Rio Mesa’s Carroll Becomes Name-Dropper

Porchea Carroll of Rio Mesa High didn’t have the fastest time in the girls’ 50-meter dash in the L.A. Invitational indoor track and field meet at the Sports Arena on Saturday.

But no competitor from the region knocked off a bigger-name athlete than Carroll, who turned back Tracee Thomas of Riverside North to win the sixth--and final--heat of the 50.

Thomas, second in the 200 meters and third in the 100 in the state championships last year, beat Carroll by .11 seconds to win the 55-meter dash in the San Diego Indoor Games last month. But Carroll, a junior, edged away from her sophomore rival in the second half of the race Saturday to post a 6.47-6.50 victory.

Senior Halima DeCree of Bakersfield Foothill produced the fastest time of the meet with a 6.44 clocking in the fourth heat.

Carroll’s time moved her into a tie for 14th on the all-time national performer list in the infrequently run event, but Rio Mesa sprint coach Brian FitzGerald downplayed the significance of her victory over Thomas.

“It means absolutely nothing,” FitzGerald said. “You can’t make a big deal out of it at this point in the season, although it could give her a little bit of confidence later.”

Carroll, fourth in the 100 in the state championships last year, won the long jump prior to her performance in the 50.

Her winning mark of 17-4 1/2 wasn’t particularly far, but she and FitzGerald were pleased she hit the takeoff board on all four of her jumps.

Carroll was among eight athletes from the region to post victories.

The others were Oliver Jackson of Royal in the boys’ long jump, Clark Goodwin of Ventura in the boys’ 500 yards, Marcus Raines of Littlerock in the boys’ 50 high hurdles, Rodney Woods of Littlerock in the boys’ triple jump, Tony Herr of L.A. Baptist in the boys’ 880, Treani Swain of Oakwood in the girls’ 880 and Laura Jakosky of Agoura in the girls’ two-mile.

Anita Siraki of Hoover didn’t win the girls’ mile, but she clocked a career best of 4:55.51 to finish second to Alejandra Barrientos of Felton San Lorenzo Valley, who ran a meet record of 4:52.32, the fastest indoor time in the nation this season.