Solis, Chavez, Aponte move on to CIF-SS Finals

BARSTOW — A little friendly competition elevated two Barstow High School tracksters, Isaac Chavez and Anthony Solis, to personal bests in CIF-Southern Section Division III Prelims at Downey High School on Saturday.

The 3,200-meter speedburners are looking to be the first to qualify for prelims on the masters since BHS women's track coach Mark Hassell did it in 1997. Solis qualified with a time of 9 minutes, 28.5 seconds and Chavez finished third, qualifying with a time of 9 minutes, 29.30 seconds.

Silver Valley senior David Aponte, who will be the sole representative for the Trojans, qualified in the CIF Division IV Finals meet in the triple jump. The three athletes will compete in the CIF-SS Division III finals held at Mount San Antonio College on Saturday.

Chavez and Solis have been known to give each other grief if one outshines the other.

“It was encouraging. They pretty much took command of the race,” Barstow coach Jim Duarte said. “Even though there was a breeze, they pretty much blocked the wind for the other runners.”

“When he is racing right next to me, I know we are going to have a good time,” Chavez said. “He pushes me. He is like maybe five seconds faster, and I am right there. Then I know I will have a good time.”

Chavez always reminds Solis that he has competition, even from his own teammate in a friendly manner.

“Isaac always tells me that he is going to beat me,” Solis said. “And we just feed off of each other's energy. We push ourselves to the maximum of our potential.”

This is only Solis' first month of running the 3,200-meter run and he is expecting to do even better in Saturday's meet.

“I didn't really run well my first time,” Solis said. “It's alright, I guess. I should be way faster this Saturday simply because I don't like losing to people.”

Aponte improved his finish from last season in the CIF-SS Division IV Prelims with a jump of 43-feet-6-inches, up from his 42’4 performance in 2007.

“For us, our goal is that he is always progressing,” Silver Valley track coach Amy Campbell said. “It's always been important for him, and he is getting better and stronger. I think he is a lot more confident in his abilities. Our goal is to make it to the state track meet, and he has been trying to actually get past where he was last year.”

Campbell has enjoyed a breakout season for the Trojans’ track team by having six people qualifying CIF-SS Prelims.

“As a team, I think they all came together and they bonded,” Campbell said. “In track and field, that is extremely difficult to do, considering it's an individual sport where everyone is competing with each other.”

Contact the writer:

(760) 256-4122 or jason_blasco@link.freedom.com