Track athletes ready for divisions

Blayne Siebert was born 10 weeks early…and he’s been in a hurry ever since.

The Pitman High sprinter, who has the Sac-Joaquin Section’s fastest marks in the 100 (10.46) and 200 meters (21.57) this season, will look to repeat the championship at the Division 2 meet in this week at Bella Vista High School. in Fair Oaks.

Siebert leads a contingent of Pitman and Turlock athletes who are heavily favored this week.

Siebert won the D-2 100 last year and would like to make it a double victory this year by winning the 100 and 200, not only at the D-2 meet, but again a week later at the Masters meet, where riders from all divisions compete.

Siebert could potentially win three titles. He, along with Jonathan Willams, Sean Forte and John Sylvester, had the best time (42.2) in the 400-meter relay.

However, with these #1 brands, there’s something else: a target on their back. So, is this a good thing or a bad thing?

“It’s a good thing,” Siebert said. “It just gives me more motivation. I know people want to beat me, and it’s a good feeling when they don’t.

Dealing with a sports hernia for much of the year, Siebert didn’t know if he would have the opportunity to defend his 100m title and attempt the double.

Only recently did he feel like he was back to 100 percent.

“I would say two weeks ago,” Siebert said. “It definitely took a toll on me. There was a point where I felt like I wasn’t going to improve and maybe I should stop the season.

Even as he began to heal, he wondered if he would be able to get enough quality training to be a competitor.

“I had to take weeks off, otherwise I would have to change training to where I wasn’t going all out,” Siebert said. “I asked myself: Is this worth it? Does this even benefit me?’

Then, at the Central California Athletic League championships, Siebert ran a blistering time of 10.46, breaking his school record (10.72) by more than a quarter of a second.

In the 100 meters, that’s a huge improvement.

“In the 100 and 200, those milliseconds are very important,” said Pitman coach Tim McCabe, who has been with the PHS track and field program since 2015 and head coach since 2022. “I haven’t been completely surprised, but I was thinking somewhere in the 10.5 might be the next step.

McCabe relied on RPR (reflective performance reset) training to help Siebert get through the dark days.

“In a nutshell, the RPR is the link between the central nervous system and the muscular system,” McCabe said.

Basically, if not trained properly, either the brain falls behind the muscles or the muscles fall behind the brain. By working together, well, you get results like Siebert’s.

McCabe believes there is still room for improvement.

“This year, no one really pushed him to shoot,” said McCabe, a hurdler and pentathlete at Azusa Pacific. “He didn’t have to fight for anything like Joey Stout (2023) used to fight for. Would it be great if it could be in 10.3? »

Siebert isn’t the only local athlete with a chance at sectional glory.

Turlock pole vaulter Max McFarlane, who placed second last year at the state meet after winning the D-2 and Masters titles, is heavily favored to repeat. So does Turlock’s Olivia Walker, who has a real opportunity in the high jump and 400, where she is the defending D-2 champion.

Additionally, Pitman’s 4×800 relay team of Avery Carlson, Aubrey Lascano, Adelyn Persons and Emerson Newton — who finished 1-2-3-4, respectively, in the CCAL 800-meter race — has the fastest time quick section.

But it’s “Champaign Blayne” – originally from Champaign, Illinois – that gets the most attention, simply because of the nature of its events.

“Everyone always wants to know who’s the fastest,” McCabe said.

And usually it was Siebert.

Generally.

Siebert is a twin, which is why he arrived 10 weeks early. More than half of twins occur prematurely. Only, with the Siebert twins, Blayne wasn’t the first. This honor goes to my sister Allyson.

“Yes, I hear about it a lot,” he said.