Meet Summary Story

By Mike Kennedy
Special Correspondent, ESPN RISE/DyeStatCal

        Michael Woepse of Mater Dei (Santa Ana) came into the meet with the best indoor pole vault in the nation at 16-6 and then bettered that with a clean clearance at a personal  best of 16-7 at the California Indoor Invitational at Save Mart Center in Fresno.. He then teased the fans with two very close misses at 17-0 and a very solid third attempt. Junior  Ian Rock of Davis was second and Andrew Ramay of Liberty (Bakersfield) were second and third, both at 14-6. Last year Rock’s best was 12-9 and Ramey’s best was 12-10.

        Junior Melia  Cox of Poly (Long Beach) capped off a dynamite meet with a nation-leading 40-1½  to win the triple jump, defeating Tessa Runels of James Logan (Union City) at 38-9 3/4 and Olympia Jewett of Culver City, at 37-9¾.

        Earlier in the meet, Cox narrowly upset Kori Carter of Claremont, 7.99 to 8.02 in the 55-meter hurdles. Carter got out  of  the blocks just behind Cox and almost pulled even before Cox powered away over the final hurdles. Carter is the defending State champion and national leader for the 100-meter hurdles at 13.59. Katie Nelms of Leland (San Jose), who finished second to Carter at the State meet, was third 8.20 and Shanice Stawart of Carter (Fontana) at 8.29. Cox’s time makes her the second-fastest runner in the nation with the second fastest time. Carter is now the third-fastest performer in the nation with the third best performance. Cox had the fastest prelim time at 8.05

        As usual the short sprints and hurdles on both the boys and girls side thrilled the crowd. The girls 55-meter dash had promised to be a very competitive race but then lost some of its luster when Jessica Davis of Highland (Palmdale), the state runner up in 100 meters in 2009, false started in the first heat of the prelims.  In separate heats, Jenna Puterbaugh of  Encinitas had the fastest time in the prelims at 7.10 followed by  Valexsia Droughn of Rio Mesa at 7.16. Droughn was the State champion for 100 meters but Puterbaugh had upset her in a late January all-comers qualifying meet. In the final, Droughn was out well but Puterbaugh prevailed in the final five meters, 7.02 to 7.03. The times are No. 4 and equal No. 5 in the nation.

        In the boys 55-meter hurdles, Devon Blackmon of Summit (Fontana), who is the starting quarterback on the football team, had the early lead before  clobbering the third hurdle, which allowed Monte Corley of James Logan (Union City) to take control of the race and pull away for a convincing, 7.45 to 7.52 win over R.J. Frazier. Angell Mayfield  of Weston Ranch (Stockton) was third at 7.62. Blackmon was last  in 9.51. Corley’s time ranks No. 7 in the nation. R.J. Frasier of Jesuit (Carmichael) and Kyle Middlebrooks of Fountain Valley  were the co-leaders in qualify for the 55-meter dash at 6.45. Based on Middlebrooks’ quickness of the blocks  and his second place in last year’s State meet 100, he figured to have the edge but at 30 meters is was Frasier who pulled away for a convincing 6.38 to 6.43 win. Frasier’s time ranks No. 15 in the nation.

        The girls pole vault saw Kortney Ross of Westview (San Diego) and Victoria Rische of Foothill (Santa Ana) tied for first at 12-0 with Mackenzi Landry of Del Campo (Loomis) third at the same height. Ross and Rische then vaulted off to determine the champion. Both vaulters then made 12-6 before missing at 12-9. Ross, the defending State champion with a best of 13-4, then won with a 12-6 clearance. For Rische it was a lifetime best as both vaulters moved to No. 3 on the national indoor list.

        Senior Harrison Steed of JSerra (San Juan Capistrano), who just two weeks ago cleared 7-2½ outdoors in qualifying for the California Indoor Invitational, was over 6-10 to win the high jump and move into No. 2 on the national indoor list. Maurice Spikes of  St. Mary’s (Berkeley) was second at 6-4 and Michael Staab of Madera was third at 6-4. Malia Cravens of Temecula Valley (Temecula) won the girls event at 5-6, followed by Stephanie Armstrong of  Live Oak (Morgan Hill) and Sarah Una Die of Gilroy, who tied for second at 5-2.

        For Junior Jantzen Oshier of Trabuco Hills (Mission Viejo), who had a solid sophomore season with best of 1:56.44 and 4:19.0, a very successful cross country season appears to have had a very positive effect. Running the mile, he opened up with a 62-second quarter, running alone, and then followed that with a 2:07.0 for 800 and 4:11.0 for 1,200. He appeared to struggle over the final 400 but given his finishing time of 4:16.97 it is not a stretch to think that he could dip under 4:10.0 for 1,600 meters this spring. Eamonn McCarey of Clairemont (San Diego) was second in 4:28.10 and Daniel Herrera of El Rancho (Pico Rivera) was fourth at 4:30.92.  Dani Moreno of Warren (Downey) took the lead and held off all comers, most notably Ashley Roberts of Riverside, 5:16.40 to 5:18.48.

