Track and field: Newport, CdM sends constituents to Arcadia

Invitational

Joseph Boo

NEWPORT BEACH - Today’s Flo-Jo Memorial Arcadia Invitational at

Citrus College has all the track and field coaches and athletes

salivating.

“That’s probably the best relay in the country,” Corona del Mar High’s

track coach Bill Sumner said. “The Penn Relays is considered the best

with adult races open to anyone. But few concentrate on just high school

kids. For high school, Arcadia’s the best in the country. It’s as good as

any state meet.”

CdM and Newport Harbor high schools will be well-represented. The

invitational events begin at 5 with field events. Running events start at

6.

Citrus College is just north of ther 210 Freeway in Glendora.

Liz Morse, a senior at CdM, is considered the favorite in a crowded girls

800-meter race and capable of a sub-2:09 time. She boasts the field’s

fastest high school personal record with a 2:10.09, set last year.

Currently Morse has the nation’s fastest indoor 800 time with a 2:10.21.

Her time of 2:12.85, which she had last week at the Trabuco Hills

Invitational, is the state’s fastest outdoor time this year.

Morse’s top rival is Treani Swain, a freshman from Oakwood High in North

Hollywood. She has built an impressive grade school resume, turning in a

sub-2:10 time as a seventh grader and running a 53.71 in the 400 as an

eighth-grader.

Newport Harbor’s Trevor Jones is one of the favorites in the boys 300

intermediate hurdles. He finished seventh in state in the 300, and his PR

of 37.41 is one tenth of a second off of last year’s winning time at

Arcadia. Tony Golston of Point Loma of San Diego, who will attend UCLA

with Jones next year, has the best lifetime mark in the field with a

36.98.

Newport Harbor’s Amber Steen is in the 1,600 race. Her PR is 4:58.8, and

a sub-5:00 could put her in the top 10 at least. San Lorenzo Valley’s

Alejandra Barrientos, who boasts a 4:47.94, is the defending champion.

CdM’s girls distance medley relay squad, comprised of Morse, Diana

Hossfeld, and sisters Jenny and Becky Cummins, is one of the favorites in

the event. But San Lorenzo Valley of Felton looms large in this event. It

holds California’s best time this year (12:00.8).

The Sailors will send a boys distance relay team of Jones, Chris

McMillen, John Peschelt and Doug Dukes. West Hills is the returning

champion in this event.

In the field events, Newport’s April Ross will compete in the girls long

jump. The USC-bound volleyball standout won the CIF Southern Section

Division II championship as a freshman. She enters with a best of

5-foot-6 in the event, which she reached twice this year, and she has a

chance for the top three. Jenna Grimaldi of St. Ignatius in San Francisco

has the state’s highest mark this year with a 5-10.

Krista Dill, a volleyball standout headed for Duke, will compete in both

the girls shot put and discus. The defending Sea View League champ in

both events, her PR in the shot put (41-10 1/2) is the best in Orange

County this year. Her PR in the discus (133-7) is the county’s second

best. Jill Camarena of Woodlands has the top PR in the shot put (50-11

1/4). and the discus (161-9).

The event will be televised by Fox Sports Net April 23 at 1 p.m.