Westlake's Primm blows by the competition

Cory Primm found sanctuary in a parking lot.

An hour before posting the fastest time in the nation this year in the boys' 800-meter final during last Saturday's CIF State Track and Field Championships, Primm could be spotted warming up in a large, empty parking structure adjacent to the stadium at Cerritos College.

Because many of the late-season track meets had taken place at Cerritos, it became a ritual for the 17-year-old Westlake junior to head out to the unfilled space and get ready to run.

"There are all these blooming jacaranda trees," Primm said. "I like to go out there and just run around the parking lot, it's about a mile and a half. It was easy to get into the grove out there."

Unfortunately for his opponents on the sweltering Saturday afternoon at State, Primm decided to leave the comfort of his hideaway and actually enter the arena, whereupon he blew past the competition en route to a dominating 800 finals performance.

"I knew I'd won with about 300 (meters) to go because I still had a kick and no one was next to me," he said.

"It just felt good to go out and not only win it, but to do it where I didn't have to come from behind the last 200 meters," Primm said. "I didn't do anything that was tactically cheap, so I don't have to look back on it and feel bad about anything I did."

Primm's time of 1 minute, 50.53 seconds catapulted him into an elite field of 14 California high school track and field athletes that hold national-best scores this year.

He also became one of only two Westlake athletes to ever win a state track and field title.

In 1984, Kenny Burke captured a state championship in the high jump with a leap of 7 feet.

WHS co-head coach Joe Snyder said Primm's preparation for the race was impeccable, and once the young man stepped onto the track, his execution was perfect.

"It was a very well-executed plan," Snyder said. "We'd practiced for that kind of a race. We basically felt he was capable of going high 1:49 or at least 1:50. Everything just kind of pointed to that."

Snyder said that as good as Primm was during the race, he was humble and courteous afterward, displaying the class of a true champion.

"That's an important thing, an important quality," the coach said. "That's what really makes a guy like that special to have in your program-the way he acts."

As a sophomore in 2005, Primm also qualified for the state finals in the 800 but finished in last place. He said the biggest difference between last year's result and winning this year was being properly prepared and having self confidence.

"Last year I felt like I had to put extra effort into it," Primm said. "This year I knew I had to do what I'd always been doing."

Before he embarks on his quest for back-to-back state titles, Primm said he's going to take some time off.

"I'll start thinking about that stuff next year," he said.

"That's the thing I learned this year . . . it doesn't matter what I think right now," he said. "If I don't think it right before the next race, right then, it won't matter at all. I have to make sure I'm in the right place when I'm at that point.

To watch Primm's winning race online, visit the website www.DyeStatCal.com.