Weather or Not, Meet Is On

Doug Speck keeps his computer logged on to a weather-devoted Web site 24 hours a day.

With more than 500 schools from 16 states sending 2,980 athletes to compete in Saturday’s Arcadia Invitational track and field meet, Speck tracks the weather as closely as he follows the athletes’ performances.

“At noon [Tuesday], the forecast for Saturday called for showers,” said Speck, co-director of the meet. “But within 15 minutes, it shifted to partly cloudy. That was great news.”

Last year, rain forced the postponement of the annual meet for two weeks. Most of the out-of-state competitors were unable to return.

This year, the meet--broken into the open and invitational portions--will be run rain or shine, Speck said.

“We make an effort to gather the best competitors around and I think the kids look at it as a good midseason test,” Speck said. “It’s long enough before the [California] state meet so if it doesn’t go well [for an athlete], you can go back to the drawing board. In some ways, the test is more challenging than our state meet.”

Six nation-leading marks were set at last year’s meet. Speck said fans can expect the more typical 15 to 20 if the weather cooperates.

There are several outstanding matchups, but the best might come in the boys’ 100, which features state champion Darrell Rideaux of Long Beach Poly and Casey Combest of Owensboro (Ky.) High, who has run the 55 meters indoors this winter in 6.19 seconds, the sixth-fastest high school time in U.S. history.

Top girls performers include Nakiya Johnson of Chino Hills Ayala, who last summer ran 52.09 over 400 meters--the 10th-best high school time in U.S. history; Sara Bei of Santa Rosa Montgomery, the defending state champion in the 1,600 and 3,200; and hurdler Nicole Denby of Riverside North.