TRACK: Peaking Waschura Streaks into State Final

Chris Waschura’s second appearance in the California Interscholastic Federation State Track and Field Championships is a smashing success.

And he isn’t done yet.

Waschura, who just completed his junior year at Woodside High, reeled off a stunning race in the 1,600-meter run in the state preliminaries at Buchanan High in Clovis on Friday. Not only did Waschura shatter his personal-best time by nearly three seconds by finishing in 4 minutes, 10.44 seconds, but he vaulted himself into contention for a state championship by qualifying third for tonight’s final.

Waschura said he knew before the finish line that he would set a personal record.

Asked to describe his reaction when he saw the huge PR, Waschura said, “It wasn’t as much surprise as it was relief that all that work resulted in a good time.”

The Woodside middle-distance star was oh-so-close to posting the top qualifying time. Two Southern Section runners – Jantzen Oshier of Trabuco Hills and Elias Gedyon of Loyola – both edged Waschura by five-hundredths of a second by qualifying at 4:10.39.

Oshier has recorded the best time in California this year (4:04.24) and Gedyon is the state’s defending champion and was the 2009 runner-up. But even though Waschura had never topped 4:13.18 – his winning mark at Arcadia in early April – before Friday, he feels he may have an edge in the final.

He said because the Southern Section is “so good and so fast” that Oshier and Gedyon may have already used up their best races simply to get to this point. Conversely, Waschura entered the state meet feeling fresh and poised to peak after facing less taxing competition – and the results are already fully evident.

“I think it helps that a lot of these guys have been going at it all year,” said Waschura, who finished 16^th last year in the 1,600 preliminaries at 4:23.18. “I’ve noticed that a lot of the Southern Section guys do not PR at this point of the year.”

After an ice bath, Waschura was headed out for a pasta dinner to get his “carbo load” on Friday night. He said his biggest plans before today’s 6:32 p.m. final would be to “get my mind off it,” perhaps by heading to a movie.

While Waschura, the Central Coast Section champion in the 1,600 and 800, hopes he can unleash another fabulous race, he was comfortable in already terming the state meet “a huge success.”

“I think whatever happens tomorrow,” he said, “I’m just going to come out of this performance feeling really good just because of what happened today.”

Among other local competitors, Menlo School senior Sam Parker broke a school record with his finish in the 800 on Friday. Click , to read about Parker's feat.