Reid Gives Glimpse of Future

With standouts Josh Spiker of Ventura High, Mark Nevers of Oak Park and Seth Neumuller of Thousand Oaks running other races, freshman Phillip Reid of Rio Mesa grabbed some limelight by winning the boys’ 3,200 meters in the Ventura County track and field championships at Moorpark High last Friday.

Reid placed first in the Pacific View League cross-country final in November, but his 9:43.99 clocking at Moorpark cut more than 18 seconds off his previous best and gave him the biggest victory of his fledgling high school career.

“As soon as we saw that the big three weren’t going to be in the race, we figured [the winner would run] in the 9:45-9:50 range,” distance Coach Jeff Wrout said. “And we thought Phillip was ready to run that fast.”

Reid, who turned 14 in November, was part of a large lead pack that came through the 1,600 in 4:56. But he burst into the lead on the first turn of the fifth lap and defeated senior Kent Krumpschmidt of Nordhoff by more than six seconds.

“I think he was kind of upset that Nevers wasn’t running,” Wrout said of Reid. “I think he knows that Nevers is a level above him, but I think he also wanted to test himself against him to see what kind of shape he was in at this time of the year.”

Reid will run in the 1,600 and 3,200 in the league finals today at Hueneme and--if he finishes in the top three as expected--in the 3,200 in the Southern Section Division I preliminaries May 12 at Long Beach City College.

“I think he could run around 9:35 in that race,” Wrout said. “That might not get him to the finals because the division is so tough, but I would have no problem with him running a time like that to end his season.”

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Spiker, defending state champion in the 3,200, fell short of the county meet records of 1:54.30 in the 800 and 4:17.74 in the 1,600, but his decisive victories in both races impressed Wrout.

“That was a heck of a double,” Wrout said. “To run [4:18.39 in the 1,600] and then come back 30 minutes later and run [1:55.50 in the 800] isn’t easy.”

Spiker’s 800 victory was particularly impressive because he ran his second lap a few tenths of a second faster than his first and pulled away from Rio Mesa senior Chris Muller down the homestretch.

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At 6 feet 7 and 240 pounds, long-armed Will Svitek of Newbury Park looks more like a discus thrower than shotputter.

Yet his top performances have come in the latter event.

Svitek, who is headed to Stanford on a football scholarship, won the shotput in the Southern Section Division II championships last year and increased his school record to 59-3 in winning the event for the second consecutive year in the county championships.

His previous school best was 57-11 3/4 set earlier this season.

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Junior Seth Amoo of Highland was diagnosed with a strained right quadriceps muscle on Thursday, but is expected to compete in the Golden League finals at Quartz Hill today.

Amoo, seventh in the 200 in the Southern Section Masters Meet last year, withdrew from the long jump final on Tuesday because of the injury, but is entered in the 100, 200 and 1,600 relay today.

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Jose Galeana of Littlerock will run his first significant 400 in more than a year in the Golden League finals.

Galeana, a junior, ran a career best of 49.0 against Antelope Valley last year, but he was unable to run in the league final because of a strained hamstring.

He has run a lot of 800races this season to keep the pressure off his hamstring and to improve his endurance.

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Kicarah Figueroa of Lancaster, a junior who won the girls’ long jump and placed second in the triple jump in the Golden League finals on Tuesday, is a younger sister of Cheaza Figueroa.

Cheaza won the triple jump, placed third in the long jump and fourth in the 100 low hurdles in the 1993 state championships as a Quartz Hill senior.

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Track Top 10

Rankings of teams from the region

BOYS

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RK LW School (League) 1 1 Taft (West Valley) 2 2 Birmingham (West Valley) 3 3 Cleveland (West Valley) 4 4 Notre Dame (Mission) 5 5 Palmdale (Golden) 6 6 Rio Mesa (Pacific View) 7 8 Hueneme (Pacific View) 8 7 Royal (Marmonte) 9 10 Ventura (Channel) 10 NR Thousand Oaks (Marmonte)

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GIRLS

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RK LW School (League) 1 1 Birmingham (West Valley) 2 3 Rio Mesa (Pacific View) 3 2 Taft (West Valley) 4 4 Cleveland (West Valley) 5 5 Thousand Oaks (Marmonte) 6 6 Notre Dame (Mission) 7 7 Camarillo (Pacific View) 8 8 Westlake (Marmonte) 9 9 Crescenta Valley (Pacific) 10 10 Highland (Golden)

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STAT OF THE WEEK

When Oliver Jackson of Royal High leaped 24-5 3/4 to win the boys’ long jump in the Ventura County championships at Moorpark High last Friday, he moved to the top of the state list and solidified his hold on sixth place on the all-time region list:

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Mark Name, School Year 25-5 1/2 Percy Knox, Antelope Valley 1987 24-10 Anthony Bailous, Canoga Park 1983 24-9 Ronney Jenkins, Hueneme 1995 24-6 1/2 Steve Turner, Glendale 1950 24-6 1/2 Paul Jones, Kennedy 1981 24-5 3/4 Oliver Jackson, Royal 2000 24-4 1/4 Cornell Hill, Taft 1991 24-3 1/2 Lawrence Nelson, Simi Valley 1985 24-2 1/4 Jamaal Chase, Quartz Hill 1994 24-1 Fred Dangerfield, Oxnard 1966 24-1 Gordon Kurz, Santa Clara 1974

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