Rio Mesa's relay win highlights Masters meet

4x100 team runs 11th-best time in nation

• By Jim Carlisle
• Posted May 26, 2012 at 12:44 a.m.

NORWALK — Rio Mesa High's boys 4x100-meter relay had no trouble at all Friday night with Memorial Day weekend getaway traffic.

The Spartans took the express lane on a windy, blustery track at the CIF-Southern Section Masters Meet at Cerritos College, improving on their state-best time by a tenth of a second to 40.95 seconds.

Not only is Rio Mesa tops in the state, but it also moved to a tie for 11th in the nation with its mark Friday night. The Spartans will try to do even better and perhaps win a state title at the CIF State Championships next Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High in Clovis.

The Ventura County area qualified female athletes in 10 individual and two relay events, and male athletes in four individual and three relay events for the state meet.

Rio Mesa — with Rod White, Blake Selig, Darion Zimmerman and Cameron Roach running — set a Division 3 record last weekend at the CIF-SS Championships at Mount San Antonio College at 41.05 seconds. What might be even scarier for state opponents at next week's 4x100 relay is that Rio Mesa believes it hasn't peaked yet.

"We can run faster than that," coach Brian FitzGerald said. "We passed really well today, better than we did last week, and we ran faster, but the conditions aren't nearly as nice as last week. It's colder and it's windy. So relatively, we put together a much better race, I thought. We ran, what, a tenth of a second faster, but I think, everything considered, we ran faster this week."

"So next week, eh? Off we go. You never know."

Anchorman Selig, who also qualified for the state meet in the 100 (10.65), also said there is room for improvement.

"I think we have improved, but I definitely think our handoffs could get a lot better, which is going to help our time a lot," Selig said. "So now we just rest up and get ready for the state meet."

Asked about the team's potential, Selig said getting a trophy means more than a particular time.

"You know, we don't have a number in our head necessarily," the senior said. "It's just we want to bring a state title home to our school."

The conditions at Cerritos were much different than last Saturday at Mount SAC: windy and chilly versus warm and humid.

"I'm extremely happy," Selig said. "It's definitely a tough thing to break 41, and us doing it today on maybe not the best of conditions, I'm definitely very happy for us."

Rio Mesa capped the evening with a third-place finish in the 4x400 relay, with a 3:16.37 time for Zimmerman, Roach, Anthony Teart and Selig.

Ventura County girls were led by Oak Park sprinter Sydney Lewis, who was fourth in the 100 (11.83) and seventh in the 200 (24.58).

"I was pleased. I thought it was a good race," Lewis said after the 100.

"The times were all kind of slower (because of the wind), but I feel like I had a better start, so it was good."

Lewis felt good about running just 0.22 seconds behind Ariana Washington of Long Beach Poly.

"It definitely puts my confidence up a lot because the girl who I was running against is No. 2 in the nation," Lewis said. "So to be running against these fast girls before state, it's an honor."

Simi Valley's Sarah Baxter won the 3,200 in 10 minutes, 8.71 seconds, holding off Marina's Laura Hollander by more than nine seconds. Rio Mesa high jumper Raegan Nizdil was first in 5 feet, 7 inches. Pacifica's Jazzelena Black was also a winner, taking the triple jump in 39-3.

Connor Stark of Oak Park was the county's only boys winner, taking the pole vault in 15-9. Westlake sophomore Luigi Colella was third and also cleared 15-9 to qualify.

Both Oaks Christian girls relay teams qualified for state. Junior Danni Alakija is on both teams and she also qualified in the 400 in 55.47 seconds.

Other area girls qualifiers are Caitlin Turner of Thousand Oaks in the 800 (2:11.95), freshman Kendall Mader of Newbury Park in the discus (137-10), and Erinn Turner of Buena and Angelyn Caldwell of Thousand Oaks in the high jump (both clearing 5-5).

Boys qualifiers also included Grant Weiss of Oxnard in the 110 hurdles (14.69) and Oaks Christian's 4x100 relay team (41.39).

But the biggest local news of the day came early: in the day's second race, when Rio Mesa won the 4x100. The goal now is the state championship and FitzGerald said even that requires pacing yourself.

"The state meet, you know, is a two-day event, so just getting through Friday is the goal," the coach said. "Get through Friday healthy and get yourself into a decent lane. We've got four teams, five teams here in the Southern Section that could all have a chance of winning (the relay), so we're not that far apart."