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JAMAL THALJIBy skipping the 1,600, Mitchell's Jeff Masterson hopes to give school better shot in two other events.
TRINITY - Knowing when to blitz, when to press, when to pitch away, it's all a part of the strategy and tactics of sport. Track is no different.
To prepare for today's Class 3A state meet at Gainesville's Percy Beard Stadium, Mitchell coach Bill Napolitano had to answer this question: How could the Mustangs do their best in their best events?
His decision: the 4x800-meter relay is better off with distance star Jeff Masterson running the second leg, and so is Masterson.
But Masterson qualified for the 1,600 and 3,200 races at last week's region meet. Would he run all three races? Many runners have. Masterson could, too. But is it best for him and the team that he do so?
No, they decided, it isn't. Instead, the sophomore will forego the 1,600 for a better shot at medaling in the 3,200 and move to the 4x800 to help that team medal, too.
"I just thought I would take some of the pressure off him," Napolitano said of Masterson. "To double him in the mile and 2-mile at the state meet, a lot of people do it; it's not impossible but it's not easy.
"If his legs are shot after that race, two hours is not enough time for him to come back and run the 3,200."
But seven hours is enough time to rest between the 4x800, the day's earliest race, and the second-to-last race, the 3,200. Enough time to give Masterson and his 4x800 teammates the help they'll need.
"It was a good decision," Masterson said. "It had been an option we were discussing for a long time but it wasn't made until recently. I wasn't sure what I was going to do."
Now they all know, and know why. The 4x800 squad of Nick Ferrer, Eric Evans, Brandon Steiner and David Stricsek ran an 8:21.37 at last week's region meet to finish fourth and qualify for state.
The top times entering today's meet are Chiles' 7:54.84 and Bishop Kenny's 7:57.98. Six teams enter with times between 8:06 and 8:09.
Only the top eight medal. Mitchell, entering with the worst region time of the 16 teams that qualified for state, must shave 16 seconds to have a shot at medaling.
In retrospect it sounds like an easy decision. It wasn't. Napolitano not only had to discuss the move with Masterson and his father but had to prepare the runner Masterson will replace in the 4x800, Stricsek, for the pending move.
"It took long hours of debating," Napolitano said. "It was a real tough decision. I thought it over, I talked to (Masterson), I talked to his dad, we talked together.
"We just feel, with this heat, he has a better chance to run in the 2-mile, the 3,200, alone with this heat."
Weather: there's another factor to plan for. Last week's state meets endured stifling 90-degree temperatures. The forecast for today calls for temperatures in the high 80s.
Masterson conceivably could run the 4x800 at 1:30 p.m. today, then run the 7:30 p.m. 1,600 and the 8:55 p.m. 3,200. But the 4x800 will be so grueling in this heat, and the 1,600 and 3,200 so close together, will he have enough time to recover?
The coach doesn't want to gamble that he will.
"In the heat of the day, (if we) extend him until he was pretty much shot and then have him come back and run the 3,200, it really doesn't give him enough time to recuperate," Napolitano said, "and if he goes all out in the 4x800 and 1,600, his legs are shot. He's done for the 3,200.
"Instead, after the 4x800, he can go back to the hotel, he can relax for the 3,200 and hopefully also help our 4x800 team place."
The 4x800 benefits by having Masterson, who benefits by not having to run the 1,600.
It's just not his event. Not yet, anyway.
"I was planning on running the mile and 2-mile, but I'm not much of a miler," he said. "I've been running some pretty decent times in the 2-mile, and my mile times weren't really dropping that much."