SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA JUNIOR COLLEGE TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP : Moorpark’s Carrillo Spears a Championship With a Javelin

Gil Carrillo proved Saturday that besides being a Jack-of-all-trades he is a master of one.

The Moorpark College sophomore won the javelin with a personal best of 214 feet 3 inches in the Southern California track and field championships at Cerritos College.

Carrillo finished a strong fifth in the decathlon championships last month.

“I feel real good because I had been in a slump the past four weeks,” Carrillo said. “I haven’t been able to get as much practice time with the javelin because I try to spread out my events equally. But I went back to the basics and concentrated on those.”

Carrillo’s winning effort came on his first throw and easily outdistanced the best throw of runner-up James Woods of Long Beach City (198-8).

Carrillo, a sprinter and jumper at Simi Valley High, took up the decathlon and the javelin when he arrived at Moorpark. His previous best in the javelin (213-2) came in last month’s Fresno Relays.

Carrillo will compete in both events in the state meet Friday and Saturday at Santa Barbara City College.

“My goal is to win the javelin and place in the top six in the decathlon,” Carrillo said.

The only other regional school with an individual winner was Glendale, which had two: David Swanson, who leaped 7-1/4 to take the high jump, and Marty Beck, who captured the 400 intermediate hurdles in 50.97 seconds.

The anticipated duel between Ventura’s Simoine Cain and Christi Opara of Citrus in the 200 meters was spoiled by Crystal Irving of Long Beach. Irving won in 23.79 and Cain was second at 23.97. Opara, who had the best qualifying time of 23.65, was fifth at 24.45.

The meet’s top performer was Nourredine Morceli of Riverside City, who set a national junior college record in winning the 1,500 meters in 3:39.17. The previous record was set by Neil Duggan of Hancock (3:41.6) in 1966. Morceli also won the 5,000 meters in 13:59.22.

Bryan Bridgewater of Long Beach City set a Southern California record in the 200 meters in 20.55, topping the mark set by Al Miller in 1983.