St. Bernard Sets 400-Meter Record

The Playa Del Rey St. Bernard High girls’ 400-meter relay team was “tricked” into setting a national high school record Friday night at the Southern Section track and field Masters meet at Long Beach City College.

The quartet of freshman Miya Edmonson, junior Miesha Withers and seniors Regine Caruthers and Malika Edmonson ran the fastest prep 400 in the nation this year at the divisional finals last Saturday, but Withers and Caruthers struggled to make a clean handoff.

So St. Bernard Coach Warren Edmonson made an adjustment in practice this week and the group responded with a time of 44.91 seconds, breaking Hawthorne’s 12-year record of 45.11.

“Regine had been giving Miesha 37 steps before making the handoff and I changed it to 34 steps,” Edmonson said. “I knew Miesha would have no problem catching her with 37, but I knew 34 would give Miesha more confidence that she would catch her.”

“I was thinking, ‘Just don’t blow it, don’t mess it up,’ ” said Withers, who gave Caruthers a clean pass between the second and third legs of the race. “I was so relieved when Regine got the handoff. I knew then we would have the record.”

For the second consecutive week, Pasadena Muir junior Sultan McCullough was the first to cross the finish line in four events.

McCullough, who hopes to lead Muir to its fourth consecutive boys’ state team title, won the 100- (10.28 wind-aided), 200-meter dashes (20.80) and ran the anchor legs in the 400 and 1,600 relays.

Kinshasa Davis of Long Beach Wilson achieved victories in the girls’ 400 and 200 before dashing off to her senior prom and missing the 1,600 relay.

Her time of 22.70 in the 200 was the fourth-fastest ever under any conditions, but was not legal because the wind registered 2.5 meters per second.

Junior Angela Williams of Chino ran a wind-aided 11.15 in capturing the girls’ 100, but failed to qualify in the long jump when she committed fouls on four of her six attempts.

Camarillo junior Heather Sickler set a state record and the fifth best all time with a height of 12 feet 3 1/2 inches in the girls’ pole vault.

The top five finishers in each event will advance to the state finals next Friday and Saturday at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento.