Michael Norman finds a new gear at Masters meet

By his own lofty standards, Michael Norman was “a little off” last week in the Southern Section Division I track and field finals. Despite winning both the 200- and 400-meter dashes, the Vista Murrieta High senior looked tired and wasn’t pleased with his times.

Norman wanted to redeem himself at Friday night’s Southern Section Masters meet, and in doing so he may have surpassed even his own expectations.

First, Norman won the 400 in 46.21 seconds, shaving .22 of a second off his winning time at the section finals and .49 of a second better than his winning effort at last year’s Masters meet.

It was his performance one hour later in the 200 meters, however, that wowed the crowd at Cerritos College and left the track announcer speechless.

Norman, the reigning Gatorade national runner of the year who entered Friday’s meet as the state leader in the 100, 200 and 400, clocked 20.23 against a headwind — the fastest 200 time in the world this year against a headwind — to set a state record and equal the nation-leading mark set earlier Friday by Noah Lyles of T.C. Williams in Virginia.

If that wasn’t impressive enough, Norman ran the anchor leg in 47.5 seconds to lead the Broncos’ 1,600 relay team to victory in 3:14.83, ahead of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (3:16.01). Even without Norman, Vista Murrieta also won the 400 relay in 41.29.

“Last week I probably taxed myself with too much weight training, so I had heavy legs,” Norman said. “I felt much better today and I’m not that winded. In the 400 I wanted to run the first 200 in 21.5 and maintain my speed, which I did. The 200 felt really smooth. I got off to a great start and that was the key to the whole race.”

Norman will try to defend his state titles in both events at the CIF state meet next Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High in Clovis before competing for a spot on the U.S. team for this summer’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Defending state champion T.J. Brock of West Hills Chaminade won the 100 in 10.61 and is eager to better his season-best 10.35 (run at the Southern Section prelims) at the state finals.

“Today was about living to fight another day,” said Brock, Norman’s future teammate at USC. “It’s a surreal moment to realize this is my last hurrah, so I want to go out with a bang but do it carefully because I have a bright future ahead.”

Lauren Rain-Williams of Westlake Village Oaks Christian joined elite company with a nation-best time of 22.80 in the girls’ 200 meters, the sixth-best all time in the U.S. She was unable to double, however, clocking 11.84 in the 100 to lose by one hundredth of a second to Zaria Francis of Oxnard Rio Mesa.

Agoura’s Tara Davis won the long jump in 19 feet 10.50 inches, the triple jump in 41-4.50 and the 100 hurdles in 13.62 seconds to move among the top 12 all time in California in all three events.

In an ending that resembled last year’s state 1,600 final, Amanda Gehrich of Rancho Santa Margarita Tesoro overtook Temecula Great Oak’s Destiny Collins on the final lap to win in a national-best 4 minutes 41.39 seconds.

“I knew she’d go out fast because that’s what Destiny does and I used it to my advantage,” said the Utah-bound Gehrich. “I had 4:40 or 4:41 in my mind beforehand and I knew the splits I needed to do that. Time isn’t as important next week, just whatever it takes to defend my state title.”