        In action away from the track at the Livestock Pavillion, Kasey Kraychir of Twenty-nine Palms upset her sister in the 20-pound weight throw, 60-1 ½ to 54-4 ½. The toss by Kasey moves her into sixth on the all-time high school list and second on the yearly list. Brad Bolton of El Toro (Lake Forest) won the boys 25-pount weight throw at 59-6 ¾. Kody Robison of Long Beach was second at 58-3 ¼.

In the shot put, which was also conducted at the Livestock Pavillion, Jasmine Burrell of North (Torrance), who was not on the original entry list but had  a previous best of 45-1½, was the girls winner at 45-1. Lacie Rasley of Shafter was second at 43-8 ¼ and Chioma Amaechi of Lincoln (San Francisco) was third at 43-5. Burrell now ranks No. 5 on the national yearly indoor list. Jeremy Hines of Jesuit (Carmichael) won the boys shot put with a toss of 59-0½. Nicholas Scarvelis of Dos Pueblos (Goleta) was third at 57-01 and Bolton was third at 55-        In the boys 800, Myles Andrews  of Poly (Long Beach) and Greg Dotson of Burbank had the early lead, passed in 57.5. Shortly thereafter Jason Coupe of Galt took the lead only to seed Dodson move to the front and just held off the late charge of Coupe, 1:57.52 to 1:57.71. Ray Noble of Valley View (Moreno Valley) was third at 1:59.05 and Luke Decker of Serra (San Juan Capistrano) was fourth at 1:59.49. Paisley Pettway of Millikan (Long Beach), who was third in the State meet in 2009 at 2:08.57, pulled away just after 400 meters to win easily in 2:16.98. Tiffany Lamar of Paramount edged in front of Dynasty Gammage of Poly (Long Beach) in the final strides, 2:18.73 to 2:18.75. 

Devin Harrison of Dana Hills (Dana Point), who has a best legal mark of 23-8 outdoors, won the long jump at 23-4 ¼ to move into No. 9 on the yearly national indoor list. Kdayle Robinson of Hesperia was second at 22-8¼  and Jeremy Thompson of Maria Carrillo (Santa Rosa) was third at 22-4. Justin Livingood of Summit (Fontana) won the triple jump at 46-6¼ followed by Corey Winston of Poly (Long Beach) and Victor Johnson of James Logan (Union City)  at 46-0¾. Junior Johnny Carter of Ridgeview (Bakersfield), who two years ago was the state meet champion,  had no fair jump but did have two long fouls. Freshmen ruled in the girls long jump. Kira Moreland of Etiwanda, who won two national long jump titles last year, was the winner at 18-7¾  and Kendall Gustafson of Los Angeles was second at 17-9. Celestine Jones of Avenal was third a t 18-2. 

           The fans were denied a tasty matchup in the boys 600-meter race when Josh Mance of Chino Hills (Chino), who has a best of 46.22 for 400 meters, was a late scratch. However, Chad Rozean of Trabuco Hills (Mission Viejo), who tipped to give Mance a race, found himself in a tight battle with Brandon Phillips of Irvine but came on well off the final turn to grab the win, 1:14.72 to 1:14.93. Devante Dubose of Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) had the third fastest time at 75.23 in a separate heat.

           Senior Chizoba Okodogbe of Deer Valley (Antioch), who was fifth in the under-18 World Youth championships over 400 meters while representing Nigeria, and freshman Chimere Ezumah of Serra (Gardena) were the front runners with one lap, at which point Ezumah took the lead. In a mad scramble over the final 40 meters Okodogbe prevailed over Ezumah, 1:27.31 to 1:27.35, just in front of the fast closing Jordan Diaz of Leigh (San Jose).              

           Justin Vilhauer of Redwood (Visalia) was never seriously challenged in the two-mile, running 9:27.94 to defeat Reesey Byers of Santa Rosa HS, at 9:30.62. Sophomore Darren Fahy of La  Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) was third at 9:33.51. Sierra Vega of Foothill (Santa Ana) pulled away  for  the final 1,200 to win easily the girls' two-mile in 11:11.33. Amber Murakami of Saugus was second at 11:15.98 and Mariel Mendoza  of J.W. North (Riverside) was third at 11:26.25. 

          The final events of the evening were the 4 x 400-meter relays and they did not disappoint. In the boys race it was primarily a two-team race that saw Rio Mesa (Oxnard) come from being to just edge Poly (Long Beach), 3:31.49 to 3:31.52. Summit (Fontana) was third at 3:36.40. In the girls race, Poly (Long Beach) was a fairly easy winner over Serra (Gardena), 4:01.37 to 4:04.62. The real news was that running the second leg for Poly was Azia Walker. Last year Walker win the Ohio State Division I title with a personal best of 54.78. The splits for Poly were Gammage, 61.4, Walker 59.7, Erica Winston 59.5 and Akawkaw  Ndipagbor  60.7. Deer Valley (Antioch), running in another race, had the third fastest time at 4:09.35.

           Earlier, in the rarely run 4 x 145-meter relay Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga) had the fastest time for the boys at 1:07.59 and Laguna Creek (Elk Grove), running in a separate race, was second fastest at 1:08.05. Poly (Long Beach) had the fastest girls time at 1:14.37 defeating Serra (Gardena) at 75.80. Los Osos had the third fastest time of 1:16.49 in a separate heat.