Sports
Hurdles Double Eludes Cabral At State Meet
Agoura High junior easily wins the 110-meter high hurdles, but a bad step costs him in the 300 intermediate hurdles and he finishes fifth.
It stings, but just a little.
Jonathan Cabral ventured to Clovis this weekend with one goal in mind – to sweep the hurdles events in the CIF State Track and Field Championships. But when the finals were completed Saturday, the extraordinary hurdler from Agoura High was without one of the two medals that he sought.
Cabral kept his undefeated streak in the 110-meter high hurdles intact by blowing away the field with a wind-aided time of 13.54 seconds. However, the Agoura junior picked the worse time to suffer only his second loss of the season in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles. Heavily favored to win that race, too, Cabral finished a disappointing fifth in 37.57.
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Cabral said his title in the shorter hurdle race takes away some of the hurt he felt when the evening was done, but only slightly because he felt just as confident in the 300 hurdles as he did in the 110s.
"I was off to a really good start (in the 300 hurdles),'' Cabral said. "Then on the second hurdle I jumped off the wrong foot. Everyone flew away when that happened. I know I was in last place. But I sprinted to the finish and was able to get fifth.''
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The 110-meter high hurdles race was run earlier in the evening and Cabral was not to be denied. His coach and father, John Cabral, noted that the start was fine and when that happens Cabral's flawless hurdle technique makes him next-to-impossible to beat on the high school level. The rest of the talented field of finalists got nothing but a taste of Cabral's exhaust from the third hurdle on to the finish line.
"It was a nice, clean race,'' the elder Cabral said. "It was just the way we wanted it to be. We were very happy with it.''
Barring injury, Cabral will enter next season as the nation's top high school hurdler. He has run the nation's fastest times for an underclassman in both the 110 hurdles and the 300 hurdles, and he has the second-fastest time overall in the 110s.
But Cabral is not done yet for this year. In two weeks he will run in the USA Track and Field Junior Olympics July 8-11 in Indianola, Iowa. Cabral will run the 110-meter highs and for the first time ever, the 400-meter intermediate hurdles.
"It's already making me tired, just thinking about that extra 100 meters,'' Cabral joked.
