Bussey, Jackson Still Leading the Pack

One of them is the state leader in the boys’ 400 meters.

The other is the state leader in the boys’ long jump.

One of them is undefeated in the 400 this season. The other has lost only once in the long jump.

On Friday, senior Blaine Bussey of Taft High and junior Oliver Jackson of Royal posted the leading qualifying marks in the 400 and long jump, respectively, before 8,136 on the first day of the state track and field championships at Hughes Stadium.

Bussey, who ran a region-record and yearly state-leading time of 46.3 to win the Northwest Valley Conference finals on May 14, cruised to a 47.03 clocking in his heat to post the fastest qualifying time by more than seven-tenths of a second.

“I felt good,” Bussey said. “I just tried to work it the first 200.”

Bussey failed to advance to the final of the 200, though his 21.56 time was a career best. But he ran a superb anchor leg in the 1,600 relay to help Taft win its heat in 3:19.58, the eighth-fastest qualifying time.

“I’m just going to let it all go and see what kind of time I can come up with,” Bussey of the 400 final.

The top nine finishers in each event Friday advanced to the final today.

Jackson, who leaped a state-leading 24-4 3/4 in the long jump in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in April, jumped 24-1 1/2 on Friday, a week after finishing fourth in the Southern Section Masters Meet at Cerritos College.

Jackson, who has jumped better than 24 feet in six meets this season, leaped a wind-aided 24 feet on his first attempt before hitting 24-1 1/2 on his second. He passed on his third--and final--attempt.

Jackson was one of two qualifiers from the region in the long jump.

Sophomore Chris Morgan of Taft was fifth with a career-best 23-8 1/2 and he was the No. 8 qualifier in the 110 high hurdles with a wind-aided time of 14.30.

Sophomores Porchea Carroll of Rio Mesa and Sierra Hauser-Price of Notre Dame and junior Deneeka Torrey of Taft were other multiple qualifiers from the region.

Carroll qualified second in the girls’ long jump with a school-record 19-3 1/2 and she finished second in her heat of the 100 in 11.72, the fifth-fastest time of the meet. She failed to advance in the 200, however, with her fourth-place time of 24.33 leaving her 14th overall.

Six girls broke 24 seconds in heats of the 200.

Hauser-Price advanced to the finals of the girls’ 100 and 200 for the second consecutive year by posting the No. 8 time in the 100 (11.82) and the No. 9 time in the 200 (24.15).

Torrey, the City Section champion in the 100 high hurdles and 300 lows, advanced to the finals in those events and as a member of Taft’s 1,600 relay team.

Torrey was the No. 8 qualifier in the 100 hurdles with a school-record 14.43, the No. 5 qualifier in the 300 hurdles in 44.09 and she ran on the 1,600 relay team that qualified fifth in 3:51.12.

Junior Shane Hackett of Verdugo Hills set a school record of 15-4 in qualifying second in the boys’ pole vault and senior Tim Adrian of Moorpark qualified third in the boys’ discus with a school record of 186-4.

Adrian, who has signed with Syracuse, was surprised by the throw that topped his previous school record of 184 feet.

“I was expecting to hear 175 or 177,” Adrian said.

In other events, junior Rodney Woods of Littlerock qualified fourth in the boys’ triple jump with a school record of 47-10 and junior Jessica Cosby of Cleveland was fifth in the girls’ shotput in 43-11 3/4.

Junior Fernando Lopez of Taft was the No. 8 qualifier in the boys’ high jump at 6-7 and senior Becky Rauth of Harvard-Westlake qualified sixth in the girls’ 300 hurdles in 44.10.

Senior Annmarie Turpin of Simi Valley, who cleared a state-leading and Ventura County record of 5-10 1/2 in the girls’ high jump in the Masters Meet, was the ninth qualifier at 5-6.