Lea Gets Out of the Blocks Fast in ’98

If the first five weeks of the year are any indication, senior Matt Lea of Camarillo High could be headed for a superb track season.

Lea has been one of the top quartermilers in Ventura County since he was a freshman, but he’s intent on becoming one of the best, if not the best, in the state.

“I want to win state,” Lea said after winning the boys’ 500-yard run in 59.6 seconds in the L.A. Invitational indoor meet at the Sports Arena on Saturday. “I want to run 46-something. I definitely think I’m capable of a sub-47 time.”

That might sound like a lot of hot air coming from someone who finished sixth in the Southern Section Division I final last year, but Lea has recorded some impressive times this season.

He ran career bests of 48.2 and 47.7 in the 400 in all-comers meets at Cal State Northridge last month and he also clocked a career-best of 21.5 in the 200.

“I’m in a lot better shape this year by far than I was in the past,” Lea said. “I’ve been training a lot harder.”

It showed Saturday when Lea won the third of four heats by nearly five seconds and ran two-tenths of a second faster than Jafar Williams of Berkeley St. Mary’s in the first heat.

“It didn’t bother me to be out in front by myself,” Lea said of his first indoor race. “I was able to just go out and run my race.

“But I felt like I had something left at the end if I had been pushed.”

He can thank Moorpark College assistant coach Bryan Krill for that.

Krill, a 1991 graduate of Thousand Oaks High who finished fourth in the 400 in the 1995 Pacific 10 Conference championships for USC, has been working with Lea since last September.

“I’m just doing a lot more quality,” Lea said. “I’m running hills and I’m running a lot faster in workouts. I’m pushing myself a lot harder.”

Lea was one of three winners from the region in Saturday’s meet. The others were Jenny Kenyon of Newbury Park in the girls’ long jump and Taft in the girls’ 6,400-yard relay.

Kenyon spanned 18 feet in the long jump to defeat runner-up Tracee Thomas of Ambassador Christian by 5 1/2 inches.

Taft clocked 1:15.9 in the first of six heats to edge Long Beach Poly, which ran 1:16.0 in the fifth heat.

Seniors Miguel Fletcher of Alemany, Patrick Turner of Granada Hills and Ika Eliashvili of Birmingham posted second-place finishes.

Fletcher, runner-up in the 100 in the state championships last year, was second in the football player 50-meter dash with a time of 5.90 seconds.

Junior Darrell Rideaux of Long Beach Poly won in 5.85 after leaving the USC-bound Fletcher behind in the first 20 meters.

The race lost some of its luster when Sultan McCullough of Pasadena Muir didn’t run, choosing instead to run legs on the Mustangs’ victorious 640 and 1,280 relay teams.

Turner set a career-best of 14-6 in the pole vault to add six inches to his previous best he set last month.

He cleared 14-6 on his second attempt before missing three times at 15 feet, which Lemoore senior Mark Unzueta cleared to win.

“I wasn’t ready to jump that high,” Turner said. “I made 14-6, but I didn’t have a big enough pole to take a good shot at 15.”

Eliashvili, the defending City Section champion in the girls’ triple jump, bounded 36-9 1/2 to finish second behind the 37-3 1/2 effort of Latanya Agurs of La Mesa Grossmont.

In other events, Nordhoff senior Dusty Herman finished third in the boys’ two-mile with a school indoor record of 9:32.5 and Simi Valley senior Ryan Meuse placed second in his heat--and fourth overall--in the boys’ 880 with a time of 2:02.5.

Senior Allison Knode of Kingsburg won the girls’ pole vault at 11 feet, but the event failed to live up to its advanced billing.

It was supposed to pit the top three returning vaulters in the nation, but Brooke Lankard of Visalia Golden West and Bridget Pearson of Hoover didn’t compete, and Heather Sickler of Camarillo failed to clear her opening height of 10-6.

Lankard had a best of 12-4 last year with Sickler at 12-3 1/2 and state champion Pearson at 12 feet. Pearson pulled out of the meet because she didn’t want to aggravate a sore back.