Siraki Blows Away Talented Field in 3,200

The girls’ 3,200 meters was billed as the most talent-laden field in the Flo Jo Memorial Arcadia Invitational track and field meet at Citrus College on Saturday night, and the results of the race backed it up as 17 runners broke 11 minutes.

But there was little suspense when it came to the battle for first place, thanks to Anita Siraki of Hoover High.

Siraki, a junior who placed fourth in the national cross-country championships in December, surged into the lead at the 1,600-meter mark and was never challenged on her way to a school-record 10:18.61, fastest time in the nation this year.

Porchea Carroll of Rio Mesa, Shane Hackett of Verdugo Hills and Schquay Brignac of Taft also won events in the meet that was renamed in memory of Florence Griffith Joyner, the 1988 Olympic sprint champion who died of an epileptic seizure in her sleep in 1998.

But none of them were as dominant as Siraki, who burst onto the national scene in the Arcadia meet last year with a second-place finish behind Lauren Fleshman of Canyon.

Siraki’s 10:30.81 clocking in the meet last year remained her best until Saturday, when she ran at the back of the lead pack for the first three laps before taking a 10-meter lead with four laps left.

Siraki’s time was 5:16.3 at that point, an average of 79 seconds per lap, but she ran the next three circuits in 73.7, 75.3 and 75.1 to blow open a race that included national cross-country champion Victoria Chang of Punahou High in Honolulu and Sara Bei of Santa Rosa Montgomery, the national indoor leader in the two-mile.

Siraki slowed to 79.2 for her final lap, but her time moved her to fifth on the all-time region list, gave her a 12-second margin of victory over Bei and missed the meet record by two-tenths of a second.

“I wasn’t even trying to win,” Siraki said. “I was just trying to get a [career record]. It feels awesome to win this meet. It was kind of unbelievable that I was the leader during the race. I came in here just hoping for a [career record] and a top-five finish.”

Carroll, a junior, won the girls’ 100 in 11.73, finished fourth in the 200 in 24.53 and was fifth in the long jump in 17-10. But Brian FitzGerald, a Rio Mesa assistant, said she was beginning to show the effects of a cold after the 200.

Hackett, a senior, cleared 16-4 in the boys’ pole vault to set his third school record of the season and move into a tie for fifth on the all-time region list.

Brignac, a junior, won the girls’ high jump when she cleared a season best of 5-8 on her third--and final--attempt.

Chris Morgan of Taft appeared to have won the boys’ 110 high hurdles in 13.94, but the race was run again 20 minutes later because officials ruled there was a malfunction with the starter’s pistol that caused Rickey Harris of Centreville High in Clifton, Va., to pull up at the first hurdle because he thought there was false start.

Harris won the second race in a nation-leading 13.51 with Jake Garlick of West Jordan (Utah) second in 13.81 and Morgan third in another 13.94 clocking that moved him into a tie for fourth on the all-time region list.

Senior Jessica Cosby of Cleveland placed second in the girls’ shotput in a school-record 48-6 1/4 to move to second on the all-time region list.