Taft’s Anthony Fowler ran an aggressive race in the 400 meter dash, but Dorsey’s Rashard Clark was determined to win his second consecutive City title in that event. Clark also won the 200 meter dash, and was a part of Dorsey’s winning 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams. Photo by Jason Lewis
Taft’s Lexis Lambert (right) won both the 100 and 200 meter dashes for the second consecutive year. Photo by Jason Lewis
By Jason Lewis
Sentinel Sports Editor
Between the Dorsey boys team and the Taft girls team, they won nearly every sprint event at the City track and field championship meet at Birmingham high school, and they will be taking the show on the road next week to the State championship meet in Clovis, Ca.
Dorsey was able to win the boy’s title for a third year in a row, which was coach Ralph Tilley’s 13th championship at Dorsey, and the school’s 15th overall.
This meet was about repeat champions, as some sprinters defending their championships from last year and won multiple titles this year.
Dorsey’s boy’s team won both relay races, just like last year, but they were given a run for their money in both events. In the 4×100 meter relay, Taft led the race by at least five meters on the final leg, but Dorsey had Rashard Clark as their anchor, and the 6’ 3” sprinter ate up the track with every stride, and he ate up Taft’s lead too.
“I Love that,” Clark said. “It’s not like I haven’t done that before. I love that part of the race. Catching people, hearing the crowd around here. Knowing that I’m going to get him. I have had races where I wasn’t going to get the guy, but when I saw him, I knew I was going to get him.”
Dorsey finished the race with a time of 41.64, just ahead of Taft, who ran a 41.73. In the 4×400 meter relay race, Clark received the baton with a slight lead over Carson, and he was able to hold them off for the victory with a time of 3:17.21.
But for Clark, it was all about the open 400 and 200. Last year he won the 400 and went on to take second place at the State meet. This year he has led the City Section the entire season, and he has had one of the fastest times in the State. But he did have stiff competition from Taft’s Anthony Fowler.
Both sprinters have run the 400 in the 47-second range, and they both did again in the finals. Fowler was able to get out fast in the race and it looked like he was going to give Clark a tough time, but Clark was too strong, as he pulled away over the final 100 meters of the race to win the City title again with a time of 47.54. Fowler completed the race in a time of 47.97. Both times could get them in the State finals.
Clark went on to double in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.74. Last year he did not place in the top three in that event, so this year was a little more satisfying because he won every race that he was in this year.
Even though Clark had a target on his back for being the best 400-meter runner in the City, he was more concerned with running a great time leading into State than his competition. He is looking to run in the 46-second range.
Taft’s Lexis Lambert was another athlete who everybody was out to get after she won both the 100 and 200-meter dashes at City last year, but she was extremely confident coming into this track meet.
“For me it wasn’t pressure to win again, for me it was pressure about the times,” Lambert said. “Okay, I won, but I needed to drop my times. My 200 time I was happy with that, and my 100 time, I’ll take that!”
Lambert won this year’s City titles with times of 12.03 in the 100 and a 25.09 in the 200. She was also a member of Taft’s winning 4×100 meter relay team, which ran a time of 47.48.
Carson’s Dayna Hurd was another repeat winner, as she defending her title from last year in the 300-meter hurdles. She easily won the race from the first hurdle, as she came in at a time of 44.89, nearly a second and a half in front of the second place runner. Hurd is only a junior, so next year she has a chance to be a three time winner.
The top three finishers in each event will move on to the State meet, so that means all of the 110 meter hurdlers will be coming from Dorsey. Reggie Bell won the race with a time of 14.69, and teammates Te’von Mitchell (14.74) and Ross Stribbling (14.98) took second and third places. Mitchell went on to win the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 39.13.
It was “A good day to be a Don,” as Dorsey’s boy’s team racked up 115 points, with Carson coming in a distance second with 65 points. Palisades’ girl’s team also won the City championship with 80 points, with Carson coming in second with 63.
