Track and field, at its essence, is an individual sport.

The names of legends flutter in the air, each syllable rolling off the tongue like magic spells. Jesse Owens. Steve Prefontaine. Usain Bolt. They are track gods who walk on water and run through fire, exploding through the finish line at Mount Olympus.

The 4x400-meter relay, however, takes teamwork. It takes four athletes working harmoniously, handing the baton with flawless precision.

Westlake High’s boys’ 4x400 relay team has found that fifth gear.

Michael Purdy, Ryan Finch, Jonathon Cantle and Sean O’Bryan will represent the Warriors in the 4x400 relay at this weekend’s CIF State Track and Field Championships at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis. Jimmy De Mello and Mikey Giguere are valuable alternates.

“This is just a great group of good, hard workers,” Westlake sprints coach Gil Carrillo said.

A strong race on Friday will propel the fantastic four into Saturday night’s finals. The Warriors, who are all honors students, want to earn a top-five podium finish.

Westlake earned a trip to state with a memorable race at Masters last weekend at Cerritos College.

The quartet finished the relay at Masters in 3 minutes, 16.72 seconds, a school record that was also good for second place to Long Beach Poly. The Warriors’ shattered their previous best time by two seconds—an eon in track and field. The foursome completed the 4x400 in 3:18.66 last spring.

“All four ran an incredible race,” Carrillo said of the Masters performance. “The guys have come together as a group. They pulled it together.”

Purdy embodies the group’s tenacity, but he almost missed the postseason ride.

On May 22, the day before the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 finals, Purdy was a passenger in an automobile accident.

Purdy said he suffered a mild concussion as a front seat passenger in a sedan that collided with a parked pickup truck. His head whipped back before his head struck the dashboard. He walked away from the car, vomiting onto a grass lawn. He did not compete at the Division 2 meet.

“It was so painful, I felt it in my chest,” Purdy said. “I had a headache all day. My neck was hurting all day. I was scared.”

Purdy thought he had a compression fracture in a vertebra in his neck, an injury that would sideline him for the rest of his junior season. The MRI came back negative, however, and he was cleared for physical activity on Wednesday of last week. He ran at practice that night but didn’t run again until the Masters meet.

“I didn’t run my fastest, but close to it,” Purdy said. “My legs didn’t hurt, and I almost ran a 50-second split. I know I can go sub-50.”

Before the car accident, Purdy, who runs the third leg, said he missed roughly half of the regular season with two separate injuries.

“I didn’t have that good a season, in my opinion,” Purdy said bluntly.

Battling adversity pushes the Warrior.

“This motivates me to run so much faster next year,” Purdy said. “I’m going to train all summer, nonstop.”

In the eighth grade, Purdy and Cantle won the 4x400 at an area tournament with Agoura United youth track club. Purdy, who grew up playing basketball and soccer, is a youth leader in a confirmation program at St. Jude the Apostle Catholic Community church in Westlake.

Finch has enjoyed a meteoric rise on the track.

The junior runs the anchor leg for the relay team. At Masters, he ran the fourth-fastest 400 in Ventura County history, clocking in at 47.86 seconds and fifth place. He qualified for state in the 400.

“We’ve been working hard all season,” Finch said. “It feels good to have our hard work pay off.”

The stout competition at Masters brought out the Warriors’ best.

“We knew we had the potential to race fast,” Finch said. “We were all dialed in before the race. Masters is a big meet. We had that much more intensity, we had that much more drive.”

Finch joined the track team as a sophomore. He grew up playing baseball and soccer, and patrolled shortstop at Westlake as a freshman. He’s also run on the cross country team all three years of high school.

The Warrior relishes running anchor slot, saying the pressure pushes him to run faster. Finch thrives in the biggest moments.

“He’s a guy who can bring us to first from fifth place,” Cantle said of Finch.

Finch is active in the Homeless Helpers club. He enjoys playing ping pong and going to the beach in his free time.

Cantle runs the second leg in the 4x400. The junior said the Warriors are fine-tuning details this week at practice. The regimen is simple.

“Speed workouts,” Cantle said. “Drink a lot of water. Ice baths. Eat healthy.”

The Warriors have peaked at the right time.

“We’re underdogs,” said Cantle, who runs cross country. “We stand out from everyone else. Look at some of these teams. Just looking at us, you don’t expect us to be fast.”

Cantle was born in Stirling, Scotland. At age 9, he moved to his parents’ hometown of Bristol, England, and settled in the United States at 13. Cantle’s brother, Ben, is a Viewpoint freshman who enjoys playing rugby. Cantle enjoys swimming and spending time with friends, and he’s active in Helpers for Shelters club.

O’Bryan is one of the most accomplished athletes in Westlake history.

The lone senior on the relay team helped the cross country team win a state title in 2012 and take second place the following fall. He’s capping his brilliant prep career with his first trip to the track state meet.

“It’s a big accomplishment,” O’Bryan said. “I’m so proud of it.”

O’Bryan, the first leg in the 4x400 relay, snagged Ventura County and Marmonte League championships in the 300 hurdles this spring.

He will run and jump hurdles at the U.S. Air Force Academy for assistant coach Allen Johnson, who won a gold medal in the 110 hurdles during the 1996 Olympics.

“I’m excited to learn from the best,” O’Bryan said. “He’s going to make me a much better athlete.”

O’Bryan said the Warriors are ready to race against the finest athletes in California.

“We’re going to be with the best of the best,” O’Bryan said. “It will be so much different than even Masters. It’s a way faster field, but I think we can pull off another P.R.”

O’Bryan’s brother Neil is a Westlake hurdler who will study engineering at UC Santa Barbara. The youngest O’Bryan brother, Ross, is a Warrior freshman who plays football and lacrosse.

Sean O’Bryan grew up playing soccer and baseball—he and Finch were rivals in Thousand Oaks Little League. O’Bryan is active in Homeless Helpers Club and Operation Gratitude. He volunteers at homeless shelters and is an Agoura United assistant coach.

Purdy, Finch, Cantle and O’Bryan are ready to run at state.

“We need to stay relaxed and keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Finch said. “Going up against the best teams in the state will push us even more.”