Meuse Has Double Date in Ventura Finals

Perhaps it’s only fitting that sophomore Ryan Meuse of Simi Valley High idolizes Michael Granville of Bell Gardens and Obea Moore of Pasadena Muir rather than two-time Olympic gold medalist Alberto Juantorena of Cuba.

After all, when Juantorena became the second man to history to win the 400 and 800 meters in the same Olympics in Montreal in 1976, Meuse’s date of birth was still 3 1/2 years away.

In contrast, Granville ranks fourth in the 800 and Moore is fourth in the 400 on the all-time national high school lists.

“I look up to Michael Granville and Obea Moore because of what they’ve done,” Meuse said. “They’re both extremely talented.”

Meuse has displayed plenty of talent himself in his first year of high school competition and will attempt to win the 400 and 800 today in the Ventura County championships at Camarillo High.

After running 49.10 seconds in the 400 and 1 minute 58.01 seconds in the 800 last summer after graduating from Sequoia Junior High in Simi Valley, Meuse has timed 49.93 in the 400 and 1:55.20 in the 800 this season.

He is favored to win the 800 in today’s meet, which starts at 3 p.m., and is a co-favorite in the 400 with Camarillo sophomore Matt Lea.

“I was hoping to run 1:56 in the 800 this season so I’ve already exceeded that,” Meuse said. “And I want to have a 48-something in the 400 before the season is through. But the 800 is my event. It’s not going to wreck my season if I don’t run under 49 in the 400.”

Meuse wants to challenge the 1:53 barrier in the 800 this season, and he could be close to reaching that goal.

Although he was given an official time of 1:55.20 in the open meet of the Arcadia Invitational two weeks ago, the Accutrack timing system malfunctioned during the race.

That might have cost Meuse a precious second or two. Simi Valley coaches Chuck Gustafson and Roger Evans and Meuse’s father all clocked him between 1:53.6 and 1:53.8 before the official results were posted hours later.

“For three hours, my time was just floating around in space,” Meuse said.

Meuse is among several notable athletes competing today, including Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks.

The 1995 national cross-country champion has run national outdoor-leading times of 4:44.9 in the 1,600, 9:15.89 in the 3,000 and 10:17.0 in the 3,200 this season.

Her 3,000 clocking, posted last Saturday when she finished in a dead heat with Li Jien of China in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays, was the fastest by a U.S. high school runner since 1985 and moved her to sixth on the all-time national performer list.

It also indicated that Mortensen is capable of breaking 10 minutes in the 3,200, although a time that fast is unlikely tonight since she is not expected to be seriously challenged.

While Mortensen will focus on one event, Ronney Jenkins of Hueneme and Sharika Higgins of Channel Islands will compete in several.

Jenkins, the Ventura County record-holder in the long jump at 24 feet 9 inches, is going for his third title in that event and his second in the 100. He will also run the anchor leg on Hueneme’s defending champion 400 relay team.

Higgins will defend her titles in the 100, 200 and 400 in addition to going for her first championship in the long jump.

The top matchup of the meet could occur in the girls’ 300 low hurdles, where defending champion Bridie Hatch of Nordhoff and 1993 champion Stacy Hebert of Buena are expected to meet.