SAN DIEGO -- A week ago, Madison High's Kenan Christon called his start in the 100-meter dash "miserable."
Clearly, he worked on it.
The junior, along with Chula Vista Eastlake's Jalyn Jackson and Trabuco Hills' Sean Lee were the standouts in the 39th Mt. Carmel Invitational at Mt. Carmel High.
On the girls' side, Serra of Gardena's Jazmyne Frost, Rialto Carter's Mya Greene and the La Costa Canyon distance corps opened more than a few eyes.
But none more than Christon who roared to victory in the 100-meter dash in a meet-record 10.59-seconds with the aid of a legal 1.7 meters-per-second wind before doubling back to beat a quality 200-meter field in 21.49.
That record, first set in 2004 by Inglewood Dominguez' Lionel Larry in 2004 and equaled by Inglewood's Dondre McDonald three years later, was a fine early-season 10.66, a time run Saturday by Illinois Homewood-Flossmoor's Josh Bridges finishing second.
"Now I'm thinking 10.4 and I think I can do that at Arcadia (in two weeks)," said the Warhawks' runner who also is one of the San Diego Section's top running backs in the fall. "I feel good about the record. After the started I saw (Bridges) on the far right, so I said to myself, 'relax, you can get him.' I just stuck with what I do.
"I love racing here-it gets me ready for CIF."
In the 200, his victims included defending section 100-meter dash champion Quoi Ellis (21.66), and La Costa Canyon's Karson Lippert (21.85), who doubled back after walking away from the field in the 400 at 48.03.
Just for fun, Christon clocked a 50.5 400-meter leg on the 4x400 relay team.
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Jackson scored an impressive 24-foot, 2.50-inch wind-aided long jump and legal 49-3.50 triple jump.
His first long jump came ever so close to the 24-5.50 he posted in February, which was also slightly windy. Jackson, the runner-up in the triple jump at the CIF-State meet, added added an inch to his previous best.
"My goals were 24 feet and 48 feet before the season started but now they're 25 and 50," said Jackson, who will be competing for Cal next season.
Those marks edged Lee's 7-foot effort in the high jump, which tied the meet record. He did not have a miss until 7-2, which he barely clipped on his second attempt, after clearing a national-best 7-3 three weeks ago at the Trabuco Hills Mustang Roundup.
Lee said he has always loved the Mt. Carmel facility, ever since he cleared 5-10 at a 12-year-old, and he was pleased with the effort, although he was hoping to go higher.
"I cleared 7-feet three times as sophomore but not at all last year, so it's good to be over 7-feet twice this year," said the 6-foot-8 Lee who won the state last spring and will be attending UCLA.
Meanwhile, on the girls' front, Frost swept the sprints in a legal 11.74 seconds and wind-aided 24.08 as well as anchoring the 47.12-second Serra 4x100 victory. The 100 time is just one-hundredth of a second off the state lead and the 200 is the fastest under all conditions.
Greene was equally impressive, riding a 2.6 wind for 14.32-second time in the short hurdles before rolling to a 43.85 in the 300s, a better than full second improvement and the No. 5 time in CA this season.
As for the La Costa Canyon girls, senior McKenna Brown (4:56.20) pulled junior Jessica Riedman (4:59.87) to solid early-season marks in the 1600 and Mavericks teammate Kristin Fahy ran a 10:37.69 in the 3,200 with Brown going 10:38.23 in her first-ever 3200 for second.
Another San Diego athlete who was all smiles was Coronado junior Alysah Hickey who collected PRs in the high jump at 5-8 for the victory and 11.87 to place second in the 100 in addition to bounding 18-10.25 to capture the long jump.
"After I cleared 5-7, just brushing the bar, I looked at 5-8 and said, 'I can do this!'' said Hickey. "Really, 5-8 has been scary but when I cleared it I immediately thought 5-9 was possible."