-track championship in the 400 and 4-by- 400 relay, and finished second in the outdoor 400. For Ramirez, who ran a 47.03 in April for his best time in the 400, improvement should be slow and steady for him to reach his ultimate goal, the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing. ``The most important thing is baby steps - getting one thing done at a time,'' he said. ``I just want to get better and better and hope God takes me all the way.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Formal Royal standout Tony Ramirez contributed to the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team's win in the World Junior Championships. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer |
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