Area relay teams have strong showing at Arcadia

By From staff reports

Posted April 6, 2012 at 10:25 p.m.

An injury substitution didn't keep Rio Mesa High from posting the state's fastest time in the invitational boys 4x100 relay Friday at the Arcadia Invitational.

Winning by nearly a full second, Rio Mesa posted a time of 1 minute, 26.79 seconds, which ranks No. 13 in the nation.

Jordan Nunnery was placed in a loaded lineup this week, joining Blake Selig, Darion Zimmerman and Cameron Roach. The same team is expected to compete in the invitational 4x100 relay today.

Oaks Christian placed seventh in 1:31.84.

Two other Ventura County relay teams were victorious.

Ventura captured the boys 1,600 sprint medley in 3:29.59. the fifth-fastest time in meet history. Members of the team were Michael Pare, Nick Rudolph, Shane Ryan and Kyle Medina.

Winning the boys seeded 4x800 relay was Newbury Park, which finished in a school-record time of 7:50.23. Members of the team were Austin Lasater, Kendall Esparza, Jonny Byrne and Sean Fought.

Simi Valley was runner-up in the girls rated 4x200 relay in 1:42.74. Oaks Christian was sixth in the girls invitational 4x200 relay in 1:40.72.

In other relay highlights: La Reina was 10th in the girls invitational 4x800 relay in 9:36.47; Buena placed third in the girls rated 4x110 shuttle hurdles relay in 1:05.72; Ventura was eighth in the girls rated 1,600 sprint medley relay in 4:30.03; and Thousand Oaks finished eighth in the boys seeded 4x1,600 relay in 18:30.20.

Westlake's Nicki Ghazarian (10:55.83) and Melanie Joerger of Thousand Oaks (10:57.41) finished 1-2 in the girls rated 3,200. Moorpark's Monika Glalay was sixth in 11:01.52.

Geno Arthur of Rio Mesa was sixth in the rated boys 3,200 in 9:22.86. Camarillo's Joel Gonzalez was sixth in the boys seeded 3,200 in 9:29.03.

Ventura's Candice Dominguez placed second in the girls open high jump with a leap of 5-1.

Friday's meet highlights included Wakefield (N.C.) turning in the fastest time in the nation in the girls 4x200 relay (1:35.98); Harvard-Westlake becoming No. 1 in the nation in the girls 1,600 sprint medley relay in 3:56.34; and Centennial winning the invitational boys 4x800 relay with a national-leading time of 7:44.80.

Two-time state girls cross country champion Sarah Baxter of Simi Valley is expected to compete in an elite invitational 3,200 race today.