San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
OTAY RANCH'S HAYDN BROTSCHI HAS ONE GOAL: RUN EVEN FASTER
Otay Ranch’s Haydn Brotschi has been looking forward to this time of the year since last June.
After finishing third in the section Division I 400-meter run and sixth in the 200 in 2021, he was on the upswing that normally could lead to competing in state championships in Clovis. But for the second straight year there would be no official state meet.
So, he refocused, first on the 2021 Mustangs football season but secondly, with the 2022 track season in his sights.
“I’ve never been to the state track meet, so that’s my goal this year,” said Brotschi, pronounced Broach-e, who qualified for Saturday’s Division I prelims in both events with quality performances in the Metro Conference Championships Thursday evening.
“My philosophy is that I want to win every race because if I win, I’ll probably set a personal record. It seems like whenever you try for a PR, you don’t get it.
“I’m running with a chip on my shoulder because of missing all of 2020 and having a truncated year last season.”
Brotschi is currently No. 2 in the section in the 400 with his school record 48.18-seconds and is No. 7 in the 200 at 22.25, just 0.02 off the Mustangs all-time best. Both marks came Thursday night.
He hopes to lower both marks considerably in the next two weeks heading into the May 27-28 state meet.
“I want to get under 48 and 22 seconds,” he said. “I want to keep getting my times down, and that’s where competition will help. I can’t wait to run against Helix’s Adren Parker (21.78 and 47.36), and my aim is to beat him. That should get me under 48 for sure.
“I know there will be plenty of competition at the state meet, too.”
Otay Ranch head track coach Julian Valdez has been preparing Brotschi for the end of the season.
“Because the 400 is a top-heavy event (not a lot of depth), there hasn’t been a lot of opportunity to get his times down,” Valdez said. “Given the lack of competition, I don’t believe we’ve seen near his potential. He has good 100-meter speed (11.12), but the longer the race, the better he is.
“He broke the school record at the Mt. Carmel Invitational (48.96), Arcadia (48.47) and the league meet (48.18), and I think it’ll take running in the state meet to get him under 48. But if he has a great race in the section finals, it wouldn’t surprise me if he broke 48 there.”
Most quarter-milers like Brotschi break the event into four parts, but he goes even deeper, clicking off how he’s doing eight times in less than a minute.
“Where I like to make my move is between the 200 and 300,” said the 6-foot-1, 176-pounder who played wide receiver and defensive back on the football field. “I want to come off the final turn in position to win.”
Consider that Brotschi actually played volleyball his freshman year instead of running track.
“I really didn’t see sports as part of my life,” said Brotschi, who was MVP of the Mustangs’ novice team. “I just wanted to have some fun, knowing I could always change to track my sophomore year.”
Then came COVID-19, so there was no track or volleyball in 2020.
There are thousands of athletes in the same boat as Brotschi, but coach Valdez and he made sure colleges were aware of him, and Columbia stepped up.
“It’s a scholarship for track,” said Brotschi, who will major in biochemistry en route, he hopes, to becoming a surgeon. “But I may walk on for football at some time.
“I took a trip to Columbia (in Manhattan) and I liked everything about it. I want to get my times down this year because track is a more personal thing than football. I’m looking to just get better and better.”