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Michael Norman blazes to a pair of wins at state track meet

Michael Norman, shown during the Southern Section finals, won the 200 and 400 at the state track meet Saturday.

Michael Norman, shown during the Southern Section finals, won the 200 and 400 at the state track meet Saturday.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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On a night full of record performances, Michael Norman of Vista Murrieta delivered perhaps the most impressive, burning up the track on his way to winning the 400 meters in 45.19 seconds at the CIF state track and field championships at Buchanan High.

Norman equaled the National Federation of State High School Assns. national record.

Then, in the 200 meters, Norman proved his win at the Southern Section Masters Meet eight days earlier was no fluke, winning in a state-record 20.30, the second-fastest time in the nation this year and sixth-best all-time.

Norman capped the night by running the anchor leg in 44.9 seconds as the Broncos took third in the 1,600 relay and won the team title with 37 points, nine more than runner-up West Hills Chaminade.

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“It feels good,” Norman said. “I wanted to leave everything on the track and I’m going to keep working harder for next year.”

Chaminade sprinter T.J. Brock ran the anchor leg on the Eagles’ 400 relay team, which won in a personal-best 40.75, the 10th fastest time in the nation. Norman ran a blazing opening leg to give Vista Murrieta a commanding lead before dropping the baton on the last exchange.

Brock won the 100 in a wind-legal personal-best 10.34 seconds, the third-fastest in the nation this year. Justin Collins of City Section champion Carson won the 300 hurdles in 36.67, the sixth-fastest time in the nation this year.

Rio Mesa junior Zaria Francis (11.31) edged Lauren Rain Williams of Westlake Village Oaks Christian (11.39) to win the 100 — the fourth consecutive decade in which Rio Mesa has won a state 100 title.

The two hooked up in another stretch duel in the 200 and again Francis came out on top in 23.09, the No. 2 time in the country this year.

Williams anchored the Lions’ first-place 400 relay team.

USC-bound senior Matt Katnik from Bellflower St. John Bosco won the shotput with a throw of 72 feet.

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Jasmyne Graham (13.17) of Corona Roosevelt and Mecca McGlaston (13.18) of Dublin were first and second in the 100 hurdles with the fifth- and sixth-fastest times in U.S. history and the third- and fourth-fastest wind-legal times in California history. Graham later won the 300 hurdles in a national-leading 40.73.

“Everything else was leading up to this and I’m glad I was able to win at state,” Graham said.

Rancho Santa Margarita Tesoro’s Amanda Gehrich (4:39.33) and City Section champion Marissa Williams (4:39.88) of Palisades clocked the two fastest times in the nation to finish first and second in the girls’ 1,600.

Erica Schroeder of San Marcos won the girls’ 800 in 2:07.08 and Isaac Trevino of Centennial in the Central Section won the boys’ 800 in 1:51.55. Studio City Harvard-Westlake’s Courtney Corrin leaped 20 feet 10 inches to win her second state long jump title.

Destiny Collins rebounded from her third-place finish in the 1,600 to win the 3,200 in a national-best 9:53.79, fourth-fastest all-time in California. Fiona O’Keefe of Davis was second and Marissa Williams was third.

Oaks Christian won the girls’ team title with 34 points and Temecula Great Oak was second with 24.

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sports@latimes.com

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