Oregon Relays: Braverman with a pair of second-place finishes in hurdles
Josh Braverman keeps a popular phrase in mind for races.
“I have a saying, it’s kind of funny, but it’s: ‘If you’re not first, you’re last,’ ” he said.
The saying – modeled after a line Will Ferrell delivers in the comedy “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” – doesn’t quite apply to Braverman’s performance on Saturday. No, he didn’t finish first in any of the races he ran at Hayward Stadium.
But he was very far from last.
The River Ridge High School junior picked up two second-place finishes in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles at the Oregon Relays hosted by the University of Oregon. He also anchored River Ridge’s 4x100 relay team, which took eighth. Add to all of that a fourth-place finish in the long jump on Friday.
After dusting the rest of the runners in his heat in the 110 hurdles preliminaries, Braverman set a school record with a time of 14.24. That time is the second best in Washington state in any classification. Shorewood’s Chris Diaz — who holds the top mark— edged Braverman by 0.4 seconds to take first.
“I like the competition,” Braverman said. “The 110s I like to do because it’s fast and technical and it’s not a really tiring race.”
By the time he got to the 300 hurdles — his final race and fifth event in two days (including prelims) — he was a little more gassed.
“I was already really tired coming into it,” he said. “I felt slower and I didn’t have anyone ahead of me to chase. All of the people that were supposed to be fast, I couldn’t see any of them. And I knew all of the people behind me could see me.”
Andre Jones of Mountain View (Idaho) took advantage of that. He caught and passed Braverman on the second-to-last hurdle after Braverman clipped it. Braverman finished at 39.17 — 0.36 seconds behind Jones’ winning time.
Braverman’s best time in the event is 38.25, which is the fastest time in Washington state.
“(The Oregon Relays is) the first time I ever had competition,” Braverman said. “In the other races, I never really had competition.”
Braverman finished the two-day meet with three personal bests in the long jump, 110 hurdles and as part of the Hawks’ 4x100 relay team. But he’ll take that in stride. He’s got more to do this season.
“Working out super tough and taking every race like this race,” Braverman said. “Just going to keep moving forward.”
Other developments:
▪ River Ridge’s relay team of Ryan Blash, Alex Coleman, DJ Smith and Braverman took eighth in the 4x100 relay. Their season-best mark of 43.84 was the second-best finish of any school from Washington state. They are currently ranked fifth in the Class 2A classification.
River Ridge took the lead on the Bill Bowerman curve, after Coleman handed Smith the baton, and won its heat by nearly a second.
“That’s when I really took the curve and the stagger was broken,” Smith said. “By the time I handed off to Josh (Braverman), he was gone, and I was just looking right there hoping he took the win, which he did.”
▪ Following a disappointing performance in the 3,000 on Friday, Capital’s Beau Crabill had a plan.
“Tomorrow I want to bounce back in the 1,500,” he said then. “That’s my strength.”
Bounce back? He did a bit more.
Crabill recorded a 4:07.49 — a personal best by nearly 11 seconds — in the 1,500 to place 11th. His finish was the best of any runner in the South Sound and the second-best finish for a Washington state runner.
▪ Two local throwers picked up top eight finishes. Brian Chalkley, a Saint Martin’s University junior, finished seventh in the men’s javelin throw with a toss of 186 feet. Capital’s Angus Beaton uncorked a personal-best 151-06 in the boys hammer throw to take eighth.
This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 9:07 PM with the headline "Oregon Relays: Braverman with a pair of second-place finishes in hurdles."