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Fire & Fury on the frontlines UCSB decathlon champ Derek Masterson faces new challenges with County Fire
SB Unified meets Tuesday, other county schools open By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
COURTESY PHOTO
Derek Masterson, right, also shown below, takes a break during the Woolsey Fire at an overlook near Malibu with Santa Barbara County Fire crewmate Skyler Lyons.
By MARK PATTON NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER
Derek Masterson wasn’t as hot on becoming a fireman as the other boys in Placerville. Sometimes he’d picture himself as an architect, and other times as a mechanical engineer. “Or maybe as a championship motorcycle rider,” said Masterson, whose appetite for all things physical led him to a record-setting career in the decathlon for the UCSB track and field team. But firefighter? The one he knew from his old neighborhood breathed fire every time he saw young Derek. “I really didn’t get along with him when I was growing up,” Masterson said. “He’d seen a lot in his life and he didn’t like me riding my dirt bike around his property. We had a couple of stern talking-to’s. “I guess you could say he educated me.” So did UCSB … and then so did the Fire Academy at Hancock College. “I wound up falling into firefighting,” he said with a laugh, “just like I kind of fell into the decathlon.” And now Masterson, who led the Gauchos to their only Big West Conference track and field championship in 2012, is on the frontlines battling the blitzkrieg of wildfires that have ravaged the West Coast this summer. “It’s been my busiest season, by far,” said Masterson, who is in his third summer with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. “We were in Lompoc a few days ago, and up at the Mineral Fire before that. “We’ve been on the Carmel Fire and
we put another crew on the Creek Fire. When we get a resource order, we go where we’re needed.” He tried three majors at UCSB — physics, biology, and mechanical engineering — before graduating in 2013 with a degree in environmental science. He also scoped out several career paths. He was a decathlete in all phases of life. “I run a chainsaw crew now,” Masterson said. “My job is to go cut stuff down and build fuel breaks. Technically, my job title is fire control worker-slash-extra help. “You’re kind of a jack of all trades and master of none.” He is the decathlete of the fire department. Cody Fleming, UCSB’s head coach for track and field, wasn’t as surprised by his career choice as a young Masterson might have been. “He was pulled in by the challenge of the decathlon — it was the perfect way for him to test himself as an athlete — and that’s what he’s doing now as a wildland firefighter,” Fleming said. “This is probably far more grueling, but that’s also what draws him in. “I thought it was a perfect fit for Derek.” Masterson’s grit while pole vaulting on one leg at the 2012 Big West Championships is the stuff of legends around UCSB’s Pauley Track. “He’d won the decathlon the previous week, but we also really needed him to place in the long jump, the javelin and the pole vault to finish ahead of Long Beach State — and he did in all three,” Fleming recalled. “He was pushing full steam ahead in one of his last vaults but his hamstring didn’t agree and he went down.”
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Masterson persevered to clear 15 feet, 5 inches and earn critical points for the Gauchos. “It was enough to help us win,” Fleming said. “His teammates recognized him as their captain and he carried it home for everyone.” Masterson overcame even more aches and pains to repeat as the Big West decathlon champion in 2013. “The decathlon is an injury waiting to happen, but he pieced it together and had a very good javelin throw,” Fleming said. “He won the conference title by having to battle through every event. “It’s funny, but when I look back at Derek’s career, his most impressive moments came when his body was hanging by a thread.” Those injuries did hinder him from making the 2013 NCAA Championships. He missed qualifying by just 30 points. His UCSB’s coaches felt so badly that they gave him one last fling as a Gaucho when his body finally healed, entering him in that summer’s Texas Greatest Athlete Meet. “Derek bled and sweat for this program for five years and put his personal score aside to help his team,” Fleming said at the time. “Pete (Dolan, UCSB’s former head coach) and I both agreed that now that he was healthy and ready to roll, we would give him another go at it.” Masterson wound up scoring 7,613 points in Dallas to set the modernday Gaucho record for the decathlon. (UCSB also recognizes the mark of 7,660 that Tom Harris set in 1980 with scoring tables that were changed in 1985). “It got a little dicey when Derek fouled on his first two long jumps, but
The Santa Barbara Unified School District’s meeting Tuesday should address concerns regarding its latest reopening policy. On Sept. 14, the district announced it would not apply for a reopening waiver but would welcome small cohorts into schools. Groups must be 14 or fewer students per classroom, and the district will be catering the groups to the community’s needs, Superintendent Hilda Maldonado said in a News-Press interview. Students invited to small cohorts are those identified to need extra help, like high school seniors behind on credits or special education students. Football, cross country, volleyball, water polo and sideline cheer practices begin today. Athletes must stay six-feet apart and bring their own equipment. The district will also address its solar-energy project Tuesday. It plans to discuss contracting ENGIE Services, a sustainable energy company that’s worked in private and public sectors. ENGIE has provided services to local school districts, like South San Francisco Unified, and businesses like Walmart. The project would allow the district to power all school buildings through stored energy, in case of a power outage. Following a 5 1/2-hour meeting on Sept. 8, the board released a new policy on public comments. The period for public comments is limited to 20 minutes per agenda item, and controversial issues will be discussed in separate board meetings. COVID-19 updates will be given at 7 p.m. each meeting. In other school- district news, the California Department of Public Health approved waivers Friday from the Dunn School in Los Olivos, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the Notre Dame School in Santa Barbara. Cold Springs School in Montecito opens Tuesday. St. Raphael School in Santa Barbara and St. Mary of the Assumption School in Santa Maria open Wednesday. Providence School will open to kindergarten today and will welcome one additional grade each day starting Wednesday. Sept. 30 will be the first day with K-6 in the building. email: ahanshaw@newspress.com
Football, cross country, volleyball, water polo and sideline cheer practices begin today. Athletes must stay six-feet apart and bring their own equipment.
then he came through and cut loose with a real nice 22-footer,” Fleming recalled. Masterson continued training with the Santa Barbara Track Club and former Gaucho coach Josh Priester. His ninth-place finish at the 2014 USA Track & Field Championships in Sacramento punched his ticket to Canada in 2015 to compete with the U.S. National Team. “That was the pinnacle, competing at the Pan Am Games in Toronto,” Masterson said. “That was amazing, strapping up to represent the U.S.” He came back down from that sporting high in 2016. “I missed going to the Olympic Trials by two spots,” Masterson recalled. Please see gaucho on A8
Vigil for Ruth Bader Ginsburg held at courthouse By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Women’s March Santa Barbara, Planned Parenthood Central Coast Action Fund and the Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee hosted a vigil for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Saturday night at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. More than 200 people attended, and six women spoke as images of Justice Ginsburg were projected on the side of the courthouse building. She died Friday of complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer. She was 87. email: ahanshaw@newspress.com
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