State Qualifiers
Girls 4×100 Meter Relay
1 Taft 47.48
2 Carson 48.15
3 Dorsey 48.55
Boys 4×100 Meter Relay
Dorsey and Taft were pretty close on the 3rd leg of the 4×100 meter relay, but Dorsey finished strong to take the City title. Photo by Jason Lewis
1 Dorsey 41.64
2 Taft 41.73
3 Carson 42.38
Girls 100-Meter Hurdles
Birmingham’s Hillary Hill took an early lead in the 100 meter hurdles and that was more than enough to win the City title. Photo by Jason Lewis
1 Hill, Hillary 12 Birmingham 14.76
2 Hurd, Dayna 11 Carson 15.26
3 Mills, Jessica 11 El Camino 15.42
Boys 110-Meter Hurdles
Dorsey took the top three places in the 110 meter hurdles. Reggie Bell (5) won the title, and Te’von Mitchell went on to win the 300 meter hurdles. Photo by Jason Lewis
1 Bell, Reggie 11 Dorsey 14.69
2 Mitchell, Te’von 12 Dorsey 14.76
3 Stribbling, Ross 12 Dorsey 14.98
Girls 400-Meter Dash
1 McCoy, Tatiana 12 Taft 56.37
2 Nadreau, Rochelle 11 El Camino 56.64
3 Nealy, Tigest 11 Dorsey 57.23
Boys 400-Meter Dash
1 Clark, Rashard 12 Dorsey 47.54
2 Fowler, Anthony 12 Taft 47.97
3 Toler, Eli’sha 12 Carson 48.13
Girls 100-Meter Dash
1 Lambert, Lexis 12 Taft 12.03
2 Shaw, Nashay 12 Washington 12.24
3 Brown, Destinee 11 Westchester 12.28
Boys 100-Meter Dash
Granada’s Sam Marshall (4) edges out Locke’s Devonte O’Connor in the 100 meter dash. Marshall ran a time of 10.88, and O’Connor 10.89. Photo by Jason Lewis
1 Marshall, Sam 11 Granada 10.88
2 O’Connor, Devonte 12 Locke 10.89
3 Abby, Lorne 12 Carson 10.96
Girl’s 300 meter hurdles
Carson’s Dayna Hurd won the City title in the 300 meter hurdles for a second consecutive year. Hurd wrapped up this race going into the first hurdle. Photo by Jason Lewis
1 Hurd, Dayna 11 Carson 44.89
2 Gustafson, Kendall 11 Palisades 46.20
3 Lopez, Liliana 11 Sylmar 46.75
Boys 300-Meter Hurdles
1 Mitchell, Te’von 12 Dorsey 39.13
2 Ruano, Irvin 11 Bell 39.87
3 Marshall, Jaccari 12 Carson 39.88
Girls 200-Meter Dash
1 Lambert, Lexis 12 Taft 25.09
2 Shaw, Nashay 12 Washington 25.32
3 Stewart, Alexandria 12 El Camino 25.37
Boys 200-Meter Dash
1 Clark, Rashard 12 Dorsey 21.74
2 O’Connor, Devonte 12 Locke 21.84
3 Marshall, Sam 11 Granada 21.93
Girls 4×400 Meter Relay
1 El Camino Real 3:53.65
2 Dorsey 3:55.10
3 Taft 3:56.03
Boys 4×400 Meter Relay
1 Dorsey 3:17.21
2 Carson 3:18.01
3 Taft 3:19.66
Girls High Jump
1 Gustafson, Kendall 11 Palisades 5-04.00
2 Franks, Dashawn 10 Palisades 5-00.00
3 Jordan, Aaliyah 12 University 4-10.00
Boys High Jump
1 Johnson, Malik 12 El Camino 6-06.00
2 Stribbling, Ross 12 Dorsey 6-04.00
3 Stamps, Marcus 11 Jefferson J6-04.00
Girls Long Jump
1 Miller, Kierra 12 Carson 18-02.00
2 Gustafson, Kendall 11 Palisades 18-00.00
3 Orisarayi, Naomi 9 El Camino 17-05.50
Boys Long Jump
1 Eggleston, Marcus 12 Dorsey 22-03.00
2 Taylor, Joshua 11 Franklin J22-03.00
3 Cheval, Thomas 11 Birmingham 21-05.00
Girls Triple Jump
1 Anderson, Ashley 10 Narbonne 37-00.00
2 Miller, Kierra 12 Carson 36-10.00
3 Lee, Kaneshia 12 Taft 36-03.50
Boys Triple Jump
1 Moton, Jerrod 12 Carson 45-05.50
2 Miller, De’Andre 12 L.A. 45-00.50
3 Eggleston, Marcus 12 Dorsey 44-06.00
Girls Shot Put
1 Chavez, Mariela 11 Reseda 36-08.00
2 Tongafoa, Talei 12 Washington 36-03.25
3 Taulaki, Elenoa 10 Polytechnic 36-02.50
Boys Shot Put
1 Street Jr., Christopher 12 Hamilton 51-04.25
2 Allison, Jeremiah 12 Dorsey 49-11.25
3 Taufehema, John 12 Birmingham 49-10.50
Frosh/Soph *Note- Frosh/Soph does not advance to the State meet.
The Frosh/Soph 100 meter dash showcased some of the fastest up and coming sprinters in the City Section. Look out for (left to right) Anthony English (Taft), Ray Cooley (Dorsey) Devon Williams (Dorsey), Nolan Grigby (Crenshaw), Chase Cobb (Palisades), Charles Pace (Locke), and Jason Lewis Jr (Fairfax) in the coming years. Palisades’ Cobb won the race in a time of 11.24. Photo by Jason Lewis
University High School’s Precious Nwaba won the girl’s frosh/soph 100 meter hurdles with a time of 16.64. Photo by Jason Lewis
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