Kline anchors record day for DV relays

A dominant force all day, Desert Vista's John Kline earned the respect of his competitors.

That much was evident when a Mesa Mountain View runner came up to the senior, shook his hand, and posed a simple question.

"Are you a senior?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kline replied, nodding.

The Mountain View runner smiled. "Good," he said.

Kline won the 800-meter event on the first day of competition at the Class 5A-Division I state meet Thursday, then came back Saturday and helped the Thunder's 4-by-400 and 4-by-800 relay teams to all-Arizona records.

"John's just an incredibly special kid, and I mean that in every sense of the word," said DV co-coach Ryan Stanley. "He's a top student, a real character kid. He made a commitment to the sport that not only a lot of high school kids don't make but a lot of college kids don't make. He really does things right. The work, it paid off, and it showed what he put into it."

Kline, who set an all-Arizona record in the individual 800 at the Arcadia (Calif.) Invitational April 12, is headed to Arizona State University next season on a track scholarship.

His day started Saturday as the lone returning member of the 800 relay team that set the all-Arizona record of 7:47.99 at the 2007 5A-I state meet.

As the anchor, Kline didn't even know who his other teammates would be until Friday.

Stanley and Chris Hanson, DV's other co-coach, wanted to wait and see results of the individual 800 Thursday night. Anyone running sub-two minutes would get consideration.

Kline was a given. He hit 1:52.52. Darryl Banks, a junior, ran 1:57.53. Nick Rice, another junior, came in at 1:58.20.

No one else from DV ran under 2:00 at state. The final spot fell to Adam Estavillo, a junior, who had a personal record of 1:59 in the 800.

"If we all hit our splits, running sub-(1:59), we were going to break the record," said Estavillo, who would be running the 4-by-800 for only the third time this season. "My best time before this was 1:59, so every second I dropped would count and every second Darryl dropped counted."

One after another, Rice, then Banks, then Estavillo, all hit their marks perfectly. Estavillo's time of 1:56.7 shaved more than two seconds off his previous best.

As Kline lined up to take the baton for the final leg, the PA announcer at DV pointed out to the crowd that he was the state record-holder across all classes in the individual 800. But that's not what pumped Kline up.

"I saw the clock," he said. "I could see the clock. Usually those things tick pretty fast."

There was a chance at the record.

Kline ran a 1:51.3 on his split and DV had the record in 7:45.40.

As it turns out, "We got the right people to do it," Banks said.

Hours later, as the meet was nearing its end, the 4-by-400 was the final event of the 5A-I evening.

Banks and Kline were back, but Spencer Chase would be running the first leg and Allante Battle on the anchor, with the other two sandwiched in between.

Chase ran a 48.04, Banks a 50.92.

When it was Kline's turn on the third leg, Chandler had the lead in the event, with Mountain Pointe-transfer Markus Wheaton in front.

Kline took the baton. This time, it wasn't the clock that was his carrot.

"I had to go chase Markus," Kline said. "That's the only reason I was so fast. I had to go get him. Otherwise, I don't know what I would've done."

Kline caught Wheaton, ran a blazing 46.84 - standing up, not out of the blocks - and Battle followed that with a 47.44. DV had another record, going 3:13.50.

"It really shows how deep we are," Kline said. "We're not just two-three athletes that score points. We set records in both relays. That just shows the talent that we have."

"It's incredible," Chase added. "We've had some of the best guys I've ever seen come through the school all at once. That just doesn't happen every day. We expected those records tonight. Anything less would've been a disappointment."