SOUTHERN SECTION TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS : Rio Mesa Sticks to Schedule in Win

The Rio Mesa High girls’ track team was given a schedule of events that differed slightly from those that other teams followed in Friday’s Southern Section 3-A Division track and field championships.

“On the schedule that (Coach Brian FitzGerald) gave us it said, ‘10:30, run 4 x 400 relay; 10:35, celebrate,’ ” sprinter Marion Jones said.

And things went according to plan for the Spartans, who dominated the team scoring in easily winning their first division title since 1979. After 14 events, Rio Mesa has 63 points and Estancia is second with 31. The triple jump, the 15th event, will be concluded Tuesday, but none of the top three teams have an athlete competing in that event.

“We got points where we didn’t expect to get points,” said FitzGerald, referring to freshman Tiffany Marra’s fifth-place finish in the 1,600 and a fourth-place effort by Danielle Tanner in the 400.

“We were confident,” FitzGerald added. “The girls have been talking about getting (championship) rings. This is a big deal for them.”

Rio Mesa won four events, with Jones taking two. In the 100 and 200 meters, Jones dashed to the lead immediately and never looked back, cruising to victories in 11.79 and 24.02 seconds. She also anchored a winning 400 relay team and contributed a 54.1-second anchor to Rio Mesa’s second-place effort in the 1,600-meter relay.

Alycia Burnham was another individual winner, taking the 100 low hurdles in 14.66. Nikki Johnson of Esperanza was the runner-up in 15.08. Burnham was also second in the long jump at 17 feet 9 1/4 inches and sixth (47.92) in the 300 low hurdles.

Camarillo’s Derek Kite was a wire-to-wire winner in the 4-A 1,600, running 4:15.20.

“I thought I’d try and psyche them out today,” said Kite, who ran the 400 in 59.8 and the 800 in 2:04.3 en route to a 3:09.6 split at 1,200. “I’ve never gone that fast my first three laps. My last lap I looked back ‘cause I was just dying.”

Hoover senior Creighton Harris was second in 4:17.02.

Kite and Harris qualified for next week’s Masters’ meet, in which they will battle Coley Candaele of Carpinteria and Arroyo Grande’s Louie Quintana.

Candaele shadowed Agoura’s Bryan Dameworth through three laps (3:04.2) before surging to the front with 250 meters remaining to win his third consecutive 1-A title in a nation-leading 4:06.58. Quintana captured his second consecutive 2-A title in 4:07.20.

Dameworth later outdistanced Fillmore’s Jorge Barajas to win his fourth consecutive 1-A 3,200 title in 9:05.61. Crespi hurdler Ryan Kieling lowered his previous best in winning the 2-A 110 highs in 14.66. Kieling, the Del Rey champion, also won the 330 hurdles in 39.03.

Agoura’s Deena Drossin successfully defended titles in the girls’ 1,600 and 3,200. In the 1,600, Drossin ran a personal- and region-best 4:58.73. Sophomore Nikki Shaw of Fillmore, the former region leader at 4:59.07, was second in 5:01.91. Drossin timed 10:52.16 to easily win the 3,200 over Fillmore’s Maribella Aparicio (11:15.11).