Arcadia Track Invitational : Carter’s Winning Shotput of 63-2 3/4 Is Best in Nation This Year

Kaleaph Carter of Edison High School threw the shotput 63 feet 2 3/4 inches, the best mark in the nation this season, to win the event at the Arcadia Invitational track and field meet Saturday night at Arcadia High School.

Carter, a senior, surpassed his previous best, 63-0, that he set as the runner-up at the 1987 state meet last June. He achieved his winning mark in his very first attempt. Carter followed with marks of 62-7, 62-10, 61-6 and 63-0.

“I’m happy I won, and I’m glad I got a personal record,” Carter said. “But I had a lot left in me. I can feel a 65 or 66 in me. I think you’re going to see it very soon. Probably next week.”

That would be at the Mt. Carmel Invitational, next Saturday at Mt. Carmel High School. There, Carter will again meet sophomore Brent Noon of Fallbrook, who finished second Saturday night with a mark of 62-0. Rick Fuller of El Monte Arroyo was third at 60-9 1/2.

Allison Franke of Canyon placed second in the girls’ discus with a throw of 149-6. Bakersfield’s Melisa Weis won the event at 160-11, the second-best mark in the nation this season.

Franke also long jumped a non-placing 16-11 1/2, a personal best.

In the boys’ 3,200-meters, Marina’s Shanon Winkelman bettered his personal best by a half-second as he placed fifth in 9:03.79.

Winkelman, who along with Corona del Mar’s Eddie Lavelle cruised the first 1 1/2 miles in eighth and ninth place, couldn’t catch eventual winner Ian Alsen (8:59.54, the fastest time in the nation this year) of Granada Hills.

But Winkelman, who was in ninth with 800 meters to go, surged with 400 meters remaining and passed four runners en route to the finish line.

Lavelle finished 10th in 9:10.

“My last 400 was awesome,” said Winkelman, who ran the final 400 in 58 seconds. “I’ve never even done a last lap of a mile that fast.”

In the boys’ 1,600 meters, Corona del Mar’s Jim Robbins finished third in 4:13.12, a personal best by more than three seconds and the fastest time in Orange County this season. Alsen, the 1987 Kinney regional cross-country champion, won in 4:09.67, the nation’s fastest outdoor 1,600 meter time this season.

Robbins, a senior, was in seventh place with 400 meters to go. With 300 meters remaining, Robbins swung wide around the turn, passed four runners, and held his kick to the finish line.

“I wanted to stay in the top five for the first lap,” Robbins said. “But we kind of got clumped together; it was hard to get around them. I’m happy though.”

Newport Harbor’s Jim Geerlings, the 1987 Southern Section 3-A 1,600-meter champion, was fifth in 4:15.3, also a personal best.

David Noel of Edison, who last Thursday vaulted a personal best and state-leading mark of 16-4, finished sixth at 15-0. Todd Lehman of North Phoenix (Ariz.) won at 16-6, the second-best mark in the nation this year.

Newport Harbor’s R.W. Hensen, who wasn’t able to warm up as he arrived at the meet just as the vault began, finished eighth, also at 15-0.

Track and Field Notes

In the girls’ 1,600 meters, Mater Dei’s Lynne Hagen (11th) and Corona del Mar’s Leslie Cashion (12th) found themselves in the fastest race of their careers as the race leader, Laurie Gomez of Boardman (Youngstown, Ohio), led the pack to a furious pace before winning in 4:48.59. Gomez’ time, a meet record by two seconds, is the fastest 1,600-meter time in the nation this year.

Irvine’s Barbara Kozlowski finished 10th in the girls’ 3,200 meters in a personal-best 11:10. Kaci Keffer of Woodbridge finished seventh in the girls’ 400 meters in a personal-best 57.9, and Laurie Sawin of Corona del Mar was ninth in 59.3. Mission Viejo, boosted with a fast anchor leg by Sheri Bertell, won the girls’ seeded 400-meter relay in 48.51.

George Lynch of Mater Dei placed eighth in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.75. Western’s Greg Lobpreis was eighth in the boys’ high jump at 6-6, and El Dorado’s Lori Svoboda was sixth in the girls’ high jump at 5-6.