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Alex Amankwah, right, wins 800 meters and leads men’s 4×400 relay team to school record time.
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Jonika Baker, center, won 400 hurdles, leading women’s 4×100 meter relay team to title.
West Los Angeles College’s track and field teams, the men and the women, made a strong showing in the Southern California Championships at Antelope Valley College.
Next week, West will be represented in a half-dozen men’s and women’s events in the state finals at San Mateo College.
In the Southern California round, West women won first place in the 400 meter relay and the 400 hurdles. The women’s team took fourth place overall. Men were first in the 800 meter and second in the 400 relay.
At state, West L.A. will send men’s and women’s 400 relay, women’s 400 hurdles, long jump, triple jump and high jump, and men’s 800 meter.
In the Southern California showdown, sophomore Jonika Baker won the 400 hurdles (61.04), was second in the 100 hurdles (14.14) and placed fifth in the 100 meters (12.15).
Ms. Baker individually scored 22 points for the women who totaled 59 points for their fourth-place finish. Ms. Baker set the tone, running first leg on the 4×100 meter relay team that included Mariah Richards-Maynard, Aysia Smith, and Shadonna Hunter to run a season best time of 46.64.
Ms. Hunter qualified for state in the long jump and Ms. Smith qualified in the triple jump. Ms. Baker is eligible for state in the 4×400 relay (46.65) with Ms. Richards-Maynard, Jasmine Waters, and Susana Usher. Defending state champion Aundrea Yancy qualified in the triple jump, and her specialty high jump event.
West L.A. College’s men placed 11th.
Led by Alex Amankhah, who posted a 1:50.02 to take the SoCal 800 meter title, he later teamed with Franz Palacio, and football standouts DJ Richardson and Will Lacy to gain second in the 4×400 relay behind Riverside City College who posted the top two times in the state. The West foursome ran 3:11.57 to break a converted 36-year old school record. The quartet from 1977 was paced by Billy Mullins who went on to become a USC star. Mr. Amankhah, national leader in the 800 meter run, hopes to become West’s first men’s state champion in an individual event in more than 20 years, said the coach Daniel Fitzpatrick.
For complete championship results, see www.gocollegetrack.com and www.directathletics.com
Ms. Long-Coffee may be contacted at longcofm@wlac.edu
