County's finest converge for track and field championships
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers SPERRY GOOD- Simi Valley High's Anna Sperry charges ahead of the pack during the girls' 1,600 race at last week's Ventura County Track and Field Championships at Moorpark High. Despite suffering from the flu, Sperry won both the 1,600 and 3,200 events.

Stars shined and records were shattered during last week's Ventura County Track and Field Championships at Moorpark High.

Oak Park High got the action started on the track with a victory in the girls' 4x800 relay. Eagle runners Sarah Kiner, Julie Kopstein, Aimee Sands and Kari Miller posted a time of 10:02.55, helping OPHS finish ahead of Moorpark, Royal and Thousand Oaks.

Oaks Christian won the boys' 4x800 event. Ethan Long, Justin Sullivan, Nick Colarossi and Hunter Hays led the way as the Lions finished with an 8:26.76.

On the field, meanwhile, Newbury Park senior Patrick Alami was busy winning the first of three events he participated in. Alami logged a leap of 6 feet, 4 inches in the boys' high jump, edging out Oak Park's Kareem Maddox for the first-place medal.

"I jumped 6-4, which is what I've done in just about every meet this season and what I did last year," Alami said. "I wanted to go at least 6-6, but I'm still happy I won."

Later in the afternoon, Alami won the boys' 110- and 300-meter hurdle events.

Agoura's Derek Johnson picked up a pair of first-place medals.

Johnson, the nation's leading boys' discus thrower, heaved a meet-record toss of 187 feet, 9 inches.

To put Johnson's dominance in perspective, the second-place finisher, Royal's David Bussing, went 140-10 with his best throw. Johnson also won the boys' shot put title with a toss of 50-03.5.

"I just try and throw my hardest every time and see what I can get out of it," said Johnson, who recently accepted a scholarship to Cal State Bakersfield.

"It's been a couple of weeks since I've thrown the shot, so I wasn't really expecting to win," he said. "But things just happened for me out there. I'm stoked. It was a good day."

Back over on the track, Simi Valley standout Anna Sperry was blazing a vapor trail in the girls' 1,600. Competing in one of the deepest fields of any event, Sperry set a meet record with a time of 4:53.54. Oak Park's Courtney Lightfoot finished in second place by running 5:02.28.

"I didn't plan on running that fast," said Sperry, who won the same event a year ago. "I just wanted to race for the win."

Sperry said she ate three bowls of her mom's chicken noodle soup to help reenergize her body following two days of battling the flu.

"My throat is on fire right now," she said. "I'm going to run up to the stands to get a cough drop. I'm just glad I didn't start coughing during the race."

Lightfoot, who suffered a broken ankle nine months ago, ran stride for stride with Sperry until the final 250 meters.

"I stayed with (Sperry) for the first three laps, but it's hard to keep pace the whole time," Lightfoot said. "She just took off at the end."

Sperry and Lightfoot also finished first and second, respectively, in the girls' 3,200 later in the evening.

In other girls' action, Calabasas junior Brittany Harper won both the 200 and 400 races. Harper finished in 24.98 seconds in the 200 meters and in 55.92 seconds during the 400 meter event.

"I'm better at running long distances than I am in the shorter distance races," Harper said. "These events went very well for me today."

Thousand Oaks picked up a pair of firstplace medals when sophomore Kat Luft was victorious in the girls' shot put and senior Brianna Blair won the girls' pole vault.

Luft easily outdistanced the competition with a toss of 39 feet, 8 1/2 inches.

Blair was the only competitor to crack 11 feet in the pole vault. Moorpark's Ariella Adachi and Oaks Christian's Lauren Radke tied for second with vaults of 10 feet, 6 inches.

La Reina was victorious in the girls' 4x400 relay.

Oaks Christian junior Chris Owusu may have turned the most heads when he set a meet record in the boys' 100-meter dash.

Competing against a starstudded field, Owusu finished in 10.65 seconds, barely edging out Rio Mesa's Josh Harrison, who ran a 10.68. The previous meet record was set last year by Ventura's Brandon Smith (10.68).

Westlake senior Cory Primm, a defending state champion, defeated Royal's Hudson Andrews in the boys' 800. Primm finished in 1:54.25. Andrews posted a 1:55.94.

"I just wanted to see if I could 'out-kick' today," Primm said. "I stayed behind until 250 (meters) to go and then I started my kick."

A few hours later, Primm helped lead Westlake to victory in the boys' 4x400 relay. The Warriors finished in 3:21.91, ahead of Oak Park, Royal and Moorpark.

Moorpark's Nick Karam captured the boys' triple jump title with a 46-foot, 3 1/2-inch effort. Karam finished second in the boys' long jump.

In the boys' pole vault, Tazwell Finley of Moorpark won a tiebreaker over Thousand Oaks' Jeff Altizer. Both competitors went 14 feet, 6 inches.

The Marmonte League finals are scheduled for this afternoon at Royal High. Boys' and girls' varsity and junior varsity action will get underway at 3 p.m.