1994 State Meet - Cerritos College

Link to 1994 Photo Album

1994 State Meet – a decade ago the State gathered at Cerritos College – 1993 had been the year of the famous “rain-out” with the state meet coming back to Cerritos for a beautiful 94 version, with some great action.

Muir, under Coach Clyde Turner, took the boys’ title, with a very strong team that had 36 points to take the two win total of 20 for Redlands (Pat Johnson sprints) and San Diego (Meb Keflizighi distances). The Girls title was won by Skyline of Oakland, with Coach Darrell Hampton’s squad also a strong 36 point total over the 32 of city rival Bishop O’Dowd, 24 of LB Poly, and 22 of Muir’s girls.

There was some great action on the track and in the field:

Boys
Sprints – great rivalry had developed between Inland Empire Southern Section stars Bryan Howard (Canyon Springs) and Pat Johnson (Redlands), with Howard 10.32 and Pat 10.39 in qualifying in the 100. Unfortunately Howard false-started out of the finals and Johnson cruised a 10.43 win. In the 200 Howard was obviously quite emotional, blasting the turn, with Johnson racing him down 21.01-21.14. Pat is still playing football in the NFL after college at Oregon.

400 – James Davis (Wood, Vacaville) was 47.10 coming in and a slight favorite, with Andre DeSaussure (Taft, Woodland Hills) out at 22.2 here in the finals before James ran him down to win in 46.96, a seasonal best.

800 – Soph Michael Granville (Bell Gardens) followed frosh pace-setter Obea Moore (Muir), with the age-group rivals in a familiar setting in the finals of the 2 lap event. Obea had run 47.14 in the eighth grade, but used to alternate events yearly, with his frosh year a two lap championship year. Moore was out in 52.4 here, with the pack close at 1:21.3 at the 600 before Granville flew by, a 1:49.82 winner over Vondre Armour (Bakersfield) 1:50.11, with Obea 1:53.84 in 7th at the finish. Granville had run 1:48.98 for a National Class record earlier in the year.

1600-3200 – Had to group these, as San Diego rivals Meb Keflizighi (San Diego) and Mark Hauser (St. Augustine) would meet once again, with Meb attempting to take the four and eight lap events both! He had run 4:06.15 and 8:51.8 in the Section finals so it was possible, with a Friday 1600 heat here added to the weekend mix. Hauser looked strong after the field came through 1200m at 3:08.7, racing 29.5 for the next half lap, but Keflizighi ran him down during a sub 59 second last lap to win 4:07.87-4:08.52 (Michael Stember Jesuit – 4th fastest soph ever in US History) and Hauser 4:08.97! Meb showed his dominance with the lead in the 3200 at 4:31.8 after four laps, then blasting the 9th 200 in 32.5 to further pull away, eventually an 8:58.11-9:03.19 winner over Antonio Arce (Palmdale). Meb went on to UCLA and current Olympic level glory after this super prep start.

110mHH – Upland’s Gerimi Burleigh emerged a narrow winner over Southern Section rival Delewis Johnson (Nogales, La Puente) 13.93w (+2.44) – 13.95w, with Ken Haslip of Muir important third place points at 14.07w.

300mIH – Coke Edmond (Bellarmine Prep, San Jose) screamed out at 23.7 for the first half lap of this event before clobbering the seventh hurdle and failing to finish. Muir’s Ken Haslip kept his cool, and raed to the win at 37.14.

400m Re – Great first running event had San Diego’s El Camino (Oceanside) putting it together for a 41.16 win over Muir (41.24) who nipped SS rival Morningside (41.25) for second!

1600m Re – Muir started a great run of 4x400 teams, with frosh Obea Moore anchoring the 3:12.54 winners with a 46.9 leg, with second back at 3:14.69 (Patrick Henry, SD)

HJ – Jeremy Fischer (Camarillo) had a great year with a 7-04 seasonal best. Here, he won on misses at 7-00 over Rich Pitchford (Charter Oak, Covina).

PV – Fine competition, with Scott Slover (Del Mar, San Jose) winner at 16-10 over Borya Orloff (St. John Bosco) and Robbie Weighall (Highland, Bakersfield) both at 16-06.

LJ – Tyree Washington (La Sierra, Riverside), today one of the world’s top 400 meter runners, led qualifying at 23-02 and the finals at 23-09.25w over Art Lloyd (Eisenhower, Rialto) 23-08.5.

