Ray chooses grad march to 200, 100 sprints

Sutter High senior sprinter Darius Ray qualified for the State Track & Field Meet in two different races last weekend, but will forego the state meet to attend his high school graduation Friday night.

Ray said this was a difficult decision, but after sitting down with his family, he feels he made the best decision.

"High school graduation is a once in a lifetime opportunity," Ray said. "I still have a lot of races to run in college."

In last weekend's Nothern Section Masters Meet at West Valley High in Cottonwood, Ray won the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.8 seconds and won gold in the 200 with a mark of 22.24 seconds.

Only the winner of each race qualifies for State in the Northern Section. This was Ray's second consecutive year winning the 100 at the Masters.

"At first I thought graduation wasn't that big of a deal," Ray said. "But as it got closer, I decided it was. I would like to do both, but sometimes things are just out of your control."

Ray will be running track at Butte College next season with plans to transfer to Chico State after his sophomore year.

He said Roadrunners coach Robby Snelling made him feel like Butte was the right program for him.

"They have an extraordinary junior college track program out there," Ray said. "I also have a lot of friends going there so I'm really excited."

Butte was the Golden Valley Conference champion in men's and women's track and field in 2007.

Ray was the MVP of the Butte View League all four years at Sutter High and was named team MVP every season. He also played soccer and ran cross country for the Huskies.

He participates in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and is the anchor of the school's 4-by-100 relay team.

"I went into the Masters telling myself to do the best I can," Ray said. "I knew this would be my last high school race so I wanted to make it count."

Ray was undefeated in league the last two seasons. He said he looks forward to finding some better competition at the collegiate level.

While he likes running in the 100, Ray said he enjoys competing in the 200 more because he feels he is topping out in the 100 and would like to challenge himself by trying to better his 200 time.

His personal best in the 200 is 22.04 seconds.

Ray said he will start training with the Butte College team sometime toward the end of June.

"I wish Sutter had an opportunity to run in bigger meets to get more exposure," Ray said. "I'm ready to for a bigger challenge and to move on to the college level."

Profile

Name: Darius Ray

Age: 17

School: Sutter, Senior

Events: 100, 200 meters

Favorite Athlete: Brett Favre

Favorite Food: Chicken

Favorite Movie: Forrest Gump

Favorite Class: Math