SACRAMENTO - Jordan Hasay's bid to repeat as the girls state 3,200 meter champion was almost over in her first few strides Saturday night.

There had already been one false start at Sacramento College's Hughes Stadium. On start number two, someone bumped into the Mission Prep sophomore from behind. She stumbled and seemed to nearly fall.

She re-gained her balance, but the field was re-called again. Would the third start be the charm? Nope.

The officials thought some runners were stepping on the line, so they re-called the field yet again. Hasay threw her head back in seeming exasperation, but she was smiling at the starting line just before the starting gun.

The fourth start was true, and the Arroyo Grande resident was on her way to a wire-to-wire repeat. She won in 10:06.76.

“Luckily, I have pretty good balance,” Hasay said. “If I had fallen, it really would have stressed me out.”

Hasay gathered herself well enough to break to an early lead and then pull away from Lauren Chetelat in the last 1,000 meters.Chetelat, a senior who beat Hasay in the Sacramento Meet of Champions last April, held on for second place in 10:25-plus.

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Arroyo Grande seniors Dari Saber and Kyle Wilson finished seventh and eighth in the nine-man discus field. Saber threw 175-7. Wilson threw 174-10.

“In this meet you can either step up or fold, and these guys did not fold,” said Arroyo Grande throws coach Stephen Field.

“They competed out there against some of the best guys in the country. They have no reason to think they came up short.” Tom Nagengast of Paso Robles finished ninth at 169-9.

Hasay couldn't get the sub-10 race she's been trying for this season, but the bottom line for her was repeating as girls state 3,200 champ. Hasay is the first to do so since Santa Rosa's Julia Stamps did so in 1995.

“The main thing at the state meet is to win, and that makes you feel a lot of pressure,” she said. “I'm happy. I'm also pleased that I ran faster (at the state meet) than I did last year.”

She ran 10:13.55 at the 2006 state meet on a hot night at Cerritos College in Norwalk. The sophomore national record holder with a best of 10:04.07 (this year) raced in cooler - though still fairly warm - conditions with a breeze Saturday night.

“I was pretty happy with the way I paced the race,” she said. “It was still a little warm and really windy.”

Hasay ran 5:01-plus the first 1,600 and 5:05-plus the last one, a marked difference from the 5:00-5:13.55 she ran last year.

Hasay moved up on the all-time state meet list. Way up. Her time last year put her seventh. She's now second, behind Kim Mortensen who ran a meet record 9:52.80 in 1996.

Wilson and Saber had solid early efforts. Both seemed to come out with more energy than in the Friday prelims. Wilson threw 174-10 on his first throw. Saber had a 175-7 on his second.

Those wound up as their best marks. “We came out here, gave it our best effort, and that's all you can do,” said Saber. “I was just very happy to get into the state finals.”

Wilson, though he was hoping for a better effort, also took some satisfaction in making the state finals for the first time. Wilson's personal best is 182-3. Saber's is 180-0. Both hit their best marks early this year.

Irvine Woodbridge junior Christine Babcock figured to be one of the headline runners in the girls 3,200 race, but she scratched after repeating as girls 1,600 champ in a meet record 4:38.85, just off Alex Kosinski's National Federation record of 4:38.15. Kosinski scratched from the meet because of a foot injury.

“In a way I was sorry (Babcock) scratched, because I know she would have pushed me,” Hasay said. “But from a pressure standpoint,” she acknowledged, “no.”

Hasay will run in the 1,500 Golden West meet next Saturday and try to repeat as 1,500 champ there. “I was really hoping to race Alex,” she said wistfully. Kosinski set her record when she beat Hasay at the SMOC last April.

Hasay has plenty of racing ahead. After the Golden West meet, it's the U.S. Junior Nationals later this month, the U.S. Youth Championships July 3-8 and then the World Youth Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic July 11-15.

June 3, 2007