Sports
Far East track - Day 1Meet opens with yet more records
Stars and Stripes
May 19, 2016
Yokota's Daniel Galvin signals his first place finish in the boys' 1,600 meter final at the Far East Track Championships at Yokota Air Base, Japan on Thursday, May 19, 2016. (Jack Higbee/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Yokota's Daniel Galvin signals his first place finish in the boys' 1,600 meter final at the Far East Track Championships at Yokota Air Base, Japan on Thursday, May 19, 2016. (Jack Higbee/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Nile C. Kinnick's Jabari Johnson broke the Pacific record in the boys' 200 meters with a 21.23 Thursday, May 19, 2016 at the Far East Track Championships at Yokota Air Base, Japan. Johnson broke his own record of 22.04 to win the event. (Jack Higbee/Special to Stars and)
Yokota's Chris Sonnenberg won the discus at the Far East Track Championships on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at Yokota Air Base, Japan with a 54.25-meter throw. (Jack Higbee/Special to Stars and)
Nile C. Kinnick's Arlene Avalos, right, and ASIJ's Lisa Watanuki continued their rivalry in the in the 1,600 meter final during the Far East Track Championships on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at Yokota Air Base, Japan. Avalos finished in first. (James Kimber/Stars and Stripes)
Okinawa Christian's Matomo Niwano passes the baton to Ken Johnson in a preliminary 4x400 meter relay during the Far East Track Championships at Yokota Air Base, Japan on Thursday, May 19, 2016. (James Kimber/Stars and Stripes)
Yokota's Daniel Galvin finishes first in the 1,600 meter final during the Far East Championships on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at Yokota Air Base, Japan. (James Kimber/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan – Maybe record breaking is becoming too routine for Jabari Johnson.
The Nile C. Kinnick senior sprinter on Thursday sat under the shade of a tree at south end of Yokota High School’s Bonk Field, cleaning his shoes, when he was told he broke the northwest Pacific record and Far East meet record in the 200.
He simply shrugged his shoulders, grunted and mumbled something, then turned his attention back to his footwear.
He trimmed his former region-record of 21.28 by .05 seconds, the third time he’s broken his own mark this season. He also beat his old Far East meet record (22.04) by more than .8 seconds.
He accomplished that in one of three preliminary races he ran on Thursday. In the others, he broke the Far East meet records in the 100 and 400; he ran the former in 10.79, beating his old mark of 10.92, and ran the 400 in 48.63, breaking the mark of 49.06 set last year by Seoul American’s Shawn Horne.
And he said he had no intention of breaking any records during preliminaries.
“I didn’t mean to do that,” he said after the 400-meter race. “I just wanted to finish first and get into (Friday’s) final. I just wanted to get to 49.”
Johnson’s coach, Luke Voth, confessed to some anxiety about Johnson having something left in the tank for Friday’s championship races.
“He was supposed to” hold something back for Friday, Voth said. “But all those heats were really fast. He’s prepared. He’s trained. He should do pretty good.”
Johnson’s record trifecta highlighted a day in which five Far East meet records took a tumble.
Senior sprinter Kaelyn Francis of Kubasaki clocked 12.33 seconds in the girls 100, beating the 2013 mark of 12.41 set by Kinnick’s Val James.
Francis, too, said she wasn’t trying to go too fast, due to a sore hamstring. “I was trying to save my leg,” she said.
Apprised that Francis came up .07 seconds short of the region record, Dragons assistant coach Johnny Windhom said: “We’ll get that tomorrow.”
One field event record also went down, the boys discus, with Yokota junior Christian Sonnenberg throwing 54.25 meters, well ahead of his old Far East meet standard of 51.99, but short of his region mark of 56.40.
And he seemed disappointed after he finished throwing.
“I was hoping to get 58,” he said, adding that the back portion of the throw circle was a bit slick from rain on Tuesday. “I was a little hesitant overall,” he said. “It was really just not driving hard at the end; I got lazy at the finish.”
He said he was “OK” with the result, but that it “could have been better. I’ve got another year.”