National Meets Have Local Flavor

Southland athletes won 10 events last weekend in two track and field meets that billed themselves as national high school indoor championships.

Seniors Darrell Rideaux of Long Beach Poly and Troy Becker of Malibu and junior Nicole Denby of Riverside J.W. North won individual events in the National Scholastic indoor championships at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury, Mass.

Rideaux, the defending state champion in the boys’ 100 meters, won the 60-meter dash in 6.77 seconds to defeat second-place Sebastien Caron of Montreal by 0.05 seconds.

He also teamed with seniors Kareem Kelly, Samie Parker and Aaron Smith to win the 800 relay in 1:28.27.

Becker missed last season because of a shoulder injury, but won the boys’ pole vault with a clearance of 15 feet 5 inches.

Denby, runner-up in the girls’ 100 high hurdles in the state championships last year, took the 60 hurdles in 8.61.

Kelly, defending state champion in the boys’ 200, finished second in that event in 21.51, trailing senior Dwight Thomas of Silver Spring, Md., at 21.43.

The National Scholastic meet began in 1982.

The other “national championship” meet was the inaugural Nike Indoor Classic at Ohio State.

Long Beach Wilson won the girls’ 800, 1,600 and sprint-medley relays and Chino took the boys’ sprint medley.

In individual events, senior Marcell Allmond of Santa Fe Springs St. Paul won the boys’ pentathlon and senior Nakiya Johnson of Chino Hills Ayala placed first in the girls’ 400.

The Long Beach Wilson team of seniors Latrice Borders, Kim Gildersleeve and Joni Smith and sophomore Lashinda Demus clocked 1:40.04 in the 800 relay, 3:45.35 in the 1,600 relay and 4:01.61 in the sprint medley, which consists of a 400-meter leg, followed by a pair of 200 legs and an 800.

Chino clocked 3:31.26 in the boys’ sprint medley with a team of seniors James DeBruhl, Richard Polidore and David Akers and junior Travon Walton.

Allmond totaled 3,908 points in the pentathlon Saturday to win his second consecutive title.

The defending state champion in the 110 high hurdles posted pentathlon marks of 7.98 in the 60 high hurdles, 21-3 1/2 in the long jump, 48-2 1/2 in the shotput, 6-4 1/4 in the high jump and 2:55.80 in the 1,000.

He also finished fifth in the 60 high hurdles Sunday in 7.92.

Johnson, the fastest girls’ 400 runner in the nation last year, won in 54.74.