Track and Field Starts Right Where It Left Off

The first big weekend of the high school track and field season will burst out of the blocks today when Justin Fargas of Notre Dame, Miguel Fletcher of Alemany and Darrell Rideaux of Long Beach Poly meet in the boys’ 100 meters in the Northridge-Alemany Relays at Cal State Northridge.

They finished 1-2-3 in the state championships last year after an injury slowed favored Sultan McCullough of Pasadena Muir to ninth.

McCullough, who posted the fastest high school time in the nation last year in the 200 at 20.62 seconds, is entered in the 400 today and is also expected to run on the Mustangs’ 400-meter relay team.

Today’s meet is the first of what is expected to be a slew of races between the Michigan-bound Fargas and the USC-bound Fletcher this season.

The Mission League rivals split eight races in the 100 last year and that number could be substantially higher this season because Fargas has dropped the triple jump in favor of the 200.

Fletcher finished third in the 200 in last year’s state meet.

“It seems like a happy rivalry,” Notre Dame Coach Joe McNab said of Fargas and Fletcher.

“It’s not bitter at all. It’s just two good guys racing, which is nice.”

Although the boys’ 100 is expected to take center stage in today’s meet, several other events will include top-notch performers.

Fletcher and Fargas will run in the 200 and senior twins Larry and Lawrence Jones of Taft and senior Rod Arzu of Notre Dame will face the USC-bound McCullough in the 400.

Larry Jones finished first and Lawrence was third in last year’s City Section championships, and Arzu was fourth in the Southern Section Division III final.

Muir, Long Beach Poly, Notre Dame, Taft, Hawthorne and Dorsey are entered in the 400 and 1,600 relays.

Muir is defending state champion in the 400 relay and was favored to win the state title in the 1,600 relay before McCullough was injured.

Long Beach Poly, Notre Dame, Taft and Hawthorne finished 2-3-4-5 in the 1,600 relay in the state championships.

Seniors Bunmi Ogunleye of Long Beach Poly and Eboni Grayson and Frances Santin of Taft and freshman Schquay Brignac of Cleveland head the list of entries in the girls’ meet.

Ogunleye will run in the 400, the event in which she finished second in last year’s state championships.

She also won the long jump for the state champion Jackrabbits, but soreness in her joints will keep her out of that event today.

Grayson, the defending City champion in the 100 and 200, will run in those events and on Taft’s 400 and 1,600 relay teams.

Santin, the 1996 City champion in the 300 low hurdles, will compete in that event and in the 100 highs and run legs on Taft’s 400 and 1,600 relays.

Brignac will compete in the high jump, where she’s considered a contender for the state title based on her 5-10 clearance last year.

The meet will start with field events at 9 a.m. and running events at 9:15.

The boys’ 100 is scheduled for 12:40 p.m.