Parks Gets El Toro Off to Good Start in Field Events

Elliott Parks posted one individual and one team victory Friday at the 38th annual Tustin Relays.

The El Toro senior, the defending state champion in the high jump, won the event with a personal best of 6 feet 11 inches after leading his team to victory in the long jump relay.

After holding field events Friday at Tustin High School, the meet will continue with track events at 8 a.m. today at Rancho Santiago College.

Parks won the high jump by seven inches, besting Saddleback’s Robert Fuentes (6-4) with a surprise personal best effort.

“After I made 6-10, the official remeasured it and it was actually 6-11,” said Parks, who long jumped 21-1 to lead the Chargers to the team title in the event (61-7 1/2).

Each team’s best three marks are combined to achieve a “relay” mark in the field events, with the exception of the pole vault, which combined only two marks.

Lavertis Riley of Los Amigos was the lone athlete to better Parks in the long jump, jumping 21-3 1/2 for the victory.

Justin Birrell’s 53-1 effort led Esperanza to victory in the shot put (149-11).

Edison senior Jenny Shutt threw a county-best 40-6 to lead Edison to victory in the shot put (108- 1/2). Carrie Axton (141-5) led Los Amigos to a victory in the discus (347-7).

In Prep League boys’ track and field:

St. Margaret’s wins--Kevin Roberts won the shot put (40-8 1/2) and discus (124-11) and Ryan Downey won the 800 (2:08.7) and 1,600 (4:44.0) for St. Margaret’s, which won the four-way meet with 68 points. Carson CAMS had 51 points, Palos Verdes Chadwick 24 and Pasadena Poly 5.

In Prep League girls’ track and field:

St. Margaret’s wins--Sophomore Natalie Comerford set a school record in the 400, finishing in 1:02.8 and freshman Allison Bendush won the 100 hurdles (19.1) and triple jump (31-5 1/2) for St. Margaret’s, which won the four-way meet with 97 points. Pasadena Mayfield had 56 points, Carson CAMS 41 and Palos Verdes Chadwick 35.