Harvard-Westlake’s Amy Weissenbach breaks national record at state track meet

Reporting from Clovis, Calif.

The rain fell first. Then came the record.

Shrugging off soggy conditions that led to slower-than-expected times for several top competitors, North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake’s Amy Weissenbach broke a national federation high school record in the girls’ 800-meter run Saturday at the CIF state track meet.

The junior won in 2 minutes 2.04 seconds at Clovis Buchanan High, successfully defending her state title and breaking the record of 2:02.90 set by Chanelle Price of Easton Area, Pa., in May 2008.

It was a faster time than any college female has run this year and is the 13th-fastest time by a woman in the United States this year.

“It feels like a dream come true because I dealt with an injury this winter, and it was unclear when I would be able to start running again,” said Weissenbach, who was sidelined by stress reactions in both of her hips.

Weissenbach sparked controversy in the girls’ 1,600 relay when she overtook Gardena Serra’s Chimere Ezumah to anchor an apparent victory, only to be disqualified for cutting off Long Beach Poly’s Akawkaw Ndipagbor. Harvard-Westlake protested the disqualification, but the appeal was denied.

The intermittent rain was a hindrance to several sprinters, particularly in the shorter events.

Agoura’s Jonathan Cabral, widely considered a threat to challenge national and California records in the boys’ 110 hurdles, retained his state title by winning in a relatively sluggish 13.79 seconds. Cabral also won the 300 hurdles in 36.20.

“Out of the start it was like running on ice,” Cabral said of the rain-slickened track, which triggered a slower time than he had run in the 110 during Friday’s preliminaries.

Covina senior Remontay McClain joined former Los Angeles Cathedral standout Randall Carroll as the only sprinters to win back-to-back state titles in the boys’ 100 and 200.

“I didn’t know it was that historic,” said McClain, who won the 100 in 10.39 and the 200 in 20.95. Both times were slower than those McClain ran in the preliminaries.

Poly, keyed by Melia Cox’s victory in the 300 hurdles in 41.80, won an unprecedented fourth consecutive girls’ team title and captured its first boys’ team title since 2007.

ben.bolch@latimes.com