Felix Breezes to Two Victories in Sprints

It appears the sophomore jinx hasn’t got a chance of catching up with Allyson Felix of L.A. Baptist High.

Felix burst onto the Southern California sprint scene last year by winning Southern Section Division IV titles in the girls’ 100 and 200 meters, and finishing seventh in the 200 in the state championships in her first season of competitive track and field.

She appears to be vastly improved.

The latest evidence came Saturday in the Northridge-Alemany Relays at Cal State Northridge when the Knight sophomore won the 100 in a career-best 11.82 and the 200 in 24.05 while running into a breeze.

Felix’s 100 clocking lowered her previous best by nearly four-tenths of a second and moved her to 10th on the all-time region list.

Her 200 time was only .15 seconds off her best and came while running into a wind measuring 1.6 meters-per-second.

“I’m a lot more serious about [track] this year,” Felix said. “Now that I know I can compete at a high level, I’m much more serious in my training.”

Felix, who ran 24.06 to place second in the 200 in the Nike Indoor Classic in Landover, Md., last Sunday, was one of two local athletes to win two of events at Northridge.

Senior Jamil Smith of Palmdale, defending state champion in the boys’ triple jump, won that event with a season best of 48-3 1/2 and the long jump at 22-4.

Chris Morgan of Taft was second to Smith in the long jump in a disappointing 21-7 3/4, but had two outstanding efforts earlier in the meet.

First he ran a strong second leg on the winning 400 relay team that clocked 41.55 to move to eighth on the all-time region list.

Then the defending state champion in the 110 high hurdles won that event in 13.97 to miss his best by only .03 seconds.

He also finished second in his heat of the 100 with a time of 11.00.

Senior Jason Lovell of Cleveland, defending City Section champion in the boys’ 400, won that event in 47.67.

Senior Schquay Brignac of Taft, defending state champion in the girls’ high jump, cleared 5-6 to win the event.