By Mark Wang
High school junior Daniel Maton ran 1:52.89 in the 800 meters at the Oregon Twilight Meet on Friday competing unattached, and it wasn’t his first time racing with college and post college guys.
He said he had seen a lot of these guys at Portland Twilight, where he ran his 800 personal record of 1 minute, 51 seconds, and that Friday night that the pace was a bit slow. He still won his heat comfortably at Oregon Twilight by over a second and took seventh in the overall 800 in an event dominated by collegians and post collegians.
Sam Prakel of Oregon won the 800 in 1:49.57. He finished 0.1 ahead of fellow Duck James West.
Maton said his progress has been good and that he is gearing up for the Brooks National meet, which is set for June 8 in Seattle. He finished eighth in the 800 last year at that meet in 1:53.80.
“I got into Brooks — now I want to win it,” he said. He is going to nationals for the mile, in which he has the No. 2 time in 4:08.32. He thinks he can get down to 4:03.
Maton said he’s been getting into the part of the season where he is transitioning into more speed to prep for some of the upcoming big meets, including Brooks. But he isn’t dropping down in significant mileage: He will still be logging 60-mile weeks.
He said he enjoys running on Hayward and has a good connection to Hayward since his brother Matthew is on the Oregon squad. Daniel ran at Hayward Field for the Oregon Relays earlier this season running on his high school’s DMR team.
“A lot of the guys know me and tell me good luck before I race,” he said.
Maton also had his good luck charm on him, a medal of St. Daniel he said he wears for every race.
