County’s Elite Face Challenges at Arcadia

Five Orange County athletes who currently own the top marks in the state in their respective track and field events will compete on Saturday in the prestigious Arcadia Invitational at Citrus College.

Travis Pendleton of Esperanza High, who threw the discus a state-leading 197 feet 8 inches last week, will get a huge test from Nick Arrenhius of Orem (Utah) Mountain View High. Arrenhius threw 204-7 in his first meet two weeks ago.

The boys’ 300 intermediate hurdles will feature Newport Harbor’s Trevor Jones, who finished seventh in the state last season and ran a state-leading time of 37.41 seconds two weeks ago at the Pasadena Games. Jones will be pitted against Point Loma’s Tony Golston, who has the country’s third-fastest returning time from last season (36.98).

Marina’s Logan Odden, who cleared a state-leading 16 feet 5 inches in the pole vault at the Trabuco Hills Invitational Saturday, will face off against two others who have cleared 16 feet. Chris Chappel of Minden (Nev.) Douglas High jumped 16-1 during the indoor season and Shane Hackett of Verdugo Hills made 16-0 two weeks ago.

In the triple jump, Clarence Moore of Cypress leads the state with a mark of 47-5 set early in the season, but he’ll be tested by Las Vegas High’s Anthony Park, who jumped 48-9 at Arcadia last season.

Corona del Mar’s Liz Morse ran the nation’s fastest indoor 800 at the L.A. Invitational in February (2:10.21), then added the state’s top outdoor time at the Trabuco Hills Invitational (2:12.85).

Morse will need a similar effort to defeat Treani Swain, a freshman at North Hollywood Oakwood, who ran a personal-best 53.71 in the 400 last summer.

One of the most competitive fields in terms of county athletes figures to be the boys’ 1,600 meters.

Villa Park’s Augie Escobar, who ran the second-fastest 3,200 in the nation last season, drops down to the four-lap race, where he is equally dangerous.

Esperanza’s Ryan Bousquet finished sixth in the state in the 1,600 last season and San Clemente’s Garrett Milner has the county-leading time in the event (4:17.0) this season.

The field also includes Katella’s Danny Mejia, who is coming off a tremendous cross-country season during which he was a state runner-up in Division I and fifth at the Foot Locker West Regionals.

The stiffest challenge should come from Brian Turner of Omaha (Neb.) Millard North High, who is the defending champion at Arcadia and has a lifetime best of 4:09.29.

Mission Viejo’s Dana Bethel is the only county athlete entered in two invitational events, the long jump and 100 hurdles. She finished second in state in both last season.

Last year at Arcadia, Bethel tied Long Beach Poly’s NaOnka Mixon for second in the long jump (18-6 1/4), one inch behind winner Tracee Thomas of Riverside North. Bethel finished third in the 100 hurdles (14.38).

MORE LOOKING AHEAD

The Esperanza boys’ team defeated Edison for the first time in four years last season and will try for two in a row on Thursday when the Aztecs host the Sunset League meet. Esperanza’s strength is the throwing events, while Edison counters with speed.

Another key boys’ meet Thursday will be Cypress at Katella in the Empire League.

Two league dual meets Thursday will feature the top girls’ teams from the Sea View (Woodbridge at Newport Harbor) and Serra (Mater Dei at Santa Margarita).

If you have an item or idea for the prep track and field report, you can fax us at (714) 966-5663 or e-mail us at: dan.arritt@latimes.com