Yokota's Derrick Seward, left, and SungJun Son of the Christian Academy In Japan battle each other to the finish line in the 200 meters Saturday at the Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools track and field championship on Yokota Air Base, Japan. Miguel Rodriguez of Zama American won the event in 23.08. (Vince Little / S&S)
Yokota's Derrick Seward, left, and SungJun Son of the Christian Academy In Japan battle each other to the finish line in the 200 meters Saturday at the Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools track and field championship on Yokota Air Base, Japan. Miguel Rodriguez of Zama American won the event in 23.08. (Vince Little / S&S)
Nile C. Kinnick High School junior Cliff Collins sprints toward a fourth-place finish in the 800 meters Saturday at the Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools track and field championship on Yokota Air Base, Japan. (Vince Little / S&S)
Kadena Panthers' Jared McNeal delivers eyes his run-scoring fifth-inning double against Naha Spirit during Saturday's high school baseball game at Chibana Recreation Center, Okinawa. Spirit won 9-2. (Dave Ornauer / S&S)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Yokota hurdler Phillip Williams and Zama American’s boys team were about the only ones who didn’t seem to mind the rotten weather at the Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools track and field championship.
Two weeks after setting a league record in the 400-meter hurdles, Williams topped it again Saturday with a career-best mark of 57.5 seconds, finishing nearly four seconds ahead of the field on a day in which the rain, cold and wind only got worse for shivering fans, coaches and athletes alike.
“I wasn’t worried about records or anything,” Williams said. “I always have my personal goals. I don’t really worry about records. You just have to push harder every week.”
And Williams, who later grabbed first in the 110 hurdles in 15.1 seconds, said he wasn’t bothered by the poor conditions at all.
“I have allergies, and this is actually much better for me than the heat,” he added. “It wasn’t that bad. … It’s a little cold, but good stretching takes care of that. I like the rain. I just don’t like the dirt. I’m not a big fan of the mud.”
Meanwhile, Zama American made school history by capturing its first boys team title with 99 points, outdistancing Christian Academy in Japan (87½) and St. Mary’s International (82).
For the girls, American School in Japan ran and hid from Seisen International 127-60. Yokota and Zama tied for third with 52 points, making them the highest Department of Defense Dependents Schools finishers.
Zama’s Eric Tank took second in the boys 400 hurdles at 1:01.2. Tank also took fourth in the high jump and led Zama’s 1,600 relay team to a second-place finish.
Zama senior Miguel Rodriguez captured the boys 200 meters in 23.08, broke the school record for the 100 in 11.3 and helped Zama take fourth in the 400 relay.
“My feet are numb right now,” he said moments after finishing the 200. “We’ve had rain this year, but not this hard or this cold. …It’s really hard to run well on a slippery track like this. I’m satisfied with my performance.”
Zama’s Andrew Quallio won the two-mile in 10:07, but got nosed out in the mile by Blake Bannister of CAJ, 4:31-4:33.
Bannister was the only other runner to set a league record, running the 800 in 1:57.8, more than a second faster than his mark set last year.
Kinnick junior thrower Cliff Collins claimed second in the shot put with a toss of 12.32 meters. But he scratched three times in the discus and failed to place. Coming into Saturday, he’d lost only once in both events all season.
“I had a lot more in me today. It just wasn’t my day in throwing,” Collins said shortly after placing fourth in the 800. “Everything I could’ve done wrong, I did. …The rain made the ring a little slippery. I think it threw me off my focus a little. But that’s not really an excuse. It’s just not one of my best days. Hopefully, it’ll be different next week.”
That’s when the season-ending Kanto Plain Invitational takes place at Niiza Park just west of Tokyo. It will include Okinawa powers Kadena and Kubasaki, along with the Seoul Track Club, featuring athletes from Seoul American, Osan American and Taegu American in South Korea.
Baseball titles on the lineCrowning a champion in the DODDS-Korea baseball league will wait until this coming weekend at Yongsan Garrison’s Lombardo Field FourPlex in Seoul.
Nick Dunsmore got out of bases-loaded jams in the first and fourth innings and Daegu American beat Seoul American 6-2 on Saturday, creating a tie between the two at 7-3 in the standings.
Time of the league title game is tentatively set for 11 a.m. Saturday. It could be played Friday, since Saturday is prom night for Seoul and Osan American and baseball and softball league officials were hoping to complete the final regular-season week Friday.
All three leagues in which DODDS teams compete will decide their titles this week.
Kadena and Kubasaki square off in their Okinawa Activities Council best-of-three series Wednesday at Camp Foster and Thursday and Friday at Chibana Recreation Area, if needed.
Yokota and Kinnick travel to Zama on Friday and Saturday for the Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools tournament.
Stars and Stripes sports correspondent Dave Ornauer contributed to this report.
