Sundevil Invitational : Parker’s Discus Throw Is Best in Nation

Although the combination of late dropouts and a strong southwesterly wind may have been the reason only two meet records were broken and one tied, Saturday’s Sundevil/Coca Cola Invitational at Mt. Carmel High School did feature the best discus throw in the nation this year.

The meet’s premier event, the girls’ Division I discus, featured the nation’s top three throwers, and the wind actually helped Lori Parker of Ramona High School throw a San Diego Section record and national-best 162 feet on her first throw in the finals.

Her throw was two feet shy of the meet record set by Renita Robinson of Manual Arts, set in 1984, but it was far enough to beat Tracy Crawford of Southwest and defending state champion Lil Ili of Nogales.

Parker had thrown a national-best of 153-6 in a dual meet and 150-3 in the Mustang Relays last Saturday. But six hours after the Mustang meet, at that evening’s Arcadia Invitational, Parker saw Crawford break the mark with a throw of 153-8.

“I wanted to beat Crawford bad,” Parker said. “I choked at Arcadia. Losing the record to her made me go out and practice hard this week.”

Apparently it paid off. Parker threw 152-3 to qualify for the finals and 155-2 on her second throw in the finals.

But Parker said the wind, which was blowing from right to left, was at least as helpful as the extra practice.

“I throw in the same kind of wind everyday at Ramona,” Parker said. “It’s definitely to my advantage.”

Crawford was second with a throw of 143-5. Ili, who threw 162-2 to win the state meet last year, was third at 141-8.

Crawford won the shotput with a county-best 41-8 1/2.

In the day’s strangest outcome, Jackie Anderson of Mount Miguel won the girls’ long jump, but Gretchen Jiles of Las Vegas Western set the meet record.

Both girls jumped 18-8, farther than the record of 18-5 3/4 set by Bonita Vista’s Stacey Proctor in 1982. But Anderson’s jump was wind-aided, therefore disqualifying it as a possible meet record. Jiles’ was legal.

Since the jumpers were tied at 18-8, judges had to go back to previous jumps to determine the winner. On their third-best efforts, Anderson had jumped 17-7 3/4 to Giles’ 17-6.

Anderson also won the triple jump with a leap of 38-3 3/4.

In the girls’ 100-meter low hurdles, Lincoln’s Michele Outlaw beat six runners who had faster times than she before the race.

Outlaw ran a meet-record and county-best 14.27, beating La Shawn McBride of Long Beach Poly by two-hundreths of a second. The previous record of 14.3 was set by Tracy Hanlon of Huntington Beach Edison in 1978.

Outlaw easily won the 300-meter low hurdles in a county-best 45.71.

Erik Peterson of Monte Vista tied the meet record in the boys’ high jump at 6-8.

Without much competition to push her, Laura Chapel of University City won the 1,600 (5:01.99) and the 800 (2:14.70) and was named the girls’ top track athlete.

Chapel expected to run against some of the top distance runners in the state in the 1,600 meters. But defending 1,600 champion Shannon Clark of San Jose Moutain View, Tracey Williams of Mountain View and Christy Ferrell of Thousand Oaks all dropped out before the meet.

If it weren’t for Parker, Brian Boggess of El Capitan may have been the thrower in the spotlight. Boggess, the boys’ field athlete of the meet, won both the discus--with a county-best 183-9--and the shot put.

Boggess expected to compete against national leader (199-10) Kamy Keshmiri of Reno, Nev., but he dropped out early Saturday morning.

Boggess, who threw a county-best 59-2 Thursday, was in the 59-foot range in five practice throws. But when the competition started, his best effort was 57-9.