Fargas, Fletcher Advance With Identical 10.82s

Wherever Notre Dame High’s Justin Fargas jets on to a track, Alemany’s Miguel Fletcher is usually right with him.

And the other way around.

The two sprinters matched stride for stride Friday at the Southern Section Division III prelims at Veterans Stadium at Long Beach City College, each clocking 10.82 seconds to easily win their boys’ 100-meter heats.

They advanced to the section finals on May 23 at Cerritos College, where they’ll try to qualify for the state championships. Fargas won the state title last year and Fletcher finished second.

Fargas placed first Friday because he ran into a 3.5 meter-per-second wind, while Fletcher’s time came against a 2.7 wind. But Fletcher wasn’t concerned.

“It’s OK,” Fletcher said. “It’s a qualifier.”

Fletcher cruised in his 200 heat, winning in 21.31.

Fargas again used a three-point standing start to soften the pressure on a sore right hamstring.

Fargas, however, wasn’t the only stellar performer for Notre Dame.

Freshman Sierra Hauser-Price ran 12.39 in the girls’ 100, the sixth-best time of the meet, and won a 200 heat in 24.54. She also ran a leg in the Knights’ 400 relay team that posted a 48.32 clocking, second-fastest of the meet.

Nordhoff nearly had three winners in the 1,600-meter races.

Elaine Canchola breezed in her girls’ heat, clocking 5:11.39 for the meet’s second-fastest time but considerably lower than her season-best of 5:04.1. Canchola led most of the way.

“I just wanted to get out so I wouldn’t get boxed in,” Canchola said. “I’m looking for competition [in the finals] because I’ve been running by myself all season.”

Herman advanced by easily winning his heat in a meet-leading 4:20.95 and teammate Victor Ochoa led at the bell lap of his heat but was overtaken in the home stretch by Cabrillo’s Chris Rodriguez (4:30.23) and Paso Robles’ Chris Layman (4:30.44). Ochoa clocked 4:32.04 and failed to advance.

Herman and Ochoa later advanced in the 3,200, as did Santa Clara’s Aaron Sharp.

Notre Dame’s Kevin Lelles finished second in his heat in 4:21.69 and La Canada’s Philip Young was right behind in 4:28.44 to move on.

“I wanted to run a 4:18 but nobody was there to push it,” Herman said.

Canchola later ran away with her 3,200 heat in 11:01.50.

Nordhoff’s Matt Lemon (1:57.67) and Matt Torres (1:58.91) won their boys’ 800 heats.

In the boys’ 400, Notre Dame’s Rod Arzu put up the event’s third-best time (49.28) to advance to the finals and Peter Paplanus of Calabasas grabbed the last qualifying spot with a 49.74 in his heat.

“My goal was to get on to the next round,” Paplanus said.

Paplanus also started the long jump competition but had to quit after two rounds because of shin splints in his left leg.

Junior Tim Adrian of Moorpark launched a heave of 178 feet 2 inches to claim second place in the boys’ discus.

Harvard-Westlake’s Becky Rauth had the second best time in the girls’ 300-meter low hurdles in 45.46 and also qualified in the 100-high hurdles in 16.27.