Griswold Quadruples His Fun, Winning Four Titles

Garden Grove sprinter Kevin Griswold produced titles in the 100, 200, 400 and 400-meter relay, with all the individual victories coming in convincing fashion at the Orange County track and field championships on Saturday at Trabuco Hills High.

“This has been my goal since the start of the season,” said Griswold, a senior. “I wanted to go four for four.”

Griswold opened by chasing down Santa Margarita in the 400 relay, edging Tim Fitzgerald by .01 seconds (42.88 seconds).

Griswold, a senior, then set a meet record in the 400 with a winning time of 48.09. Micah Denison of Dana Hills set the mark of 48.53 in 1994.

Victories in his usual events, the 100 (10.6 hand-timed) and 200 (21.49), gave Griswold the four victories he sought.

“I couldn’t sleep at all last night,” said Griswold, who beat the record of 21.74 set by Woodbridge’s Gary Young in 1994. “I just wanted to help out the team as much as I could, if we came up short that’s OK, because we all gave it our best.”

The Argonauts did fall short, tying Huntington Beach for third in the team standings with 42 points. El Toro won with 56, followed by Santa Margarita at 47.

El Toro junior Elliott Parks contributed heavily to the team’s winning performance.

He began the afternoon with a victory in the long jump--a meet-record leap of 22 feet 8 3/4 inches. He followed that up by placing third in the triple jump (42-11 1/2) and second in the high jump (6-10).

Huntington Beach senior Jess Strutzel won the 800 in 1:56.83 after finishing second in the 400 in 48.83.

Tustin junior Dominique DeGrammont set a meet record with his victory in the 110 high hurdles (14.14), and finished second (38.43) to Santa Margarita senior Matt Blasdel (38.23) in the 300 intermediate hurdles.

Blasdel was fourth in the 400 (49.72) and 110 high hurdles (15.02).

Blasdel also anchored the winning 1,600 relay, coming from behind with a 3:24.44 clocking.

Huntington Beach junior Scott Moser won the discus with a toss of 172-3, after finishing third in the shotput (52-4).

Tustin senior Mike Gavar pulled off the upset of the meet, edging county cross-country champion Tony Trueba of Huntington Beach in the 3,000. Gavar finished in 8:48.49, just ahead of Trueba (8:50.06).