Locals excel at Flo-Jo meet

Spencer Patterson

Tuesday, April 11, 2000 | 10:08 a.m.

Two strong jumps for Las Vegans, one giant leap for Southern Nevada's track and field scene.

That was the story at the Flo-Jo Memorial Arcadia Invitational in Glendora, Calif., on Saturday, as a pair of winning individual performances highlighted a strong overall showing by Southern Nevada's best at one of the nation's premier prep meets.

Las Vegas High's Anthony Park and Mojave's Elijah Smith were the day's brightest stars, with Park capturing first place in the triple jump and Smith finishing first in the high jump.

"There's always been a few Vegas kids going down (to the meet), but I don't remember this many kids performing this well," Las Vegas High coach Chris Faircloth said.

Mojave coach Sam Germany agreed. "It speaks well for the kids here, for the city. It shows these kids can compete with anybody in the country," he said.

Park jumped 48 feet even to outdistance his closest competitor by a whopping seven inches. The distance was short of his personal-best of 48-9, set last month at the Nike Invitational in Indianapolis.

"We've sent him to a lot of top meets," Faircloth said. "We've tried to put him up against the best we could."

Park will choose a college from a list that includes Washington, Kansas State and Air Force. A first-team all-state receiver for the Wildcat football team last fall, he has been offered the opportunity to play both sports at Air Force.

"He'll probably make up his mind between now and the Penn Relays (April 29)," Faircloth said.

Germany's Mojave squad provided several of the day's top local finishes, most notably Smith's 6-10 high jump -- a personal best and Mojave High record. Smith, who captured the 4A state high jump title last year, was also an honorable mention selection on the Sun's all-state basketball team.

"He's a good athlete. He does the hurdles, long jump and high jump for us," Germany said. "He called me in the morning and said he wasn't going to fail me, and he was right."

Smith is being recruited by North Texas State and Long Beach State, the latter offering him the chance to play basketball and run track.

Mojave's Calvin Redden took first place in the open division of the 100 meters, finishing with a wind-aided time of 10.68.

Redden will sign with Alabama on Wednesday, where he will run for head coach Harvey Glance, a gold medalist in the 1976 Olympics.

Mojave also produced the winning 4x100 meter relay squad in the seeded division, with Byrn Davis, Torry Hall, Shoshone Williams and Calvin Redden teaming up to run a school-record time of 42.06.

Silverado's Lara Saye produced the area's top girls finish, placing second in the invitational discus competition with a throw of 152-10 -- an area-best this season. Saye also took eighth in the invitational shot put division with a throw of 42-3 3/4 -- also tops in town this spring.

Bonanza's Cory Jeffers raced to Southern Nevada's top time this season in the 3,200 meters on Saturday, placing 19th in the invitational division with a time of 9:32.27 -- more than 10 seconds faster than his state title time from 1999.

Green Valley's Abby Miller, Nevada's first four-time state cross country champion, wound up fifth in the invitational 3,200 meter run with a time of 10:41.16. The Gators also placed 10th in the distance medley relay with a time of 12:35.27.

Mojave's Nicole Ireland, a three-event state champion last year, wound up with three top-10 invitational division finishes on Saturday despite battling nagging injuries. She took seventh in the 200 meters (25.19) and ninth in the 100 meters (12.41) and 100 meter high hurdles (14.90). Ireland was an early signee with Alabama.

Centennial's Shameka Davis had a strong 57.01 showing in the 400 meters. Chaparral's John Ream placed third in the open shot put division with a throw of 55-2, while Cimarron-Memorial's Chaqula Pointer took sixth in the open triple jump with a mark of 35-9 1/2.