Stonerock Runs Away From Pasadena Field

Valley-area athletes won six events and set two meet records Saturday night in the Pasadena Games at Occidental College.

Darren Stonerock of Saugus High turned in his second impressive distance-double in the last eight days, defending his 1985 title in the 3,200 meters and finishing third in the 1,600 meters. Last Saturday, the 5-4, 105-pound senior won the 1,500- and 3,000-meter events at the Northridge-Alemany Relays.

In the 3,200-meter race, Stonerock led from the start and was never seriously challenged. His twin brother, Kirk, ran even with Darren for the first 800 meters before falling behind. Darren clocked 4:28.8 at the 1,600-meter mark and then finished in a season-best and meet-record time of 9:05.41.

Kirk Stonerock finished second at 9:24.82. In the 1,600, Kirk ran well but didn’t have the finishing speed on the last lap to win the race.

Saugus teammate Martin Diesenbacher led the race for the first two laps, clocking 60.7 after 400 meters and 2:07.5 at 800 meters.

Chip Smith of Sanoia, N.M., moved into the lead at the 1,200-meter mark in 3:13.1, followed closely by Jim Zimmer of Simi Valley, the second-place finisher in the 1985 state meet, and Darren Stonerock.

Smith and Zimmer dueled stride for stride in the last lap, with Smith narrowly out-sprinting Zimmer in the final 50 meters and winning in a meet record 4:14.53.

Zimmer finished second in 4:15.35 with Darren Stonerock third in 4:17.32.

Desiree Joubert of Westlake won the 800 meters in one of the most exciting races of the evening, coming from behind in the home stretch to defeat Kim McAllister of Locke.

Joubert’s time was a meet and personal record of 2:13.51. McAllister finished second in 2:13.55.

Although Christy Farrell of Thousand Oaks didn’t win either of her races, she ran well in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters. She finished second in the 1,500 at 5:02.70 and third in the 3,200 at 10:41.14. Both times were personal bests.

Darcy Arreola of Grossmont won both races in meet records of 4:55.33 and 10:36.05.

Mike Carnes of Simi Valley had an outstanding series in the long jump. Not only did he win the event with a personal best of 23-4, but he also had two other jumps over 23 feet.

Carnes also finished third in the 100-meter dash (10.93) and ran the second leg on the Simi Valley 400-meter relay team, which finished second in 42.15.

In other events, Thousand Oaks won the girls distance medley relay in 12:35.93, just .34 of a second short of the meet record. Staci Pollack of Westlake won the girls high jump with a 5-6 effort, tying her personal best.