Morse Relay Controversy Casts Shadow on Section Meet

SAN DIEGO —  Morse’s Monica Henderson thought she had taken strides toward glory. Instead, officials at Saturday’s San Diego Section Track and Field Championships at Balboa Stadium ruled it a stumble into ignominy.

Henderson was the first to take the baton on the anchor leg of the 400-meter relay--she did so with a five-meter lead over Lincoln’s Andrea Rogers. But she dropped the baton, lost her lead and, after picking up the baton, fell behind Rogers by five meters.

The first three Lincoln runners, noticing what happened to the favorite, started celebrating.

It was premature. Henderson accelerated and, in the most stunning performance of the day, came back to hit the tape first.

“I was shocked,” Rogers said. “I was ready to cross the finish line, and then all of a sudden--bang--there she was.”

But on this day Henderson found out what it’s like to be on the other side.

Because she dropped the baton, Morse was disqualified in a controversial ruling that was appealed twice during the afternoon and upheld twice.

As a result, Lincoln finished first with a time of 49.34 seconds.

Morse Coach Gary MacDonald said he might file a third appeal to the Section’s coordinating council on Monday.

Rich Ugale, the official at the far end of the fourth passing zone, ruled that the baton was dropped while still in the passing zone, and that it was outside the passing zone when Henderson picked it up, a violation of Section 9, Article 7 in the National Federation rule book.

But Henderson insists she did not leave the zone before picking up the baton.

“That’s why I stopped,” she said. “I did not go out of my zone.”

Barring a reversal this week by the coordinating council, Morse, which holds the section’s best time in the event (48.42), will go unrepresented to the State meet--and that doesn’t excite anyone on Lincoln’s team.

“They tried so hard,” Rogers said of Morse. “I just hope they don’t get DQ’d. I think both Morse and Lincoln should go to state.”

The controversy overshadowed the meet, which had several startling performances, including a double victory by Southwest senior Riley Washington in the 100 and 200 meters.

His time in the 100 (10.55) is the best in the section this year, and it came as Washington ran into a head wind of more than one meter per second.

Afterward, Washington, usually stark and hushed after races, smiled.

And not just because he won, but because he knew he had put behind him a season of disappointment.

Washington earlier suffered three different illnesses and could not compete for a month. When he finally came back, he did so at least 10 pounds underweight.

“There were no excuses today,” Washington said. “This is the last race of the (section’s) season. If I had lost there wouldn’t be a next time. I couldn’t have said I was sick or this or that. I just had to go out and do my best.”

What was most surprising was the way he held off he surge of Lincoln senior Scott Hammond, a poor starter but strong finisher who has pressured Washington for the past three years.

“I thought I felt him coming up on me,” Washington said. “That’s why I started pumping even harder.”

Hammond finished second in 10.81. No big deal: Hammond has been finishing second to Washington in the 100 for several years now. He almost always makes up for it by beating Washington in the 200.

But this time no one finished in front of Washington, who won the 200 in 21.59. Again, Hammond was second in 21.86.

“I surprised myself with that one,” Washington said. “Honestly, I just wanted to stay close with Scott.”

There was one triple winner, San Pasqual senior Erin Blunt, who won the 100-meter low hurdles (14.26, a section best), the 300 low hurdles (43.73), then anchored San Pasqual’s 1,600-meter relay team (3:54.01, another section best).

Blunt, though, knows she can do better.

“This is fine,” she said of her hurdles times, “but I want my times to drop.”

Blunt said she is shooting for a time in the 13-second range for the 100 lows and a 42.0 in the 300 lows at the CIF/Reebok State Track and Field Championships to be run Friday and Saturday. If she hits those goals, she probably will win each event and atone for a disaster at last year’s state meet.

As a junior Blunt nearly won both hurdle races at the state meet, but had to settle for gold only in the 300 lows because of a mishap in the shorter race. In that one, Blunt actually had the lead going up for the next-to-last hurdle, but she hit it, stumbled and finished sixth.

“I still think about that,” Blunt said. “But it’s in the past, and I have to move on.”

Meanwhile, Helix’s Daniel Das Neves and Fallbrook’s Milena Glusac made the conventional wisdom about how difficult it is to double in the 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters look outdated. Both pulled off the feat, Das Neves won with times of 4:09.4 and 9:12.85, and Glusac won with marks of 4:52.6 and 10:57.83.

Both were unsure whether they would attempt the double at the state meet, where the competition will take a higher toll on energy reserves in Friday’s qualifying for the 1,600 and again in Saturday’s 1,600 finals.

Das Neves said he will wait to see how he feels after Saturday’s 1,600 finals before making the decision, but Glusac said she probably will make he decision early in the week.

One other athlete felt cheated out of a possible double. Rancho Buena Vista senior Josh Bailey won the 110-meter high hurdles (14.89), which went off just before Bailey was supposed to make his second attempt at 14-feet-0 in the pole vaulting competition. When Bailey returned to the pole vault runway he was greeted by an angry official who demanded that Bailey rush his second and third attempts.

Bailey, who has gone 14-6 this season, didn’t come close to clearing the bar either time. Orange Glen’s Chris Buddin won the event with a vault of 14-6.

“I don’t think I was given a fair attempt at it,” Bailey said. “I was really pumped after the hurdles, and I just wanted some time to calm down and get my thoughts back together.”