Parks Jumps Only Once, but It’s Enough

NORWALK — Elliott Parks of El Toro turned in the crowd-pleasing performance of the meet Saturday at the Southern Section track and field finals.

But the defending state high jump champion left an enthusiastic crowd at Cerritos College wanting more.

Parks, a senior, accomplished a number of goals with a personal-best leap of 7 feet 2 inches on his first attempt, then surprisingly passed on raising the bar a few more inches in search of section (7-3 1/4) and national (7-5 1/4) marks.

Parks, who has been battling a sore back and scratched out of the long jump, said later he felt rushed by meet personnel, who were eager to get the girls’ event under way, and just wanted to savor the victory. His leap was a section Division II and county record.

“I wanted to end the day with a win,” Parks said. “I didn’t want to go out with a miss.”

Lester Deraad of Tustin, who beat Parks at the Orange County Championships with a personal-best 6-10, equaled that and finished third Saturday. Tustin, with 61 points, ran away with the Division II boys’ team title. Lompoc was second with 29 points.

Jackie Dix helped Woodbridge score 72 points and finish second in the Division II girls’ team competition, six points behind Riverside J.W. North. Dix won division titles in the 100- and 200-meter runs and anchored the Warriors’ victorious 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relay teams.

Dix’s time of 11.85 in the 100, while a county record, was not good enough to qualify for Friday’s Masters Meet, the next step toward qualifying for the state finals. That was because of the super-fast Division I final, where Angela Williams of Chino became the first girl in the history of high school track to finish under 11 seconds with a wind-aided time of 10.98.

“I’m just not mentally into it today,” Dix said. “People want to know why I am getting pushed in these races. There’s just a lot better competition out here, and I have to be ready.”

Tustin’s Dominique DeGrammont won both Division II hurdle events and ran the final leg on the Tillers’ winning 4 x 100 relay team and the third-leg of the championship 4 x 400 team.

DeGrammont, whose previous best this year in the 110-meter high hurdles was a 13.55, won in a county-record 13.44, cruising to victory over Tijuan Freeman of Lompoc (14.20) and Mike Smith of El Toro (14.32). DeGrammont’s wind-aided time was the second best in the nation this season. Olympic hurdler Reynaldo Nehemiah set the national high school record with a time of 12.9 in 1977, and DeGrammont said that mark is driving him.

“I’m out for that record,” DeGrammont said, “and I want my record to stand for a long time.”

DeGrammont got out of the starting blocks late in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and hit the top of the second-to-last hurdle, but still posted the third-best time of the day (37.43). Al Williams of Irvine was right behind at 37.85.

In the girls’ discus, Los Amigos’ Carrie Axton won the Division III title with a personal best of 147-8, nearly 30 feet better than her nearest divisional competitor and 13 feet ahead of the next best toss of the day, turned in by Cynthia Ademilayi of Long Beach Poly.

Pole vaulters Cameron St. Clair (Brea Olinda) and Travis Vandrovec (Fountain Valley) won their divisional titles, each with leaps of 14-6, and qualified for the Masters.

In the boys’ long jump, Ray Bardone of Edison (22-0 1/4) and Mike Smith of El Toro (22-9) were the lone county qualifiers for the Masters. Ashley Bethel of Mission Viejo won the girls’ Division II long jump with a leap of 18-8. She also qualified for the Masters in the 100-meter high hurdles and high jump, finishing third in both; however, she failed to qualify in the 200-meter dash.

Throwing into a stiff noon-time wind, Scott Moser of Huntington Beach won the Division I discus title, but his best toss of 195-3 on his first attempt was well off the state record 213-11 that he accomplished Wednesday at the Salinas Throwers’ meet. He also qualified for the Master in the shotput, but it was a lot more scary than he would have liked.

He fouled on his first three attempts before landing a toss of 54-3 to finish second. Rancho Cucamonga’s John Bello won at 58-4 1/2.

Freshman middle-distance runner Liz Morse (Corona del Mar) was impressive in winning the girls’ 800 meters with a time of 2:14.25, upsetting the favorite, junior Jenny Petite (Yucaipa). But Marina senior Jennifer Spahr, who had posted the best qualifying time going into the race and best time in the county this year, finished last in the Division I 1,600 meters.

Laguna Hills high jumper Tayyiba Haneef cleared the bar at 5-8 and won the Division III title. Freshman April Ross (Newport Harbor) won the Division II title with a jump of 5-6.

Sarah Higham of Mission Viejo went 11-6 to win the Division II pole vault title.

Notes

Mater Dei sprinter Mike McNair ran one-tenth of a second better than he did in winning his Division II qualifying heat last week, but his 10.62 in the 100-yard dash, good for second place, did not qualify for the Masters Meet. Katella’s Charles Crook won the event with a time of 10.58. McNair rebounded with the fifth-best time of the day in the 220, a 21.28 that was good for the Division II title and a place in the Masters. . . . Summer Shaw of Huntington Beach closed quickly and finished second in the Division I girls’ 800 at 2:13.40, just failing to clip winner Antelita Green (Long Beach Poly), who faltered near the finish line but won in 2:13.05. . . . Daria Bustanoby of Brethren Christian ran a 46.88 and finished second in the Division IV finals of the 300-meter run. . . . Sophomore David Lindohl (Dana Hills) qualified for the Masters by winning the Division II boys’ 800 meters with a time of 1:55.87. . . . Sophomore Allyson Marquand of University finished third twice but qualified for the Masters in the 3,200 meters with a time of 10:53.85 and the 1,600 with a time of 5:00.65.