TJ – Von Ware (Rancho Buena Vista, Vista) was the nation’s second best during the regular season with a towering 52-00 best, and he won here at 50-06 over Jamal Chase (Quartz Hill) 49-11.

SP – Chris DeMartini (St. Ignatius, SF) took the event at 58-11.5, with Wade Tift (Newport Harbor, Newp Bch) 58-08.25 and Jeremy Lingenfelter (Upland) 58-07.75 close behind!

DT – Jeremy Staat (Bakersfield) became the third athlete (Derrick Stevens 1989 – Jeff Buckey 1991-92) to win this event for his school in the last four years! Staat steadily improved during the year to a 183-08 win here over 195-06 thrower Chris DeMartini (St. Ignatius), who finished second this date at 178-02.

Girls
Sprints – Heather Sumpter (Muir) 11.69 (wind +1.24 mps) nipped SS rival Aminah Haddad (LB Poly) 11.70, with Kelly White (Logan, Union City) next at 11.93. White had been the victim of a knife slashing to the face that required some 300 stitches a few weeks previous, so quite an amazing weekend performance for her! Over 200m, Lakeisha Backus (LB Wilson), who had false-started out of Section action in the short sprint, raced to a 23.21 (+1.37) win over Aminah Haddad 23.37. LB Poly’s Andrea Anderson aggravated an injury in the trials and did not race the 100 or 200 finals.

400m – Latasha Gilliam (Pittsburg) raced to a seasonal best 53.93 in leading from the start of the event.

800m – Kristie Johnston (Central, Fresno) led through a 63.6 opening lap and won by nearly two seconds over soccer star, Tiffany Roberts (Carondelet) 2:11.81.

1600m – Elisa (of the Riedy twins – Lori 7th in the finals here) from Mission San Jose was the winner at 4:54.28 with a 66.9 final 400, dominating the event, as second was 4:59.11 by Claire Becker (Bonita Vista, Chula Vista). Mary Cobb (Santa Barbara) took a good spill at 900 meters and was able to get up to finish 8th at 5:07.

3200m – The legend of Julia Stamps (Rincon JHS on to Santa Rosa HS in 1995) was born here with a 10:26.51 win by nearly 25 seconds over Kristen Gordon (Carondelet, Concord) 10;51.24.

100mH – Freshman Davetta Shepard (Kennedy, Richmond) burst forth on the prep scene with a 13.73w (+3.82 mps) win over defending champ Bisa Grant (O’Dowd) 13.76w and Joanna Hayes (North, Riverside) 13.80w.

300mLH – Defending Champ here had more success, with Angela Harris (Skyline, Oakland) a fine 42.78 winner over Cathy Prater (Agoura) 43.62, with Prater back coaching at her old High School this spring of 2004, a decade later!

400m Re – LB Wilson took a hot final at 46.17 over Skyline 46.51. National leader LB Poly (45.90) had dropped the baton back in Section action.

1600m Re – Skyline capped its team win with the nation’s #1 time here in the finals at 3:41.90 over LB Poly’s 3:43.27.

HJ – Volleyball star Kristy Kierulff (Esperanza) was the winner on misses over Jamila Churchill (O’Dowd) and Tracye Lawyer (Cate, Carpinteria) at 5-10.

PV – exhibition event had a very lucky start, with charming Melissa Price (Kingsburg), who would go on to great things and heights, took the event at 11-02, which turned out to be the top vault in the event at any level, including Olympic, for the year in the nation. She showed people that girls could vault right from the start!

LJ – Tara Dettinger (Foothill, Santa Ana) was 19-7.5 on her fourth jump to move into the lead over Laren Parker (Bakersfield soph) 19-06.5, with that mark holding on for the win for the Foothill senior.

TJ – Tameika Porter (Orange Glen, Escondido) took a tight final at 38-11.5 over Amber Roberts (Muir) 38-11.25 and Michele Reid (Folsom) 38-11, with Reid the state leader off a 39-00 earlier in the spring.

SP – Delores Tuimoloau (Channel Islands, Oxnard) was the winner at 46-11 over Peka Laulu (Nogales, La Puente) 44-11.5.

DT – Suzy Powell had set a National Federation record with a 189-07 from earlier in the spring, with a 174-02 here to win by twenty feet over Nadia Lopez (Arroyo Grande).