When Final Marks Are Posted, Misra Expects to Make the Grade

Ask Amit Misra of Van Nuys High about his grade-point average and he’ll tell you it’s 4.22 on a scale in which an A in a standard class is worth four points.

Ask where that ranks in Van Nuys’ senior class and he’ll tell you it’s 11th among 676 students.

Ask how he did on the SAT and he’ll tell you he scored 1,360 of a possible 1,600 points.

He won’t give you a definitive answer, however, when you ask how fast he can run the 800 meters.

Misra ran a career best of 1:55.44 to place second in the open race of the 800 in the Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High on Saturday, yet he’ll say only, “There’s more there,” when asked if he can run faster.

“My coach says that you let your time do your talking and I agree with him,” Misra said. “You do your talking on the track.”

Joe Flemming, Van Nuys’ longtime track and cross-country coach, is a no-frills kind of guy. He was pleased with Misra’s performance at Arcadia but says his protege has a ways to go before he’ll draw serious interest from NCAA Division I programs.

“One fifty-five is a nice showing,” he said. “But Division I schools have to see a time a lot faster than that before they’re going to come running with scholarship offers.”

Misra, who is enrolled in Van Nuys’ math and science magnet program, began running in an after-school program when he was in seventh grade.

He specialized in the 400 during his first two years before moving to the 800 as a freshman at Van Nuys.

He timed 2:02.46 to place second in the freshman-sophomore race of the 1998 City Section championships but missed most of his sophomore season after straining two ligaments in his left ankle during a junior varsity basketball game.

The injury required him to wear a cast for six weeks and prevented him from racing until the final dual meet of the season, but he progressed well enough in postseason competition to finish third in 2:03.96 in the freshman-sophomore final of the City championships.

“I thought it was amazing that he was able to run as well as he did off so little training,” Flemming said. “I thought it showed that he had some talent.”

Misra ran a career best of 1:57.88 to finish fourth in the varsity 800 in the City championships last year before lowering that mark to 1:57.21 to place fourth in the Pasadena Games at Pasadena City College on March 31.

Then came Arcadia, where he placed second in a race in which 18 runners broke two minutes.

“Basically, my time was very decent,” he said. “But I feel like there’s more there. I was worn out after I crossed the finish, but I felt a strength inside that I haven’t felt before.”

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Jameson Mora of Canyon and Tony Ahr of Burroughs also performed well in the open portion of the Arcadia Invitational.

Mora, a junior, ran a career best of 9:18.69 to win the boys’ 3,200, demolishing his previous best of 9:32.75.

Ahr, a senior, ran 4:18.19 to place third in the first heat of the 1,600 and better his previous best of 4:24.31.

“Jamie ran a really smart race,” co-coach Dave DeLong of Canyon said. “The lead pack went out extremely fast, but he stayed back for the first couple of laps before moving up.”

While the leaders passed the first lap of the 400-meter track in 61 seconds and the second in 2:08, Mora clocked 64 and 2:13.

He took the lead during the third lap and never relinquished it.

“Before the race, Jamie had been telling people that he was going to skip the 9:20s,” DeLong said of Mora’s career best. “And he did.”

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Stat of the Week

When Melissa Astete of Birmingham High cleared 13 feet to win the girls’ pole vault in the Arcadia Invitational on Saturday, she bettered her previous region record by 2 1/2 inches. The following is a list of top 10 performers from the region in an event contested at the state championships for the first time in 1995.

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Ht Individual, School Year 13-0 Melissa Astete, Birmingham 2001 12-3 1/2 *Heather Sickler, Camarillo 1997 12-2 1/2 Bridget Pearson, Hoover 1999 12-0 *Michelle Rivera, Birmingham 2001 11-6 Lisa Rugenstein, Camarillo 1998 10-6 1/4 Heather Modesti, Agoura 2001 10-6 Jocelyn Chase, Agoura 1994 10-6 *Nicki Kohlieber, Birmingham 1999 10-6 Danielle Wenz, Canyon 1999 10-4i *Jessica Alas, Birmingham 2001

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i--Indoor mark. *--junior. Others are seniors.

The Top 10

Rankings of track and field teams

from the region

BOYS

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RK LW School (League) 1 1 Taft (West Valley) 2 2 Birmingham (West Valley) 3 3 Rio Mesa (Pacific View) 4 4 Palmdale (Golden) 5 5 Notre Dame (Mission) 6 6 Valencia (Foothill) 7 7 Cleveland (West Valley) 8 8 Hueneme (Pacific View) 9 10 Canyon (Foothill) 10 9 Royal (Marmonte)

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GIRLS

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RK LW School (League) 1 1 Rio Mesa (Pacific View) 2 2 Birmingham (West Valley) 3 3 Cleveland (West Valley) 4 4 Notre Dame (Mission) 5 5 Canyon (Foothill) 6 6 Royal (Marmonte) 7 7 Thousand Oaks (Marmonte) 8 8 Crescenta Valley (Pacific) 9 9 Moorpark (Marmonte) 10 10 Buena (Channel)

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