Sports

RECORD RUN

The Arcadia/Foot Locker Invitational seems to bring out the best in Michael Granville. This year was no exception.

The Bell Gardens High junior won the 800 meters for the third year in a row, running 1 minute 47.96 seconds Saturday night at Arcadia High.

Granville’s time was the fastest in the meet’s 28-year history, smashing the standard of 1:49.9 set by David Mack of Locke in 1979, and it was less than a second off the all-time high school record of 1:47.31 run by Peter Richardson of Berkeley in 1981.

Granville now ranks as the third-fastest high school runner at 800 meters. Only Richardson and George Kersh of Mississippi have run faster. Kersh ran 1:46.58 in 1987, but the mark is not acceptable for record purposes because it was not run in a high school competition.

“My goal was to win the race,” Granville said. “I have to give credit to God to get the record with it. The season is far from over and I’m still improving.”

Granville, who led from the start, held off a challenge from Aaron Richburg of Union City Logan with 150 meters to go after towing the 15-runner field at the 400-meter mark in 52.3.

Richburg placed second in 1:49.12 and Obea Moore of Muir, who was third in 1:49.16, also dipped under the previous meet record.

“I knew I would have to run fast,” Granville said. “I ran my race, and when I saw them on my shoulder I knew the race was over. I felt strong and really good.”

Granville was selected as the boys’ athlete of the meet for the second time in three years. After winning last year’s Arcadia race, Granville went on to win the state title. As a freshman, he was named the athlete of the meet after a ninth-grade national record of 1:51.61.

In the girls’ 1,600-meter relay, the Long Beach Poly team of Andrea Anderson, Aminah Haddad, Pam Simpson and Shavent Williams ran 3:43.54 to break the meet record of 3:34.71 set by Morningside last year.

The UCLA-bound Anderson also won the 100 in 11.59. Haddad and Simpson were second in the 200 (24.42) and long jump (19 feet 7 3/4 inches), respectively.

In the boys’ shotput, John Davis of Long Beach Wilson won the discus with a toss of 189-3 and was third in the shotput at 59-3 1/2.

* Jeannette Bolden and Pam Marshall, graduates of Centennial and Long Beach Jordan highs, along with Berkeley High Coach Willie White were inducted into the Arcadia/Foot Locker Invitational Hall of Fame.

Bolden, the women’s coach at UCLA, was the state 100-meter champion at Centennial in 1977. A five-time All-American at UCLA, Bolden was a gold medalist in the 1984 Olympic Games as a member of the United States 400-meter relay team and was fourth in the 100.

An assistant at Jordan and a member of the 1988 Olympic team, Marshall was ranked among the top 10 in the world between 1984 and 1988 in the 100 and 200 with bests of 11.93 and 21.93.

* At the Texas Relays Saturday, LaKeisha Backus of Long Beach Wilson won the 100 meters in 11.71 seconds and joined Kinshasa Davis and twins Cherie and Cherone Brisco on the Bruins’ victorious 400-meter relay team that clocked 46.20.

PRINCE OF BEL-AIR

Tommy Prince and James Brown, who led the Dominguez High boys’ basketball team to the Southern Section Division II-A title and the school’s first appearance in a state final, have made unwritten commitments to play basketball at UCLA and USC.

Prince was expected to sign a letter of intent to play at UCLA Wednesday, the first day of the monthlong spring signing period.

Prince, who has a 3.3 grade-point average, will be offered a scholarship pending a qualifying score on the Scholastic Assessment Test in May.

The 6-foot-5 guard-forward was also recruited by USC, Maryland and Arizona State but chose the Bruins without taking any official recruiting trips.

“I really like the way they play,” Prince said. “I also like the coaching staff and the fact I can play close to home.”

The 6-6 Brown, who transferred from Long Beach Poly to Dominguez for his senior season, was also recruited by Washington State, Wyoming and Portland.

* Newly appointed Fresno State basketball Coach Jerry Tarkanian will be the featured speaker at the Dominguez High basketball banquet May 19 at the Centre at Sycamore Plaza in Lakewood. Tickets are $25. Information: (310) 639-4321, Ext. 3013, or (310) 630-0142.

* Jodi Parriott of Valley Christian has been selected to the All-Southern Section girls’ basketball team, a 10-member team of players from all five divisions.

The Division IV player of the year, the 6-2 senior averaged 24.4 points, 10.1 rebounds and four assists to lead Valley Christian (24-4) to its fourth consecutive Division IV-A title and a berth in the state final.

Melody Peterson of Mater Dei, Rasheeda Clark of Chino, Maylana Martin of Perris, Tawnee Cooper of Simi Valley, Felecity Willis of Apple Valley, Carly Funicello and Samantha Rigley of Alemany, Melanie Pearson of Woodbridge, Yanick Clay of Inglewood and Kristi Rohr of Santa Ynez were also chosen to the team.

K.K. Johns and Laneka Allen, who helped Long Beach Poly (25-5) to the Division I-AA title, have been selected to the first and second teams in Division I. Downey’s Jennifer Gall and Cerritos’ Sherilyn Frazier were second-team choices.

Maria Camacho of Pioneer was named to the Division III first team and Angelina Baca of Glenn was chosen to the second team.

Tandee Taylor of Valley Christian and Alana Kempton of Whittier Christan were named to the first team in Division IV. Elizabeth Heredia and Veronica Quezada of Cantwell-Sacred Heart were second-team selections.

In Division V, Pioneer Baptist’s Leslie Williams was chosen to the second team.

COLLEGES

Chico Medrano threw a five-hitter as the Long Beach City baseball team defeated Cerritos, 4-2, to end the Falcons’ 14-game winning streak in a South Coast Conference game Saturday.

But Cerritos (24-4, 14-2), retains first place in the conference standings. The Falcons hold a two-game lead over East L.A. (11-5) and Harbor (11-5). Long Beach (19-8-2) is fourth at 10-6.

* Jaime Barragan and Le’Gretta Hinds of Long Beach State ran provisional qualifying marks for the NCAA championships at the Big West Conference Challenge at Cal State Fullerton.

Barragan broke the school record in the 200 meters, running 20.72 to break the 1988 record of 20.93 held by Anthony Ford.

Hinds timed 58.83 to win the 400-meter low hurdles. She also teamed with Jennifer Wilbourn, Ericka Gist and Angel Moseley on the 49ers victorious 400-meter relay team (49.28). Hinds, Shannon Chapman, Gist and Moseley also combined to win the 1,600-meter relay in 3:56.61.

Other Long Beach winners included Gabe Cablayan in the 110-meter high hurdles (14.99), Jason Frudakis in the long jump (23-0) and Damon DeVault in the discus (167-3).

Long Beach won the team title with 184 points. UC Santa Barbara won the women’s competition with 155 points. UC Irvine and Long Beach were second and third with 141 and 140.

* The Long Beach State softball team will play host to San Diego State and Big West Conference leader Nevada Las Vegas Thursday and Saturday.

Long Beach (22-19) is sixth in the conference standings at 7-7. The 49ers had won 13 of their past 17 games before suffering 4-3 and 3-0 defeats against New Mexico on the road Friday.

Sophomore Amy Miner is 9-5 and has the conference’s sixth best earned-run average at 1.82. In her past six starts, Miner is 4-1 and has thrown three shutouts and four complete games.