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Simi Valley's Miller smacks a double at Ventura County Championships - LA Daily News

Published by
Scott Joerger   on May 1 2010, 06:20 AM

Updated: 05/01/2010 04:03:19 AM PDT

Whether it was surging to the front early or waiting to unleash a late finishing kick, Simi Valley senior Liberty Miller executed both strategies to perfection Friday in her final appearance at the Ventura County track and field championships.

The Washington-bound standout repeated as 1,600-meter champion with a wire-to-wire victory in a personal-best 4 minutes, 54.57 seconds -- just off former teammate Anna Sperry's meet-record 4:53.54 in 2007 -- then took over the lead from Oak Park senior Melissa Skiba with 600 meters remaining in the 3,200 to prevail 10:45.76 to 10:48.52 at Moorpark High.


Miller's performance highlighted a night of impressive doubles for local athletes, including Agoura's Jonathan Cabral in the 110 hurdles (meet-record 13.97) and 300 hurdles (38.35) and Rio Mesa of Oxnard's Jamison Jordan in the 100 and 200. Jordan, a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo signee, added victories on the Spartans' 400 and 1,600 relays.


Miller's effort in the 1,600 ranked No. 4 in the state and 11th nationally, with the UCLA-bound Skiba taking second in 5:03.85. Miller ran faster than 11 minutes in the 3,200 for the second time this season, following her 10:31.05 at the Arcadia Invitational.


"In the 1,600, I wanted to try to go out hard and see who would come with. It was a different strategy than I'm used to and it was really exhausting, so in the 3,200, I didn't know how it would go," Miller said. "I just had to hold on to someone in the 3,200 and I knew it would be Skiba. I just had to wait until my body felt like it was ready to go. I saved it for as late as I could. At this time of the season, she's the best to me, so that's who I had to focus on."


Oaks Christian of Westlake Village's Niko DiMartino produced the state's top effort under any conditions in the long jump with a leap of 24 feet, 1 1/2 inches.


"I said if I didn't get 24 this year, I'd be disappointed, so I'm excited about that," DiMartino said. "It took a lot of work to get to 24, but this is just the beginning."


DiMartino later took his talents to the track to battle Jordan in the 100.


Jordan prevailed 10.63 to 10.65 -- the Nos. 4 and 6 wind-legal marks this year in the state and both under Terrail Lambert's 2004 meet record of 10.77 -- then clocked 21.63 for the state's eighth-fastest wind-legal 200 mark this season, in addition to leading off the victorious 400 relay (41.71) and anchoring the 1,600 relay (3:22.17).


"I felt myself tensing up at the end (of the 100) for some reason, but it turned out OK," Jordan said. "I've been in so many big races this season that it's helped prepared me for situations like that."


Jordan's four victories led a strong showing by the Spartans, which included Steven Richards capturing the 400 (48.91) and Devon Hall winning the discus (146-11). Richards and sophomore Blake Selig ran on both championship relays, with Selig adding a third-place finish in the 100 (10.92) and a fourth-place effort in the long jump with a personal-best 22-1 1/2.


"It was a really good day for us," Selig said. "I'm really happy with the long jump."


Rio Mesa junior Valexsia Droughn -- the defending state champ in the 100 -- produced her season-best 11.93 to win the girls' invitational title, then clocked the fastest time of 25.14 in the 200 in the seeded heat, with La Reina of Thousand Oaks' Hanna Winter winning the invitational heat (25.92).


"I love hearing 11.9 and I love hearing wind legal," Droughn said. "Those are going to be my two favorite words for the rest of the year."


Rio Mesa sophomore Anika Gasner produced a lifetime-best 2:18.61 to win the 800.


"I was boxed in, so I didn't think I could do it, but I just made a move to the outside and gave it the best I had," said Gasner, who also contributed to the Spartans' 1,600 relay to victory in the seeded race in 4:13.61. "Usually I ease up the last 50 meters, but I just couldn't let that go."


Oak Park's Tayler Johnson also produced a personal-best 14.24 to win the 100 hurdles, despite hitting the final hurdle. Johnson's mark would've been good for a meet record, but was slightly wind-aided.


"I'm so mad I hit that last hurdle. I felt so good up until that, so I'm thinking `What if?"' Johnson said. "I felt like I was going to PR. But the hurdles come up so quick, I just have to get used to it."


Johnson, who also finished second in the high jump (5-2) to Thousand Oaks' Lydia French (5-4), led a group of Oak Park victories, including Kayla Batom (46.28) in the 300 hurdles and siblings Madison Stark (11-6) and Connor Stark (15-0) in the pole vault.


Newbury Park's Megan Thompson returned from a hamstring injury to win the girls' 400 (58.0), Moorpark's Nikoletta Georgalis took the long jump (17-4 1/2) and Oaks Christian doubled in the 1,600 (4:00.65) and 3,200 relays (9:56.47). Thompson lowered her previous personal-best effort to hold off Oaks Christian freshman Dani Alakija (58.12).


"Because of my hamstring, I thought I wasn't even going to make it here, but it's all mental. It's mind over matter," Thompson said. "I plan on doing this in college, so I knew I had to put up a really good time to become a champion. I'm fortunate to train in a good environment and I have a good support system around me and they've helped me a lot."


Westlake's Sam DeMello won the 800 (meet-record 1:52.74), Thousand Oaks' Kevin Joerger captured the 3,200 (9:16.58) and Newbury Park prevailed in the 3,200 relay (8:26.27). Thousand Oaks' Philip Hanley won the boys' jump (6-4), Simi Valley's Tyler Fields took the triple jump (43- 1/4) and Newbury Park's Pat Smith captured the shot put (53-9).


Oxnard's Gustavo Mena relied on a strong kick to surge past Royal's Travis Edwards in the 1,600 and prevail 4:18.84 to 4:19.56.

 

Read the full article at: www.dailynews.com
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