TRACK ROUNDUP : Morse’s Luck Runs In Streaks

Talk about a rude reception.

Ayanna Bennett had just run the anchor leg of Morse’s 400-meter relay--she had just overtaken her Poway counterpart to lead Morse to a first-place finish in 51.1 seconds during Saturday’s Tiger Relays at Balboa Stadium.

Then Bennett was asked to recall the 400 relay at last year’s Section finals. Except, she couldn’t.

So she was reminded about it.

After completing the second leg of that race, Bennett almost ran over her teammate as she passed the baton. The bad exchange took Morse out of the lead as the Tigers finished third to Mt. Carmel and Lincoln.

If Bennett had blocked the experience out of her mind, she did so for good reason: It was the first time in 12 years that the Morse girls did not win the 400-meter relay Section title.

Now, on to the next streak.

By all accounts, this year’s Morse relay team is much faster than last year’s--and deeper. Coach Gary MacDonald has six runners who will alternate on and off the team.

The four who ran Saturday were Bennett, freshman Latoya Crews, senior Ena Anderson and freshman Latasha Lott.

Rested were seniors Monica Henderson, who pulled a hamstring in Thursday’s practice, and Nichelle Milner.

As for Bennett, this year she gets a chance to redeem herself.

“I’m glad I’m back to put (the streak) back together,” she said.

Indeed, things have come together rather quickly as is evidenced by last week’s clocking of 49.8 in a dual meet. Last year, the Morse girls did not run a sub-50 until the season was half over.

Of course, that’s not to say Morse will breeze to another title.

The trick, MacDonald said, will be to keep his team from dwelling on revenge.

Ashley Anderson, a San Dieguito sophomore, took advantage of the absence of Fallbrook sophomore Milena Glusac in the only individual event, the 3,200-meters, and strode to first place in 11:43.6.

Anderson remained a few strides behind Tara Barnhart, who set the pace for the first four laps, then went to the front along with San Pasqual’s Tamara Tyrrell during the fifth. The two ran side-by-side until the final 100 meters when Anderson kicked for an easy victory.

Because Glusac (who already has run an 11:08 this season) cast a large shadow, Anderson remained relatively unknown last year despite finishing 11th in the state (11:10).

The only meet record came in the sprint medley relay (200 meters, 100, 100, 400) as Serra (Shantise Clark, Andrea James, Mickey Jackson and Angela Sullivan) finished in 1:50.4.

The old record of 1:50.6 was set last year by San Pasqual.

Kristina Mataafa of Orange Glen threw the discus 127-feet-0, then came back to heave the shot 39-11 3/4. Both marks are Section bests this season.