ARCADIA – Competition tends to bring out the best in people.
It sure brought the best out of Mater Dei’s Curtis Godin at the 47th Arcadia Invitational track meet Saturday night at Arcadia High.
Godin edged Paul Lucas from Mountain Pointe of Arizona and ran a 10.36 to win the boys invitational 100 meters.
The wind-legal mark is the Orange County all-time best for the event, pulling ahead of the 10.42 Godin ran April 3.
“The fastest person I’d run against was Sean McGrew,” Godin said. “He’s obviously in there. That’s when I hit the 10.42. So I knew, throw in some other guys that are very fast around me, that I would be definitely pushed … have to kick into that next gear that you don’t really know you have until you’re pushed.”
Godin said his goal coming into the season for the 100 was a 10.5 or a 10.6, now he’s changed that to 10.2.
He also had a goal of breaking the 20-second range in the 200-meter dash. Godin fell short in the 200 to Lucas, who ran a national best 20.84. Godin ran a 21.03, which is third best all-time in the county.
When it comes to girls pole vault, Santa Margarita’s Kaitlyn Merritt isn’t being pushed so much by other athletes, but more by history.
Merritt set the meet and county record with a clearance of 13 feet, 8 inches last year.
She cleared 13-9 on April 3 this year, and had big aspirations for Arcadia. She won the event with a clearance of 13-6, but just narrowly missed on hitting the 14-1 1/4 mark, which would have been a national junior class record.
“I’m really excited about my performances, it’s nice to get on that big pole again,” Merritt said. “I don’t want to end my season until I get it (the record).”
Orange Lutheran’s Carl Johansson moved up the county record books during his triumph in the boys pole vault.
Johansson cleared 16-8, which is a state best and tied for second best all-time in the county with St. Margaret’s Johnny Quinn, who reached that height in 2006.
“It feels good,” Johansson said. “I’m kind of disappointed. I’ve really been trying 17 feet for the past couple of weeks, but hopefully soon I’ll get it. But yeah, I’m happy with today’s results.”
In a later race, Northwood’s Bethan Knights improved on the previous nation-leading 10:07.52 she ran in the 3,200 at the Mt. Carmel Invitational, but it wasn’t enough for the win.
Alexa Efraimson, who attends Camas of Washington, won the girls 3,200 invitational with a time of 9:55.92, which is a meet record and the fastest in the country.
Knights ran a 10:04.05 and finished third. Simi Valley star Sarah Baxter scratched because of a stress reaction in her leg.
Contact the writer: amorales@ocregister.com
