Frontier High Noise

Darr won the shot put, the discus and a share of t...

2009-06-27T20:15:12.001-07:00

Darr won the shot put, the discus and a share of the state team title, all by himself. He threw personal records in both events that day, 192 feet in the discus and 62-1.25 in the shot.

Darr said his timely performance really started started with preliminaries the day before.

"I only took two throws, and then I was able to shut it down (because he was already qualified for the final)," Darr said. "It's a confidence booster. I knew I was going to open with a solid throw in the finals, and I just built on that and just competed well."

What was unexpected was that Darr's two victories, each worth 10 team points, was enough to vault Frontier into a four-way tie for the boys state title -- even though the Titans didn't have a single other boys competitor.

Darr has been a standout since his days in middle school -- at least if you ask his throwing coach, Dawn Dumble, who met him when he was in her seventh-grade class.

"The first week of school, a girl has an asthma attack," Dumble said. "She had just come from P.E. and didn't have her inhaler. And I recall immediately telling Matt to take her to the office. It was the first week, but I instinctually knew he was more responsible than the other kids. It was crazy."

At the time, Darr was into baseball, but Dumble, a former national champion thrower at UCLA, got him to go out for the track team, too. He took to it, and Dumble began training him regularly.

"But I could only work with him once or twice a week," said Dumble, who had (still has) two small children at home. "So I'd just write up a schedule for him and meet and have him do the drills on his own. It takes a special type of kid for that to work."

Dumble and Darr have kept that system in place throughout Darr's high school career, and he's continued to get better and better, reaching the state meet in the shot put as a sophomore. Another roadblock to his success presented itself this year, though.

Darr's future lies in football, where recruiting services rank him one of the nation's best punters. That means this year was full of recruiting e-mails, text messages, call and visits.

"I didn't get on the (football) radar until January or February," Darr said. "At the time, I was full-bore on track, looking to do good things. But all the attention was on recruiting. It was definitely a challenge trying to balance it out.

"There were days where I'd check my e-mail and have six different e-mails from six different schools. Then the whole time at (track) practice, I'd be thinking about how I was going to respond to the e-mails."

Finally, five days before the state meet, Darr verbally committed to USC. That wiped away a bunch of distractions.

"Then I got to focusing on state," Darr said. "I spent days with Dawn throwing, and said I'm going to stop and focus on track. And it paid off."

Matt Darr of Bakersfield Frontier, the State leade...

2009-06-07T14:07:13.513-07:00

Matt Darr of Bakersfield Frontier, the State leader at 188-5, opened at 184-0 and then set a personal best of 192-0 in the third round to move into eleventh on the national list. Willy Irwin of Clovis East was in just fifth place after four round but that changed in round five when he ripped a 188-8 throw to move into second. Cecil Whiteside of Newport Harbor was third at 183-11. The first three finishers are juniors. Daniel Swarbrick of Saugus was fourth at 181-2.

Junior Matt Darr of Bakersfield Frontier defeated ...

2009-06-07T14:06:23.246-07:00

Junior Matt Darr of Bakersfield Frontier defeated Austin Field of Arroyo Grande to become a double winner. Field took the lead in the first round with a put of 61-5 ½ but Darr responded in the second round with a personal best of 62-1 ¼ and that ended up settling the first two places. Kevin Graf of Agoura was third with a first-round put of 59-7 ½ and Willy Irwin was fourth at 58-7 ½, also achieved in the first round.

Jackson doomed by slow start Frontier junior Tayl...

2009-06-07T06:28:55.321-07:00

Jackson doomed by slow start

Frontier junior Taylor Jackson was more than happy to be under the lights, being announced in the field for the state final in the girls 300 hurdles.

That wouldn't be the end of the good news for Jackson on Saturday. She set a personal record for the second straight night, this time in 43.64. But it's the state final for a reason, and even that PR didn't place Jackson higher than eighth in a nine-person race. Jackson broke from the blocks slowly and never really caught up.

Jackson a nervous finalist There was a lot of tal...

2009-06-06T21:25:47.990-07:00

Jackson a nervous finalist

There was a lot of talk surrounding the mentality of Frontier junior Taylor Jackson over the past two weeks.

She had hit a hurdle in the girls 100 hurdles race at the Central Section meet, causing her to miss the state meet even though she had easily the section's best time. She also freely admitted she was nervous before the race she did qualify for, Friday's 300 hurdles prelim.

"Everybody kept asking how she was up here," said Frontier coach David Gaeta, pointing to his temples. "How she was going to deal with it after what happened two weeks ago."

Just fine, thanks. Jackson ran a personal-record 43.95 in the race, finishing second in her heat to Claremont's Kori Carter, the state leader in the event. The time was eighth overall; the top nine advanced to today's state finals.

"It's cool that I got to run against the best in the state; that definitely helped push me," Jackson said. "... This makes up for (the section-meet mishap). I'm sure the nerves will come back (today), but I've reached my goal."

Kori Carter of Claremont, the national leader at 4...

2009-06-06T15:08:03.457-07:00

Kori Carter of Claremont, the national leader at 41.09, was again out slowly and in second place coming off the turn before running down Taylor Jackson of Bakersfield Frontier mid-way down the final straight, 43.68 to 43.95. .

Austin Field of Arroyo Grande was the top qualifie...

2009-06-06T15:06:37.540-07:00

Austin Field of Arroyo Grande was the top qualifier at 61-0 ½. Matt Darr of Bakersfield Frontier was the only other putter over 60-0 at 60-6. Kevin Graf of Agoura was the next best qualifier at 57-5. It took 54-3 ½ to make the final.

Matt Darr of Bakersfield Frontier was the top qual...

2009-06-06T15:05:15.510-07:00

Matt Darr of Bakersfield Frontier was the top qualifier at 187-6, less the a foot off his seasonal best. Cecil Whiteside of Newport Harbor was second at 181-6 and Willy Irwin of Clovis East took just one throw but it was a personal best of 181-1. It took 163-9 to make the final.

Central Section junior Matt Darr (Frontier, Bakers...

2009-06-04T08:04:11.298-07:00

Central Section junior Matt Darr (Frontier, Bakersfield) has the best chance at pulling off a throws sweep, leading the Golden State with a fine 188-5 spin in the discus and currently slotted fourth in the state (61-04) in the shot put.