SUNKIST INVITATIONAL : Sunny Hills’ Garritson Runs Away From Field in Two-Mile Race

If only Carrie Garritson would have had a little company during the girls’ two-mile at the Sunkist Invitational indoor track and field meet Saturday at the Sports Arena. Who knows how fast she could have run with a competitive push?

As it was, Garritson, a sophomore at Sunny Hills, hammered what appeared to be a strong field going into the meet. Her solo run brought her home in 10 minutes 45.7 seconds, well ahead of second-place finisher Maribella Aparicio of Fillmore, who ran 11:00.1.

Amber Parkinson of Orange Lutheran was fifth in 11:41.3 and Tanja Brix of University was seventh in 11:53.

Garritson’s time was the third-fastest indoor mark in the nation this year and wasn’t far off her outdoor best of 10:39.17, set at last year’s State meet.

Still, she was mildly disappointed that she didn’t run faster Saturday.

“I was hoping for 10:10-10:15,” she said. “I was planning on going faster, but with no competition . . .”

Garritson took the lead at the gun and kept her head down until she passed the mile mark in 5:15.6. By then she was well ahead of Aparicio, who was the only one in the 10-runner field who attempted to stay close. Later, Garritson sneaked a peek over her shoulder to see how far back Aparicio had fallen.

It turned out to be quite some distance.

A year ago, Chris Lynch of Laguna Hills was listed as an alternate in the boys’ two-mile, but would finish a surprising sixth when a runner from Oregon decided not to make the trip to Los Angeles. Since then, Lynch had been kicking himself for not running hard enough in his indoor debut.

“I got lost in the race,” said Lynch, a senior who led Laguna Hills to the State Division III cross-country championship last fall. “I lost track of the laps. I told myself, ‘I’m not going to let that happen again.’ ”

Saturday, he stayed close to the front of the pack, made his move with 800 meters to go and ran a personal best of 9:33.8. He has done 9:32.0 for 3,200 meters, which is a few meters short of two miles and about 3.4 seconds faster.

The only fault Lynch could find with his race was that when he moved, Margarito Casillas of Glendale Hoover went with him. It was a two-man race from there. In the end, Casillas had a stronger kick, winning in 9:26.6 with Lynch a solid second.

“Three months from now I want to be 23 seconds faster,” Lynch said. “A 9:10 is my goal. If I run that and finish last in the State meet, I’ll be happy. Well, I won’t be happy to finish last, but if you run 9:10 you’re not going to finish last in the State meet.”

Lynch’s Laguna Hills teammate, Darci Morrison, finished fourth in the girls’ high jump, clearing 5 feet 4 inches. Julie Jenkins of Danville San Ramon, sixth in the State meet last year, won with a leap of 5-10.

Carrie Hoagland of Canyon was sixth, Tracy Broughton of Irvine was eighth and Wendy Brown of Woodbridge was ninth. All three cleared 5-2.

Sunkist Notes

Charlie Davidson of Saddleback and Elinor Tolson of Fountain Valley won the boys’ and girls’ 50-meter hurdles, respectively. Davidson ran 6.80 seconds, breaking the meet record of 6.98 set by Ryan Kieling of Encino Crespi last year. Tolson ran 7.51. . . . Aaron Taub of Foothill won his race of the boys’ 500 meters in 59.6. Taub, who anchored the Knights’ 1,600-meter relay team to a fifth place finish at last year’s CIF State meet, defeated Eric Holcomb of Westlake Village Westlake by a scant .2. He came back to lead Foothill to a victory in its 1,600-meter relay race in 3:28.0. . . . Jeff Waldren of Cypress was third in the boys’ high jump, clearing 6-6. Brian Davidson of California High in San Ramon jumped a national-leading 6-11 to win. . . . El Toro won its heat of the girls’ 3,200 relay in 10:22.3.

Amber Parkinson of Orange Lutheran on her finish in the two-mile: “I didn’t really have a game plan going into the race.” Parkinson, who took the soccer season off to let leg ailments heal, had the county’s fastest 3,200-meter time last season, defeating Carrie Garritson of Sunny Hills at the State meet. Rajai Espinosa of Dana Hills ran 2:27.4 to win her race in the 800. In the other race, Christie Engesser of Ocean View ran 2:21.7 but finished second to Kamara Mayberry of Playa Del Rey St. Bernard, who ran 2:19.9.