There was one Mustang that took to the track this weekend that wasn’t in the Belmont Stakes.
It was Costa Mesa’s Quinton Bell, who put on an impressive performance at Saturday’s CIF State Track and Field Championships, coming from behind to finish third in the boys 100-meter dash.
Taking first was Mater Dei senior Curtis Godin and finishing second was Monrovia senior Cravon Gillespie, but Bell was the sprinter that no one expected to finish in the top three.
“The atmosphere was amazing, and I feel like I’m someone that can rise to the occasion,” Bell said of running in the biggest race of his short career. “The bigger the meet, the faster I run. It felt great to run my fastest time here. I showed myself that I won’t crack under pressure. I can perform under pressure.”
Bell, who will attend Texas Southern in the fall, has indeed performed his best when the lights have been brightest. He was named the Orange Coast League track and field MVP and won the league title in the 100, 200, 400-meter relay and 1,600-meter relay. At the CIF Southern Section Divisional finals on May 24, Bell set personal records in the 100 and 200, with marks of 10.63 and 21.34, respectively, and earned the silver medal in Division 2 behind Alemany senior Dominic Davis.
At the CIF-SS Master’s Meet on May 30, Bell finished fourth in the 100 and earned a trip to Clovis for the state meet.
“It’s only my second year of track and second year of sports in general,” said Bell, who didn’t begin playing football and basketball, and running track until his junior year. “In the beginning of the track season, I really dedicated myself and my goal was to make it to the state finals. And I’ve just been improving all year and I got there. I’m as happy as can be right now.”
After setting another personal record at the state preliminaries on June 6, posting a mark of 10.58, Bell was set to race Saturday in the state finals, in a field that featured nine sprinters that each posted below a 10.69 in prelims.
But despite the steep competition, Bell, who got off to a slow start, fought his way back into the race and edged Davis in order to take third place.
In the process, he set another personal record, with a mark of 10.51.
Bell, who will attend Texas Southern on football scholarship, said that the school offered him the chance to run track, and with the success he’s had this season, he’s hesitant to stop now.
“I think it would have helped,” Bell said when asked if he would have been even better had he run all four seasons in high school. “To see how much I’ve improved in one year really makes me think where I could have been with four years.
“So I’m not going to stop here,” he said. “I’m going to keep going.”
Contact the writer: bwatson@lbregister.com
