Shaw Dominates Field in Sunkist Girls’ Mile : Track: Fillmore High runner leads entire race. Hoover’s Casillas wins boys’ two-mile, Antelope Valley’s Dreher takes long jump.

Competitive? No.

Fast? Not really.

Impressive? You bet.

That’s the best way to describe Nikki Shaw’s victory in the high school girls’ seeded mile run at the Sunkist Invitational indoor track and field meet at the Sports Arena on Saturday night.

Shaw, a senior at Fillmore High, took the lead from the start and was never seriously challenged in posting a time of 5 minutes 3.4 seconds.

Marjorie Hsu of San Marino finished second in 5:17.2, and Lori Miller of Bakersfield North placed third in 5:18.2.

Hoover junior Margarito Casillas, fifth in the Kinney national cross-country championships in December, won the boys’ two-mile in 9:26.6, less than five seconds off his converted personal best (from 3,200 meters) set last season.

Stewart Ellington of Channel Islands placed fourth in 9:40.4.

Eugene Dreher of Antelope Valley had the region’s top performance in the field events, spanning a personal best of 23 feet 1 1/4 inches to win the boys’ long jump.

Shaw timed 71 seconds at the 440-yard mark, 2:27 at the 880 and 3:45.9 at the 1,320. She struggled through her last quarter-mile in 77.5 seconds, but that did not take the luster off her performance.

“I feel good about the race because I felt good running,” Shaw said. “I didn’t run as fast in the last three laps as I would have liked, but I kind of lost my rhythm in the middle portion of the race.”

Shaw, the runner-up in the 1,600 at last year’s state meet, was hoping to break five minutes in her season-opening meet. “I wanted to run faster,” she said. “But I might have gone out a little too fast.”

Unfortunately, an eager early pace was not the problem with the boys’ mile.

Billed as the national high school indoor championship, it resembled a three-quarter-mile warm-up for the competitors, who then sprinted the final 440.

Somalian Ibrahim Aden of Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy was the best quarter-miler and won in 4:18.7.

T.J. Reyes of Lakewood was second (4:19.5) and Aden’s fellow Somalian and Fork Union teammate Jama Bile finished third (4:19.7).

Jeff Wilson of Newbury Park, runner-up in the Kinney meet, placed fourth in 4:22.6. Agoura’s Ryan Wilson, a Kinney national finalist, finished eighth in 4:32.5.

The girls’ two-mile featured three of the nation’s top eight returning runners in sophomore Carrie Garritson of Sunny Hills, and juniors Amber Parkinson of Orange Lutheran and Maribella Aparicio of Fillmore. But Garritson won easily in 10:45.7 with Aparicio second in 11:00.1. Parkinson, who was hampered by a hip injury during cross-country season, placed fifth in 11:41.3. Robin Heidt of Canyon finished third in 11:25.3.

Garritson forced the pace from the start, and though Aparicio stayed within striking distance for the first mile (5:15.6 to 5:17.8), she lost ground rapidly in the last 880 yards. “I wanted to run in the low 11s,” Aparicio said. “I’m happy with my time.”

Jesse Stern of Harvard-Westlake was only seventh in the pole vault, but he improved his personal best to a solid 14 feet in the process.