COUNTY TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS : Saddleback Sprints to Fifth Meet Title

A quartet of Saddleback High School junior sprinters helped the Roadrunners win their fifth Orange County Track and Field Championships in the past 18 years Saturday. The latest title was the school’s first since 1984.

“These guys were good when they were freshmen,” Saddleback Coach Jim Knapp said. “They’re even better now.”

Saddleback’s top sprinters--Charlie Davidson, Tony Davis, Kimiko Bandy, and anchorman Jarrett Murrell--got the Roadrunners going in the right direction early at Rancho Santiago College, winning the 400-meter relay in 42.75 seconds, three-tenths of a second off the meet record.

Saddleback has won four of the five invitational meets it has entered this season. The Roadrunners finished second to Pasadena Muir in the Santa Ana Relays.

Murrell, a flashy sprinter who wears two gold hoops in his left ear and a pearl stud in his right, sped past teammate Davidson to win the 100 in 10.85. That’s the best mark in the meet in the three years it has been held on Rancho Santiago’s all-weather track.

“I reacted to the gun real well, and I came out of the blocks good,” Murrell said. “In the last 30 meters I went to my fourth gear. I never let up against Charlie . . . he’s in there to push me. We’re always competing.”

Davidson won the 110 high hurdles in 14.77, and Davis set a meet record by winning the 400 in 49.20, outlasting Esperanza’s Roshawn Sims.

But Sims won the 200, nipping Murrell at the wire in 22.0.

Esperanza took second place--thanks mostly to Sims and a last-minute boost from pole vaulter Trevor Lycett’s 14-foot effort. Esperanza had 57 points to Saddleback’s 77.

The defending meet champion Aztecs won the 1,600 relay, pulling away early and holding on, with Sims fending off a strong challenge from Davis on the anchor leg.

But the Aztecs were without shotput and discus specialist Mark Parlin, who was competing in the Arcadia Invitational, and shotputter Mike Burns.

Sprinter Garrick Emry, who has run the 100 in 11.3, was sidelined for Esperanza with a hamstring pull.

“It would have been a little more interesting, let’s put it that way,” Esperanza Coach Al Britt said. “We just couldn’t match up with (Saddleback’s) sprinters.”

Tustin’s Shad Vickers set a meet record (38.66) in the 300 hurdles. Capistrano Valley’s Bernie Chapman won the long and triple jumps with wind-aided marks of 22-1 3/4 and 47-9.

Allen Grant of Marina broke his meet record in the 800, winning in 1:56.8. Katella’s Kevin Carlson won the high jump despite a disappointing leap of 6-6.