Tustin’s Smith Takes Run at Recovery

Tustin High distance runner Alonso Smith is among the elite prep athletes who will compete Saturday in the 41st Los Angeles Invitational track and field meet at the Sports Arena.

About 2,000 athletes will participate in the high school portion of the meet.

The shotput and discus events will be staged at USC’s Cromwell Field beginning at 9 a.m. Indoor events begin at 11 a.m.

Competition in open events begins at 6 p.m.

Smith, a senior, will participate in the seeded mile race, in which the favorite among the field of 11 is Nick Schneider of St. Louis Park, Minn. Schneider broke a state record in the 3,200 meters last spring and recently won his second consecutive state Class AA cross-country title.

Smith won Southern Section Division II and Masters titles in the 800 meters last spring. He also had the state’s fastest time in the event for most of the season.

Other entries Saturday include Woodland Hills Taft’s Daniel Clements, the City Section runner-up in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters last spring, and Chino Don Lugo’s Arturo Garcia, fifth in this race a year ago.

Smith, who had pneumonia over the Christmas break, said his only goal is to finish among the top five.

“I’m just getting back into shape,” he said. “The pneumonia kept me in bed for two days and then I just laid around the house for a week and a half.”

Smith is also running anchor for Tustin in the boys’ 3,520-yard relay at 11 a.m.

“It’s going to be a long day in between races,” Smith said.

Edison’s Darryl Poston, the Orange County champion in the 100 and 200 meters last season, is entered in a 50-meter heat that also includes Maurice Dosty of Stockton Franklin, the fastest returning 100-meter runner in the state (10.41). The first of six heats in this event begins at 5:45 p.m.

“These kids have gone beyond the high school ranks,” meet promoter Don Franken said. “I think this is the most [prep athletes] we’ve ever had in the open running events.”

In the girls’ competition, Fountain Valley’s Julie Allen, who is transferring to Corona del Mar at the semester break, is among the favorites in the two mile. This race begins at 3:05 p.m. and also includes Natalie Stein of North Hollywood, Emily Vince of Palos Verdes Peninsula and Heather Hansen of Madera.

Mission Viejo’s Dana Bethel is entered in one of four 50-meter hurdles events, which will begin at 6:25 p.m. Bethel is also entered in the long jump competition, scheduled for noon.

Franken said high school athletes from Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana and Nevada also will participate.

“We feel like this is one of the top indoor events for high school athletes in the nation,” Franken said. “It’s a chance for these kids to compete against each other and then stick around to watch some of the world’s best in the evening.”

Chris Morgan of Woodland Hills Taft, the defending City Section champion in the 110 high hurdles and the long jump, is scheduled to compete, as are Ryan Hall of Big Bear, Anita Siraki of Glendale Hoover and Angel Perkins of Cerritos Gahr.

Morgan will compete in the 50 meters, the 50-meter hurdles and the long jump.

Hall, the defending boys’ state champion in the 3,200 meters, and Siraki, the defending girls’ 3,200 champion, will compete in the men’s and women’s open mile races.

Perkins, who finished second in the state in the 400 meters last year, will run in the women’s open 500.

Lashinda Demus of Long Beach Wilson is competing in the girls’ 500. Jason Lovell of Reseda Cleveland and Jibril Raymo of Beverly Hills are among those entered in the boys’ 500.

Among the participants in the Football 50 race are Jahlamb Sinclair of Westchester, Lamar Ferguson of Inglewood, Matthew Clark of Reseda Cleveland and Darren Shorter of Cypress.