Big Bear Miler Hall Not Feeling Left Out

Alan Webb of South Lakes High in Reston, Va., beat Ryan Hall of Big Bear to the four-minute mile last Saturday when he clocked 3:59.86 in the New Balance Games at the New York Armory in New York City. But Hall was pleased with his 4:09.46 clocking to place fourth in the open men’s mile of the L.A. Invitational at the Sports Arena later that night.

“I don’t want to hit my peak until June,” said Hall, who hopes to run in the men’s 1,500 meters at the USA track and field championships in Eugene, Ore., from June 21-24. “So I’m happy to run 4:09. That’s nine seconds faster than I ran at this time last year.”

Webb, the first U.S. prep runner to break four minutes since 1967, and Hall are the top two returning milers in the nation after running 4:03.33 and 4:06.15, respectively, last year.

Webb entered the New Balance Games intent on becoming the first U.S. prep runner to break four minutes indoors, and only the fourth to do so indoors or outdoors. Hall, with his sights set on the national championships, figured anything under 4:10 on the Sports Arena’s 160-yard track would be fine after a hard week of training.

Nonetheless, his 4:09.46 mark is the second-fastest high school mile in the nation this year, moved him to 15th on the all-time U.S. indoor performer list and to fourth on the all-time state indoor list.

Junior Angel Perkins of Cerritos Gahr won the open women’s 500-yard run in 1:06.74. Perkins, runner-up to Monique Henderson of San Diego Morse in the 200 and 400 meters in the state championships last year, shaved .05 of a second off her previous best.

“The time wasn’t important,” Gahr Coach Dan Fitzpatrick said. “We just wanted her to go out there and show that she’s fit, and she did that. She ran with control and she ran with confidence, and that’s what we were looking for.”

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Loyola and La Puente Bishop Amat’s football teams will join the Serra League with Santa Ana Mater Dei, Santa Margarita, Anaheim Servite and Bellflower St. John Bosco in 2002, according to a decision reached recently by the Catholic Athletic Assn.

The configuration will last for at least four seasons.