Crespi’s White Wins 4 Events in Del Rey Meet

To the average high school sports fan, Russell White of Crespi is the All-American tailback who rushed for a state-record 5,998 yards and scored 94 touchdowns during his three-year varsity football career at the private boys’ school in Encino.

But White is also an incredibly talented track and field performer, one who has made more than one aficionado wonder how good he could have been if that sport was his No. 1 athletic endeavor.

“If track were his first love, he’d be unbelievable,” Crespi track Coach Jim Benkert said. “The sky would be the limit. There’s no telling how good he could be.”

White agreed, saying that he could “pretty much dominate if I concentrated on track all year.”

It would have been difficult to argue with those assessments after White won four individual events in the Del Rey League finals at Cal State Northridge on Friday.

White took the 100 meters in 10.7 seconds, the 200 in a season best of 21.4, the long jump at 23 feet, 9 1/2 inches and the triple jump with a season best of 48-10 1/2.

The performances in the 200 and both jumps were meet records, breaking marks that were set 13, 18 and eight years ago, respectively.

“I feel like I’m really on top of things right now,” said White, who placed eighth in the 200 at last year’s state championships. “I feel like I’m ready to go.”

White’s efforts were doubly impressive because he was virtually unchallenged in all four events.

He won the 100 by three-tenths of a second, the 200 by 1.4 seconds, the long jump by more than two feet and the triple jump by more than seven feet. His efforts in the long and triple jumps moved him to seventh and fourth on this year’s state list.

“He’s peaking perfectly,” Benkert said. “He’s really on top of his game.”

Tony Borquez of Alemany would probably agree with Benkert.

Eighth in the 400 in last year’s state meet, Borquez won that event in 48.4, and anchored the Indians’ victorious 400- (42.7) and 1,600-meter (3:28.3) relay teams.

However, he was no match for White in the 200, finishing second in 22.8.

In other events, sophomore Ryan Kieling of Crespi defeated Mike Currey of St. Francis in the 110-meter high hurdles by one-tenth of a second in 15.1, and Rene Rigal of Loyola won the 800 (1:57.9) and 3,200 (10:02.3) meters.