Track Athletes From the Region Have Field Day

Three athletes from the region remained undefeated in their specialties in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on Saturday.

Matt Lea of Camarillo won the boys’ 400 meters in 47.81 seconds, Frances Santin of Taft placed first in the girls’ 300 low hurdles in 43.39 and freshman Schquay Brignac of Cleveland won the girls’ high jump at 5 feet 8 inches under warm, sunny conditions.

Miguel Fletcher of Alemany, who won the boys’ 100 and 200, and Lauren Fleshman of Canyon, who turned in a stunning performance in the girls’ 800, were the other winners from the region.

Lea, who ran a state-leading 47.6 in the 400 on April 3, got out quickly and was never seriously challenged. He had a seven-meter lead after the first 300 and maintained most of it to the finish to defeat second-place Nick McCullom of Perris, who clocked 48.41.

Larry Jones of Taft, defending City Section champion, placed third in 48.67.

“I just took it out and ran,” Lea said. “Today, I just wanted to run with the guys in my race, run a good time and hopefully win. I did all of those things so I’m happy.”

Santin didn’t get the sub-43 clocking in the 300 hurdles she hoped for, but her 43.39 was the fastest in the state this year and second on the national performer list.

She ran on Taft teams that finished second in the 800 relay in a school-record 1:41.54, third in the 400 relay in 47.67 and third in the 1,600 relay in 3:53.94.

Brignac, who jumped a state-leading 5-9 two weeks ago, cleared 5 feet, 5-2, 5-4, 5-6 and 5-8 on her first attempts before missing three times at a 5-10.

“I was hoping for 5-10,” said the 5-4 Brignac. “I was ready mentally to do that, but I was late getting here. So I went into the competition thinking that I would be satisfied if I got second or third.”

Sara Foster of Valencia, defending Southern Section Division I champion, cleared a career-best 5-8, but finished second because it took her three tries.

Fletcher came from behind to win his second consecutive Mt. SAC 100 title in a wind-aided 10.75.

He left the field behind at the start of his third consecutive victory in the 200 in 21.06.

Fleshman made a rare appearance in the 800, but ran 2:11.87 to move to second on the state and third on the national outdoor list.

“I thought 2:15 in my dreams,” Fleshman said after moving to 10th on the all-time region list. “I never expected this.”

Fleshman was seventh after the first 400, moved into fourth down the backstretch and motored past leader Courtney Inman of the Valley Royals track club in Canada with 180 meters left.

“It felt a lot easier than I expected,” said Fleshman, who had not broken 2:20 in the 800 before. “It just felt natural. I’m totally amazed at what I ran.”

Fleshman ran a 5:02 leg in the 6,400 relay to help Canyon finish fifth in 22:25.31.

Porchea Carroll, a freshman at Rio Mesa, was second in her heat of the invitational 200 in 24.70 and third in her heat of the 100 in 12.20, both career bests. She was fourth in invitational long jump at 17-9 1/4 and ran on Rio Mesa’s 400 relay team that won its heat in 49.09.

Brandon Stewart, a Harvard-Westlake junior, placed second in the boys’ invitational long jump with a career-best 23-4 1/4.

Angela Foster, a senior from Ventura, finished fourth in the girls’ invitational shotput with a school record of 43-1 and fifth in the discus at 126-10.