CROSS COUNTRY NOTEBOOK: VALENCIA'S DAVIS IS A TRASH CAN SALAZAR.Byline: Ross Siler Staff Writer CASTAIC - The good news this season for Valencia High senior Brian Davis Brian Davis may refer to:
One year after Valencia coach Mike Wetzel dunked Davis in a trash can In the Macintosh, a simulated garbage can used for deleting files and folders. The trash can keeps the files intact in case the user wants to restore them, but can be "emptied" from time to time to save disk space. at Foothill League finals (on account of Davis' desire to give Wetzel a sweaty hug), his star senior took second in Thursday's league meet at Lake Castaic. Davis finished eight seconds behind Canyon's Jace Getskow, crossing the line in 16 minutes, 3 seconds. The race represented another step forward for the senior, who has dropped nearly six minutes from his times since Wetzel took over two years ago. Additionally, Davis has committed to run next year at The Master's College History The Master's College was founded as Los Angeles Baptist Theological Seminary on May 25, 1927 to meet the need for a fundamental Baptist school on the West Coast. , where he will join two of his cousins on the cross country team. Mind you, these all are very adult things, though Davis said Thursday not to worry about whether he has changed. ``I'm still acting like a kid,'' said Davis, who will be Wetzel's first runner to compete at a four-year college. ``I'm still the guy who got thrown in the trash can.'' Davis has taken enormous strides since that day at league finals last year. He ran track for the first time this spring and is listening to his coaches more. Wetzel's only lament is that he isn't able to work with Davis for one more season. ``He's got so much natural speed,'' Wetzel said. ``He's just a natural. He kind of reminds me of (former marathoner) Alberto Salazar Alberto Salazar (born August 7 1958 in Cuba) is an American marathon runner of the 1980s. Born in Cuba, Salazar immigrated to the United States with his family. They ultimately moved to Wayland, Massachusetts, where Salazar competed in track and field in high school. . He's got a little bit of a shuffle when he runs. We've only just touched the tip of the iceberg tip of the iceberg n. pl. tips of the iceberg A small evident part or aspect of something largely hidden: afraid that these few reported cases of the disease might only be the tip of the iceberg. with him.'' This is the same Davis, of course, with whom Wetzel has trouble running in practice because of the hilarious stories Davis tells. Sometimes the tall tales leave the coach laughing so hard, he said he has to drop out of the boys' pack and run with the girls. But Wetzel and Davis also have talked about what he can achieve this year, without any exaggeration. And Davis is hoping he can capture first place in next month's league championships at Griffith Park Griffith Park is a large public park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains. It is situated in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park covers 4,210 acres (17 km²) of land, making it one of the largest urban parks in North America. . ``He said he wanted to start getting some recognition,'' Wetzel said. ``I told him the way to do that was to win.'' On Thursday, Davis nearly pulled off a major upset. He hung with Getskow and Burbank's Preston Richardson until the final hill, when Getskow began pulling away. With first place gone, however, Davis still defeated Richardson by 10 seconds. ``I think I could have taken (Getskow) if I'd stayed (with) him,'' said Davis, who will run in a Division I race at next weekend's Mt. San Antonio College Mt. San Antonio College (commonly called Mt. SAC; pronounced as the word "sack") is a community college located in the Los Angeles suburb of Walnut, California, next to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona which is just over a hill. Mt. Invitational in·vi·ta·tion·al adj. Restricted to invited participants: an invitational golf tournament. n. An event, especially a sports tournament, restricted to invited participants. Adj. 1. . ``I know he didn't expect me to be there.'' --Young McDonald: Even without his trademark tube socks tube sock n. A sock that lacks a shaped heel. , headband and mop of hair, Canyon sophomore Adam McDonald would stand out at a cross country race. After all, how many other distance runners measure 6-foot-2 in a sport for the short? In spite of his height, McDonald is enjoying a standout season on the Cowboys' varsity. He finished fourth on the team in 16:43 on Thursday - good enough for eighth overall - and placed behind only Getskow, Brian Moore Brian Moore may be:
McDonald started running in junior high school and quickly took to the sport. His times last season as a freshman were faster than Getskow's times when he was a freshman and on the Cowboys' varsity. Meanwhile, McDonald has convinced a couple of other runners on the team to adopt his retro [Latin, Back; backward; behind.] A prefix used to designate a prior condition or time. look on the course. ``It's been my signature as long as I've been running,'' McDonald said. ``The headband, the socks, everything.'' --In name only: The Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, Invitational took place Saturday at Lake Castaic and featured 38 large-school varsity teams and 24 small-school varsity teams. The irony is that none of those teams came from a Santa Clarita school. The three other Foothill schools (Hart, Saugus and Valencia) opted not to enter the invitational, which is put on annually by Canyon. Meanwhile, Cowboys coach Dave DeLong decided not to run his varsity boys' and girls' teams. Those teams competed last weekend at the Clovis Invitational in Fresno and Thursday at the league meet. They also will run next Saturday at the Mt. SAC Invitational. Added up, DeLong decided another race was too much, even at his host invitational. ``It kind of depended on the league meet,'' DeLong said. ``If we had had an easy league meet and the kids had said, `This is nothing,' then we would have them run. But the league has gotten a lot tougher and it wasn't an easy meet.'' Canyon instead fielded a varsity `B' team, composed of members from the freshman/sophomore and junior varsity junior varsity n. Abbr. JV A high-school or college team that competes in interschool sports on the level below varsity. Noun 1. boys' and girls' teams. Ross Siler, (818) 713-3610 ross.siler(at)dailynews.com |
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