Spiker Takes the 3,200 in Stately Fashion

Josh Spiker of Ventura High didn’t win as many events as Porchea Carroll of Rio Mesa, Annmarie Turpin of Simi Valley or Oliver Jackson of Royal in the Ventura County track and field championships at Royal on Friday night.

And he didn’t set or tie a meet record, as did Jackson, Turpin, Tim Adrian of Moorpark or Shelaine Larson of Buena.

But no one brought the crowd to its feet like Spiker did in winning the boys’ 3,200 meters in a school-record and yearly state-leading time of 9:08.48.

Spiker’s time crushed his previous school record of 9:18.23 set in finishing seventh in the Southern Section Masters Meet last year and topped the previous state-leading time of 9:11.55 by junior Matt McInvale of Ramona.

Spiker’s time was doubly impressive because the Cougar junior did it without anyone to push him as he defeated second-place Dan Albino of Thousand Oaks by 35 seconds.

“I wanted to run 9:10,” Spiker said. “My coach wanted me to come through the 1,600 in 4:30 and then take it from there.”

The crowd began to get excited when Spiker came through the 1,600 in 4:28.3 and they really began to cheer him on when a 68.1 fifth lap brought him through 2,000 meters in 5:36.4.

A sub-9:00 clocking appeared possible at that point, but a fast pace and lack of competition began to take a toll on Spiker and he clocked 70.1, 71.7 and 70.3 on his last three laps.

“That’s when I started to feel it,” Spiker said when asked about his sixth lap. “My legs were starting to get tired at that point.”

Carroll and Turpin each won three individual events in the girls’ meet while Jackson was a double winner in the boys’ competition.

Carroll, defending Southern Section Division II champion in the 100 and 200, won her second consecutive titles in those events with times of 12.32 ad 25.06.

The times were well off Carroll’s career bests of 11.70 and 24.53, but the cool temperatures and a stiff headwind in the 100 were not conducive to fast times.

Carroll, a sophomore, also won the long jump in 18-0 1/2 and ran the first leg on the winning 400 relay team that clocked 49.68 to defeat defending champion Camarillo by more than half a second.

Turpin won her second consecutive title in the high jump with a meet-record-equaling 5-6.

She also won the 400 in a school-record 58.12 and the 300 low hurdles in 45.79. In addition, she finished second in the long jump with a career best of 17-5.

“I wasn’t real happy about the high jump,” said Turpin, who has a best of 5-10. “But I told myself there wasn’t anything I could do about it. . . . I told myself to forget about it and go on to the other events.”

Jackson, the national outdoor leader in the boys’ long jump at 24-4 3/4, won that event in a meet-record 23-11 1/2 and took the 300 low hurdles in a career best 39.10.

He also placed third in the 110 high hurdles in 15.61 and ran the second leg on Royal’s 400 relay team that finished seventh in 44.59.

Adrian won his second consecutive title in the boys’ discus with a meet record of 182-10 and Larson, a junior, won the girls’ discus with a meet record of 135-1.