I normally post several images from a big track meet, but today I will focus on this photo of Davis Davis-Lyric from the 2023 Simi Valley Invitational. Why? Because I finally got to meet his father (Coach Day Lyric) before the race. We’ve been chatting on Twitter for a couple of years as the Upland hurdle squad has dominated the California high school track and field landscape. I’ve often commented to him that I thought his son had the most beautiful hurdle form I’ve ever seen at the high school level.

Coach Day politely asked if I could capture one of my composite images of him hurdling, and I shared that I had been thinking of even making a trip down to Upland to do just that. So, I prepped a spot on the side of the track to capture the sequence and then did something I don’t often do. I scanned back and forth between the images to see if the sequence was going to work. It was. And I was excited to get home to edit what would have been a very good composite.

But none of the images in the sequence were there. Somewhere in my button pushing, I deleted the sequence. They weren’t corrupt. I deleted them. I was wrecked. And the last image I had from his 110M Hurdle race is the one you see above. Thankfully, I may get another opportunity to capture a good sequence soon. I am so very impressed with this young man’s abilities.

There are, however, 716 photos that didn’t get deleted. 🙂 You will be able to find 67 of them over at PrepCalTrack.com, and the full album can be found here: 2023 Simi Valley Invitational. Remember, all proceeds from photo sales are donated to local youth track and field programs. I want to see more kids like Davis Davis-Lyric given the opportunity to learn this kind of form.

Jeff Turner

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