Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: Burlingame’s Avah Reichow

“Watching her in person … was just like awesome for me,” Reichow said. “I was in awe of her.”

With her 2023 debut Saturday at the K-Bell Track and Field Classic at Westmont High School in Campbell, the Burlingame junior showed some immediate potential for the hurdles, and then some. Reichow not only took first place in the girls’ 300-meter hurdles, she was the only runner to log a sub-50-second time, hitting the tape in 48.78 seconds.

It’s a time that almost guarantees Reichow will be running the 300 hurdles long-term, according to Burlingame head coach Chris Coleman

“Her results in the 300 were very promising. … It puts her in the conversation for postseason for sure,” Coleman said.

Coleman is a former hurdler himself. And the 12th year Burlingame coach found it a bit peculiar Reichow returned from summer break asking to take on one of the most excruciating events on the track.

“This is a little bit unusual,” Coleman said. “A lot of times we get some hurdlers, but they usually start freshman or sophomore year. … From the standpoint of a sprinter, a pure sprinter, this is a little bit unusual.”

It isn’t like Reichow doesn’t have potential as a sprinter. She reached the Central Coast Section podium last season in the 400, taking fifth place in 59.32, a personal record. She also helped the 4x400 girls’ relay team to a second-place finish at the CCS championships.

Reichow said she still intends to compete in the 400 and the 4x400 relay. Saturday was her first meet of the season, after all, so her itinerary is still a work in progress. But the fact that Burlingame needs hurdlers can only help her gravitate more toward her hero McLaughlin’s discipline.

“We don’t have too many hurdlers at my school, so I just wanted to be able to represent my school in a new event,” Reichow said.

Burlingame didn’t send a team to Campbell over the weekend. In fact, Reichow was the only competitor representing the school at the annual early-season glimpse of the broader CCS pool.

It was a rainy day at Westmont, however. To make matters worse, the rain began to settle down prior to Reichow’s debut in the 300 hurdles, only to turn on a dime when she stepped to the starting line.

“It was a little annoying that it started pouring right for my race … but you kind of get used to it,” Reichow said.

Reichow said the rain caused her to run less focused than she would have liked. Still, she jumped out to a big lead off the opening gun, running a flawless race for the opening 150 meters. She never saw the rest of the field, so didn’t see the second-place finisher, Dublin senior Lanae Garrison, closing the distance over the final 150 meters.

Reichow still topped Garrison by over one-and-a-half seconds. However, Reichow didn’t find out her final time right away as there was a clock malfunction. She only knew she had won the race.

“I wasn’t really aware of what my time was because they actually had some timing issues,” Reichow said. “So, everybody was waiting to see what it was.”

Several hours passed before the times were announced, Reichow said. But the wait was worth it.

“Shocked, but pleased,” Reichow said of her reaction. “Honestly, since it was my first race, I didn’t really have anything to go off of. Shocked, just because I didn’t realize I was capable of that for my first race, and I was pleased that it was such a good time.”