DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:

If there’s one thing Corona del Mar High senior Shelby Buckley has as much as running ability, it may be perspective.

Buckley won the varsity girls’ 800-meter race at the Orange County Championships on April 19, finishing in 2 minutes, 16.37 seconds. She was second in the 1,600, finishing in 4:52.28.

The Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week knew her winning 800 time wasn’t eye-catching. Last year at the OC Championships, she ran a 2:12.36, the third-best time in meet history. Her best in the event is a 2:09.66, a winning time that helped the Corona del Mar girls win their third straight CIF Southern Section Division III title last May.

Buckley’s time at the OC Championships was over a second better than second-place finisher Ariana Selix of Esperanza, however, which was the most important thing.

“You can’t really worry about both getting first and your time,” the UCLA-bound Buckley said. “You usually have to pick one. Coach just told me to win, so I was behind the lead until one lap to go. We just went out way too slow to get a good time.”

In the 1,600, her time was the fifth best in meet history, but it wasn’t enough to stop Woodbridge senior Christine Babcock from winning the event for the second straight year.

Even then, Buckley prefers to see it as a positive.

“It’s good,” she said. “Christine’s really good competition. I always know she’ll never have an off-day, so it’s really good to have her out there. I treat her as a positive. I know I’ll have good times when I race her.”

Buckley is always seeing the big picture, CdM Coach Bill Sumner said. It’s been that way since she transferred to the Sea Kings from Rosary after her freshman year. At Rosary, Buckley won the individual state Division III cross country title as a freshman. She said it’s still her favorite athletic moment, even though she now prefers track to cross country.

Since Buckley came to CdM, the Sea Kings girls have won three straight Division III cross country titles and three straight Division III track and field titles.

But it’s her questions that might be the most amazing to Sumner.

“She doesn’t ask easy questions,” Sumner said. “It’s not, ‘Hey coach, what are we doing today?’ She’ll say, ‘If I’m here now, how will I be where I want to be in 37 days, and what’s the process to get there?’ She has a lot of passion, a lot of intensity. Her questions are big-picture questions. It’s hard to get kids to think long-term. Most of them, long-term is Saturday.

“But if you’re comfortable and confident as a coach, you usually have that [plan]. If you have a big plan and get that kind of athlete, it’s a good fit.”

It’s been an interesting fit this year for Buckley. Annie St. Geme graduated two years ago, Hilary May and Sarah Cummings last year. Buckley and Duke-bound Allison Damon have been senior leaders for Corona del Mar, but Damon has been recovering from mononucleosis.

Last year at the Pacific Coast League finals, CdM became the nation’s first team to have four girls — Damon, Buckley, May, and Cummings — run the 1,600 in under five minutes. This year, Buckley has often been the only girl training in the mile.

Sumner said he’s also had her training some with Coroan del Mar sophomore Sebastien Welch.

“It’s just been a totally different year,” Buckley said. “It’s been fun, but it seems like it’s been slow to get started with good times.”

She said she wants to go under 4:40 in the 1,600 and under 2:08 in the 800 by the end of the year. She does well at peaking at the end of the season. Last year, Buckley broke a 17-year old record with her time of 4:48.69 in the Division III 1,600 finals. At the state meet, she bettered that time by over three seconds.

Sumner said he thought her goals seem obtainable. After all, borrowing one of Sumner’s favorite phrases over the last couple of years, “This is Shelby Buckley.”

“This is Shelby Buckley,” Sumner said. “When Shelby Buckley walks to the line, everyone pays attention. She has a great arsenal. She can do the mile 10 or 15 different ways.”

Buckley is excited to bring that kind of talent to UCLA next year. Her older sister, Lindsay, runs track for USC, but Shelby said the rivalry’s not really a big deal to her yet.

Of course, while she said that Thursday at the CdM track, she was wearing a navy blue UCLA sweater.

“I mean, I have to represent a little,” she said. “My sister and I, we make little jokes here and there about how her football team’s so good and how our basketball team wasso good. Our nephew [Brooklyn], I bought him UCLA gear, and Lindsay bought him USC gear. It’s just really fun. I’m really excited for next year.”

But first, Buckley is scripting a great ending to this year, beginning with league finals next week.

“Everybody’s different, so you lead by different ways,” Buckley said. “I think Allison and I are more the quiet leaders. It’s been fun taking on all the different character roles throughout the years, as sophomores, juniors and seniors.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].