Jones Posts 3 Ventura Meet Records : Track: Rio Mesa sophomore runs away with victories in the 100, 200 and 400 in county championships.

Brian FitzGerald, co-coach of the track and field teams at Rio Mesa High, should consider waiting until 1993 to update the girls’ sprint times on the school-record plaque.

Marion Jones, a sophomore at Rio Mesa, will have graduated by then and might own every girls’ school, state and national sprint record.

In the Ventura County championships on Friday at Rio Mesa, Jones set meet records in winning the 100-, 200- and 400-meter events--all after anchoring the Spartans’ winning 400 relay team in 48.55 seconds.

Jones ran away from Oak Park’s Jen Frank in the 100 to time 11.54 into a 1.03 meter-per-second head wind and lower her meet-record time of 11.82 set last year. Frank ran 12.46.

In the 200, her final event of the day, Jones blitzed to a quick lead after about 30 meters en route to a 1.02 wind-hindered 23.36 clocking, the 17th fastest time by a female U. S. high school athlete. Jones’ second-best time erased former Rio Mesa standout Angela Burnham’s 24.20 meet record set in 1988. Jones got her first meet record in the 400, running 54.52 to break the mark of 56.94 by a huge margin. Simone Caine of Hueneme set the old mark in 1988.

FitzGerald is having Jones run numerous 400 races this year to help build her strength in the 200 and develop her stamina so Jones can run all three races when the Southern Section 3-A Division championship meets begin in two weeks.

Because the recent rain has caused Rio Mesa to postpone several of its meets until later in the season, Jones has had to use Channel League dual meets and weekend invitationals as training.

“She really didn’t work out that much this week and she needed a workout,” FitzGerald said. “Today was good for her because she had three records to shoot for. She (also) needs to get used to doing it (three races in a championship meet).”

Agoura’s Deena Drossin won her fourth consecutive county title in the 3,200, taking the race in 10:34.76. Westlake’s Jeannie Rothman finished second in a personal-best 10:42.35.

Drossin’s effort in the 3,200 came after a school-record performance in the 800, running 2:16.40 to finish third behind Fillmore’s Nikki Shaw and Westlake’s Jessica Graham.

Shaw, a state finalist in the 800 last year, won her second county title in a row, this time in 2:14.25. Graham finished second in 2:15.50.

Shaw, in her second race of the day, pulled away from Graham after the first 400 (1:06.3) and built about a 10-meter lead on the Warrior junior. Graham pulled to within five meters of Shaw with 100 to go but couldn’t close.

Shaw broke away from Thousand Oaks sophomore Stacy Auer with 200 meters left to win the 1,600 in a slow 5:07.40.

Auer, second in 5:10.70, jumped to the lead after 100 meters and held that spot until Shaw pulled even with her with 450 meters left.

Besides Jones and Shaw, other double winners included Camarillo’s Josh Gerry in the 1,600 in 4:20.95 and 3,200 in 9:21.20, Moorpark’s Kevin Triblehorn in the 100 (10.87) and 200 (22.07), Rio Mesa’s Alycia Burnham in the 100 low hurdles (14.43) and 300 low hurdles (45.3 hand timed), and Royal’s Tim Ross in the high jump at 6-4 and the triple jump.