Riverside North Cruises to Win

The Riverside North girls’ team ended the Southern Section divisional track and field championships at Cerritos College in Norwalk on Saturday the same way the Huskies began it.

With a runaway victory in a relay event.

Sophomores Tracee Thomas and Chaunte Howard and freshman Bridgette Williams and Lena Bettis won the Division I 1,600-meter relay in a school-record 3:45.17 in the last event of the meet after senior Nichole Denby, Thomas, Williams and freshman Ashley Brown clocked a school-record 45.30 in the opening event, the 400-meter relay.

North scored six or more points in seven other events in between those efforts to post a 98-58 victory over runners-up Long Beach Poly and Long Beach Wilson.

Wilson defeated North, 72-68, for the Division I title last year, but the Huskies defeated the Bruins, 42-37, for the state title and they overwhelmed their opposition Saturday.

“It was important that we won big today,” Thomas said. “Because they beat us last year when we came up a little bit short.”

Denby, the defending state champion in the 100 high hurdles, accounted for 30 1/2 of North’s points by winning the highs in a career-best 13.41, the 100 in a career-best 11.67, finishing second in the 300 low hurdles in 42.82 and running the second leg on a 400 relay team that ran the fastest time in the nation this year and moved to eighth on the all-time national list.

Denby’s time in the highs was also a national leader and moved her to 11th on the all-time list.

Thomas, the runner-up in the 200 in the state championships last year, accounted for 21 points by finishing second in the 100 in 11.84 and second in the 200 in 24.17 in addition to running on the relays.

Sophomore Angel Perkins of Cerritos Gahr, senior Travis Pendleton of Anaheim Esperanza and junior Ryan Hall of Big Bear had some of the other top performances.

Perkins won the Division I girls’ 400 in 52.28 and the 200 in 23.85 while running into a 2.0 meter-per-second headwind. Her time in the 400 was the fastest in the nation this year, the fastest ever run in a high school meet, and moved her to 10th on the all-time state list.

Pendleton won the Division I boys’ discus with an 199-2 effort that was the best in the state this year and moved him to fifth on the yearly national list.

Hall, who ran a state-leading 4:05.78 in the boys’ 1,600 in the Division IV preliminaries on May 13, cruised to winning times of 4:09.71 in that event and 9:04.41 in the 3,200.

The top nine combined finishers in each event except the 3,200 automatically qualified for the Masters Meets at Cerritos College on Friday.

The top 12 in the 3,200 advanced.

In other events, Anita Siraki of Glendale Hoover won her second consecutive title in the girls’ 1,600 and 3,200 with times of 4:50.24 and 10:31.80.

Gahr defeated two-time defending champion Long Beach Poly to win the boys’ Division I team title.

In the boys’ sprints, Bennie Robinson of Long Beach Poly recorded the fastest 100 time with a 10.48 clocking in the Division I race and Warren Rogers of Gardena Serra recorded the fastest 200 time with a 21.21 clocking in the Division IV meet.

Marcus Raines of Little Rock won the 110 high hurdles in 14.19 and the 300 intermediate hurdles in 37.29 in the Division I meet.