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Metzler, Votapka win at GSAC meet

Fallbrook High School graduates Christina Metzler and Lane Votapka both won events at the Golden State Athletic Conference track and field championship meet April 25-26 at Azusa Pacific University.

Metzler won the women’s open 400-meter run and was also on the winning women’s 4x400 relay team. Votapka placed first in the men’s pole vault. Both compete for Point Loma Nazarene University.

Point Loma’s women won the GSAC meet, totaling 239 points while Azusa Pacific finished second with 170 1/2 points. “I was just so excited for that,” Metzler said. “We all came together at the meet.”

In addition to winning the open 400-meter run and being part of the 4x400 relay victors, the senior placed third in the 400-meter hurdles after winning her heat.

“She had a good meet,” said Point Loma head track and field coach Jerry Arvin. “We were running her in multiple events to maximize so we had a chance to win.”

Metzler won the 400-meter run with a time of 59.47 seconds. “I don’t normally run the open, but Coach threw me in there to get points and we got some points,” she said.

“It was a great job for her,” Arvin said. “It’s not her specialty race.”

Point Loma freshman Jordan Turner finished second with a time of 59.87 seconds. Point Loma freshman Sarah Laine was third, and the Sea Lions also took fifth and sixth in that race.

Laine, Metzler, junior Kristen McGregor, and sophomore Kelsey Sutherland represented Point Loma on the women’s 4x400 relay team. The Sea Lions captured first place in that event with a time of 4:00.20 while the Concordia relay team finished second at 4:03.19.

Although Point Loma had wrapped up the women’s championship by the time the 4x400 was contested, it gave Metzler a victory in her final GSAC race. “That was exciting to be able to end the last race of GSAC and to be able to win that,” she said. “That meant a lot to me.”

Metzler felt that her teammates were willing to get her a gold medal in her final GSAC race. “Even though they were tired, they were willing to pull through and get one more gold,” she said.

In the 400-meter hurdles preliminaries, a time of 1:04.96 gave Metzler first place in her heat. Her goal during that race was to upgrade her consideration qualifying time for the National Intercollegiate Athletic Association nationals to an automatic qualifying time, although she missed the 1:04.5 automatic standard. “I was really trying to go for that time,” she said. “It felt good to race that fast and cross the line first.”

Her time in the finals of 1:04.92 was worth third place. “I was excited to be third,” she said. “I felt like I did what I was able to do, and I was happy with my time, happy with my place.”

Third place was still worth a medal. “Getting a GSAC medal is a pretty big thing,” Metzler said. “I was just glad for that because there were some really good girls in that race.”

“I was quite pleased with her,” Arvin said of her hurdles performance.

The GSAC championship gave Metzler such honors in both her freshman and senior seasons. “I just feel so blessed by what a great experience I had with Point Loma track and field,” she said.

Votapka, a junior, cleared 15’3” in the pole vault. “He’s really done a good job over the last few years getting better and better,” Arvin said.

In the event of a tie for the highest distance, the positions are determined on missed attempts at lower distances which were eventually cleared. Votapka made his first attempt at all three of the distances he cleared. “It’s real important to do that,” he said.

Votapka cleared 14’3” and 14’9” before his 15’3” vault. Second place was a tie at 14’9” between Point Loma’s John Phillips and Azusa Pacific’s Jeff Altizer. “They were giving me a run for my money,” Votapka said.

Having a teammate share second added to Votapka’s enjoyment of the victory. “The pole vaulters did really well in GSAC,” he said. “The rest of the GSAC meet was very exciting.”

The Point Loma men placed second in the GSAC meet. The Sea Lions trailed Fresno Pacific by six points for second place entering the final event of the meet, the decathlon, but finished three points ahead of Fresno Pacific.

After Votapka clinched the men’s pole vault title, he then eschewed the 15’9” attempt for an even higher mark. “I wanted to make a new personal record,” he said. “I just immediately set it at 16’3”, but unfortunately that just didn’t work.”

Votapka had cleared 16’0” at the Triton Invitational at UCSD. He grabbed a larger pole in his quest to vault 16’3”. “I was intimidated by it,” he said. “I would take a few steps and just give it up.”

His three unsuccessful attempts didn’t even include launches. “I didn’t even leave the ground,” he said. “Sometimes your head just starts playing games with you.”

Votapka noted that his fear was of the pole rather than of the height. “It’s a battle with that fear,” he said.

Adapting to a new pole is a feat in itself. “The bigger the pole the more energy I unload into it,” Votapka said.

Votapka’s goals for the 2009 season also include working on his speedwork on the runway.

Lane Votapka might not be the only sibling in his family competing in the 2009 GSAC meet. Katie Votapka, who graduated from Fallbrook High School this year, will likely compete in the pole vault for Concordia University. “We’ll be having that meet against each other,” Lane Votapka said.

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