IRVINE – As the starting gun sounded, Beckman’s Michael Hamill burst off the line in a dual meet against Corona del Mar on Thursday.
He broke away from his competition in the 100 meters, as he has so often this season, and won the race handily.
A yell of, “Go, Michael” could be heard as onlookers watched Hamill approach the finish line.
A lot of eyes were focused on Hamill at that moment, just as they were when he finished the 100 in 10.88 seconds at the Arcadia Invitational. It was one of the best times in Orange County this season and 14th best in California.
There will be a lot of attention on Hamill on Saturday, too, when he lines up to race against the best sprinters in the county — Mater Dei’s Curtis Godin, JSerra’s Isaiah Diego-Williams and Costa Mesa’s Quinton Bell — in the Orange County Championships at Mission Viejo High.
But there is usually something missing from all of that cheering that Hamill hears on the track.
Absent from the crowd is his mother, Patty. Hamill was 3 when she passed away after a bout with cervical cancer.
It wasn’t enough time for Hamill to build up many memories with or of his mother, but it was enough time to be motivated by her.
“I was really young (when she died). I can’t say it doesn’t affect me, because it does,” Hamill said. “It does motivate me quite a bit. I like running for a reason, and that’s a good reason, for my mom and my family.”
Hamill’s father, Michael, remarried when his son was 10. But his father and stepmother have seen little of his high school career.
Hamill was a running back and receiver for the Patriots during the fall, and this spring he has developed into a standout in track. He ran a wind-aided 10.79 in the 100 at the Trabuco Hills Invitational on April 5.
Hamill’s father works long hours as an aerospace engineer in El Segundo, which makes it difficult for him to make it to his son’s meets. And his stepmother, May, has severe migraines, which are brought on by sunlight and heat, two things that are common at most Saturday track meets in the spring.
So Hamill’s coaches are his main source of support at meets.
“For me, I try to replace that, not as a parent, but somebody being there as a coach,” Patriots sprints coach Steve Burnett said. “When he won Trabuco, it was like he was my kid. I was very, very proud of him. He was sitting by himself, nobody around him, and I went up and gave him a high-five and a hug.”
May and Michael watched him race at Arcadia via webcast, and they made plans to watch him race today.
Those who have watched him in person hold Hamill in high regard. Beckman coach Luis Ramirez is in his first year coaching the Patriots, and he sees Hamill as a trailblazer of sorts for the program.
“We had that conversation, and I don’t mean to (add) pressure,” Ramirez said. “(He’s) the building block here. This is exactly how he’s working and his success is what we had hoped to have on a continual, yearly basis.”
Hamill, whose best time was 10.97 a year ago, has progressed this season by working on how he uses his arms and their positioning when he takes off from the line. By improving his starts, Burnett said, Hamill could see his time drop from the 10.7 range to 10.5.
With Ramirez still building the Beckman program, and the Patriots hailing from Pacific Coast League, Hamill still tends to be forgotten at times, even with all the work he has put in.
“I look outside the PCL, and look forward to the invites and stuff,” Hamill said. “I do feel like I get overlooked sometimes, but that’s kind of what motivates me, too, to work hard and get my name out there.”
Hamill hopes running against some of the county’s best sprinters, such as Godin and Diego-Williams, will draw the best out of him and push him to a personal record in the 100.
The fans at the O.C. Championships will shift their focus to the runners as the race begins today, and hopefully for Hamill, his parents will be among them.
Contact the writer: amorales@ocregister.com
