WALNUT – Ariana Washington wore the same white and green Poly singlet and black and neon green- bleached shorts on Saturday that she wore at the 2012 State meet. She was hoping to recreate the feeling of her historic 100- and 200-meter double for the CIF Southern Section Division I finals at Mt. San Antonio College.
Whether it was the outfit or the Jackrabbit junior’s impressive talent, she did even better on Saturday than she did at the State meet, where she became the first sophomore since Rio Mesa’s Marion Jones (1991) to win both sprints. Washington won the 100 meters in a wind-aided 11.20 seconds – the nation’s top time under any conditions – and the 200 in a state-leading 23.33.
Washington also started the meet by anchoring the Poly 4 x100-meter relay of junior Jade Lewis, freshman Maya Perkins and senior Diamond Thomas to a nation-leading 45.54.
Washington’s efforts helped Poly defeat Eleanor Roosevelt 69-48 and win its sixth Division I title in a row.
Washington’s mark in the 100 would have smashed the Long Beach and school record of 11.35 set by Poly’s Shalonda Solomon in 2003 if not aided by a 3.1 meter-per-second tailwind, which was over the allowable 2.0 for record purposes. Washington entered the meet with a legal yearly best of 11.51.
Washington’s time in the 200 was a career-best by a hundredth of a second from her mark of 23.34 in the Arcadia Invitational last month and solidified her position as sixth on the area’s all-time list.
Washington believes that she could have run faster in both sprints. In the 200, Washington said she “shut it down” after the 150-meter mark with the race well in hand. In the 100, Washington persevered despite a “horrible and horrid start.”
“It didn’t feel right. It didn’t look right. It just wasn’t like right,” Washington said. “I feel that if I could have put the first 30 into my race and that if I had a perfect race that I could have gone 11.0 something.”
To make matters worse, Washington’s face was covered with her hair and that she had difficult seeing the lane line. She plans to have her hair in a bun for the State-qualifying Masters Meet Friday at Cerritos College.
“I had to let my hair flow because it was dirty today,” Washington said. “Thank God, I can rely on my top end speed.”
Poly juniors Ebony Crear and Kymber Payne and senior Ratanya Washington each turned in runner-up efforts in the 100 hurdles in wind-aided 13.95, the 300 hurdles in 41.82 and the 400 in 56.68, respectively. The three teamed with junior Hollie Harris to win the 4×400 relay in 3:47.15 in the meet finale.
Poly coach Don Norford called Saturday’s triumph a team effort after the Jackrabbits were not a full strength during the year.
“Sometimes we didn’t have all our team because of different circumstances,” Norford said. “When we finally got everybody back on the same page, the championship is the result.”
Millikan senior Destiny Talalemotu won the discus for a second year in a row at 145-0 and placed second in the shot put at 44-7 .
Wilson placed fifth in the team standings, paced by senior Kaila Hawkins who was sixth in the 400 in 57.40 and ran on the Bruins 4×100 relay that was fifth in 47.72 and third in the 4×400 relay in 3:48.02.
In the boys 110 hurdles, the Moore League took three of the top four places. Wilson junior Bayron Manuel and Millikan junior Misana Viltz were first and second in 14.22 and 14.40. Poly junior Juan Ward was fourth in 14.65.
Bellflower senior Janaya Shorty won the Division III girls 200 (24.18), Myles Smith of St. John Bosco was third in the Division III 3,200 (9:18.39) and Downey’s Lisa Vasquez was sixth in the Div. I girls 3,200 (10:55.49).
