City Track and Field Finals : The Tape Breaks, a Streak Shatters and Bridgewater Wins the 200

It was a rare race, the kind where fans in the bleachers craned their necks to get a better look at warmups and practice starts. They weren’t standing in silence, though. Most were speculating on the outcome.

The favorite was Quincy Watts, the two-time defending state champion in the 200-meter dash. The star from Taft High School in Woodland Hills had never lost to Bryan Bridgewater, a streak that reaches somewhere near 15 meetings, and Coach Tom Stevenson was saying hours earlier that he had never seen Watts more ready for a race.

Bridgewater, however, surprised everyone with a victory in the 200 at the City finals Thursday evening at Birmingham High in Van Nuys, the same race in which he was disqualified last season after a false start.

So make no mistake about the new champion. Bridgewater, from Washington of Los Angeles, took the 100 and 200, anchored the 1,600 relay team to a victory and held off Watts to anchor the Generals’ win in the 400 relay. Largely because of that, Washington broke Taft’s two-year reign as team champion, scoring 77 points to beat second-place Chatsworth by 13 points and third-place Taft by 37.

Locke of Los Angeles, with strong showings in the sprint and distance races, didn’t get much of a challenge in claiming its fifth consecutive girls’ title. The Saints were awarded 93 points to beat Dorsey of Los Angeles (64), El Camino Real of Woodland Hills (37) and San Fernando (32).

The boys’ 200 was the highlight of the day. Bridgewater’s time of 20.89 was hindered by a stiff wind, but he controlled the race against his friend from start to finish, taking a 2-meter lead off the turn and never losing much.

“I was just running the curve like I was told,” said Bridgewater, unemotional as ever. “It felt all right.”

Not to Watts, who last lost a championship race in California at the state 100-meter final in 1986. The No. 1-ranked sprinter in the country for 1987 by Track & Field News, he ran 21.14, said his legs felt heavy in the last half of the race He also called it the biggest defeat of his impressive career.

At the same time, he knew he had to relinquish his title as king of the sprinters in California.

“Yeah,” he said, “for right now. Until the state meet.”