Griswold’s 200 Time Among County’s Best

Just when he least expected it, Garden Grove sprinter Kevin Griswold ran faster than ever.

Running in Lane 8, with only one athlete to his outside, Griswold sped to the third-fastest clocking ever by a county athlete in winning his heat of the 200 meters at the Southern Section Division III track and field preliminaries at Veterans Stadium.

The senior finished in 21.31 seconds, which stands only behind the county-record of Marina’s Chip Rish (21.01) in 1985 and Dana Hills’ Bryan Harrison (21.10) last year.

“I like being on the inside [of the track] so I can chase people down,” said Griswold, whose feat was more impressive considering the 1.34 meters-per-second head wind. “When you get the outside, you’re kind of guessing.”

Griswold then won his 100-meters heat into another stiff wind, measured at 1.89 meters per second. His time of 10.84 seconds was the fastest posted by any athlete in the five heats.

“[Posting the fastest time] doesn’t really mean that much, but I’m happy with it,” said Griswold, who won four titles at the Orange County Championships three weeks ago.

Another multiple winner was University freshman Allyson Marquand, who won her heats in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters in 5 minutes 5.31 seconds 10:57.91.

Los Amigos’ Carrie Axton, the Orange County discus champion, was the leading qualifier. The junior posted the top mark, 135 feet 7.

Axton’s teammate, Tofi Togogae, who was the third qualifier in the discus (119-3), also advanced in the shotput (38-10 3/4) with the second-best effort.

Buena Park sophomore Heather Garritson was a three-event qualifier, winning her 800 heat in 2:25.59, finishing second to Marquand in the first 1,600 heat (5:09.28) and second in the second heat of the 3,200 (11:09.69).

Aliso Niguel senior Sean Righter won his heat en route to the fastest qualifying time in the 800 (1:57.24). Garden Grove senior Qadeer Noorzai also advanced to the finals with a personal best 1:59.31.

Three county athletes, Carlos Rojas (Valencia), Richard Chou (University) and Patricio Mejia (Anaheim) advanced in the 3,200. Rojas posted a 9:33.99 clocking, followed by Chou in 9:39.68 and Mejia in 9:42.84.