SOUTHERN SECTION 4-A TRACK PRELIMINARIES : Wind Blows, but Martin Wins

CERRITOS — He was only running to qualify for the Southern Section 4-A championships, but that didn’t stop Tim Martin of San Clemente High School from wondering if his legs had betrayed him Saturday.

“That was slow, “ Martin said after winning his heat of the 100 meters in the 4-A preliminaries at Gahr High School.

As it turned out, the other runners were slower than Martin, the only one to break 11 seconds.

Martin enters Friday’s meet with the division’s top qualifying mark, thanks to his 10.76-second clocking. Ricky Carrigan of Compton had the second-fastest time of the day, winning his heat in 11.05.

Carrigan defeated Martin in April at the Arcadia Invitational, 10.63 to 10.72.

Athletes with the top nine marks in each event advance to the finals at Cerritos College.

A stiff head wind resulted in slow times in the 100 and 200, but Martin didn’t reserve his disgust for the breeze.

“I really don’t like this track,” Martin said. “I could feel the wind the whole way. I didn’t have my blocks set that good. I tried to adjust them just before we took off, but . . . .”

He’ll run under more favorable conditions in the finals at Cerritos. “They run that way (with the wind at your back),” he said, pointing in the opposite direction he ran at Gahr.

Martin, a senior who came into the meet with a hand-timed season-best of 10.4, finished fifth in the State meet 100 final last year.

He also qualified Saturday for the 4-A finals in the 200, winning his heat in 21.72, the second-best time of the day. Carrigan’s 21.71 was the fastest.

Despite the wind, or possibly because of it, neither Martin nor Carrigan was challenged in either the 100 or 200.

Dan Niednagel and Rajai Espinosa, middle-distance runners from Dana Hills, also were double winners, taking their respective heats in the 800 and 1,600 meters.

Niednagel, a senior, looked strong in winning his 800 heat in 1:56.41. An hour earlier, he had won his 1,600 heat in 4:23.60, but later said he’s going to drop the race to concentrate on the 800 next week.

Espinosa, a sophomore, won her 800 heat in 2:22.91, and her 1,600 race in 5:12.78.