Photos and story by Leonard COUTIN

The California CIF State Track and Field championship was held May 31-June 1 in Clovis with prelims on Friday and finals on Saturday. The pressure was on the athletes Friday to make qualifying times to advance the next day to finals.

Glendale Nitro Michael Davis again proved himself ready to compete with the best. Davis placed second in heat one running 21.47, racing against top sprinter Khalfani Muhammad (20.94) of Notre Dame who was expected to be faster this year in both the 100m and 200m.

After three preliminary heats, Davis placed fifth (21.58) in the 200m at the CIF state track and field event.

Davis’ success on the track may be surprising considering that Glendale did not attend the big invitational meets like Arcadia, the Santa Barbara Relays, Mt. SAC Relay and others this season. But according to his coach, Marv Thompson, the absence at the meets may have worked to Davis’ benefit.

“Going through the CIF prelims, finals and masters did not take much out of Michael at all,” said Thompson. “It seemed to fuel him as time went on.  From the outside looking in, it seemed he was mentally ready once the wheels started turning toward the California state championships.”

For Davis, athleticism comes naturally. He’s a football player for the Nitros as well as a strong competition on the track field. He could have left GHS after his first semester during his senior year to join the college athletes at BYU where he is planning to attend. But as Davis said last year, he always had in his mind the desire to make a statement at the state track and field championship – and the senior will leave Glendale High knowing he accomplished that.

  Leonard Coutin