CSUN’s Arreola Sheds Worries With Pair of Wins

Darcy Arreola of Cal State Northridge breathed a sigh of relief after winning the women’s 800 and 1,500 meters in the Northridge Invitational on Saturday.

To the casual observer, it was expected, but Arreola and Northridge track and field Coach Don Strametz both knew better.

After battling a series of illnesses for the past two months, Arreola was happy just to be competing again, let alone winning the 1,500 in 4 minutes 26.92 seconds and the 800 in 2:07.91.

“To be perfectly honest with you, I was in tears thinking about this meet Thursday night,” Arreola said. “(Strametz) gave me a workout to do Thursday and I couldn’t even finish it. I only did about half of it and I struggled the whole way.

“Usually I can do (200s) in 32 seconds pretty easily during workouts, but I was running all out to do them that fast on Thursday. It was terrible.”

Originally scheduled to run the 800 and possibly a mile-relay leg, Arreola switched to the 1,500 because she felt she would be less challenged in that race.

“I wasn’t planning to run the 800 today,” said Arreola, who had not raced since finishing 12th in the NCAA Division I cross-country championships last November. “Even when I decided to run the 800, I figured Rose (Monday, competing unattached) would win, and I’d just use the race to get used to the fast pace again.”

Instead, Arreola ran behind Monday for the first 700 meters before surging past her in the final home straightaway to post a time that bettered the Division I provisional qualifying standard (2:08.00).

“Something just clicked today,” Arreola said. “I guess just being out here in a meet got me going again. I was praying I could break 4:30 in the 1,500, and, after Thursday, I wasn’t even sure I could break 2:15 in the 800, so I’m on cloud nine right now.”

No less pleased was her coach.

“She showed a lot of heart today,” Strametz said of Arreola, who redshirted at Northridge last track season after placing third in the 1,500 in the 1989 Division I championships. “She had really been having her problems.”

Arreola and Crystal Irving were the only double winners Saturday.

Irving, competing unattached, won the 200 in 24.25 seconds and the 400 in 54.09.

Clare Look-Jaeger of Nike Coast, a 24-year old heptathlete from Marquette University, might have had the best mark of the women’s meet, winning the high jump at 6 feet before missing three times at 6-2.

“She’s really coming on this year,” Nike Coast Coach Dave Rodda said. “She jumped 6-1 3/4 earlier this year to qualify for (The Athletics Congress meet), and she had three good attempts at 6-2 today.”

Robert Reading of Nike Texas, the 1989 NCAA champion in the 110-meter high hurdles for USC, won that event in 13.82 to highlight the men’s meet.

Other notable winners were Wes Ashford of the Long Beach Track Club, who won the 1,500 meters in 3:46.24, and Erick McBride, running unattached, who took the 800 in 1:50.11.

McBride, the 1990 Division II champion in the 800 for Northridge, currently is attending Antelope Valley College. He powered away from the field in the final 250 meters of the 800 after finishing fourth in the 1,500 in a personal best of 3:48.1.

Farron Fields of Northridge, running unattached, broke away from Hugo Allan Garcia of Glendale College in the last half-mile to win the men’s 5,000 meters in an unofficial 14:35.9, but he was disqualified because he did not officially enter the race. Garcia, the 1990 state junior college cross-country champion, was the official winner in 14:42.77.

Derik Vett continued to run well for Northridge, setting personal bests in winning the second heat of the 1,500 in 3:56.34, and the third heat of the 800 in 1:53.92.

Vett had set personal bests in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 5,000 in the Long Beach State Collegiate Classic last week.

In other men’s events, Garrett Noel of Northridge finished third in the javelin with a throw of 210-11, and Tyrone Jeffries, primarily a hurdler, placed second in the first heat of the 200 in 21.58.

Rodney Burt of Cal State Bakersfield, a former standout at Birmingham High, placed fourth in the 400 in a seasonal best of 48.06. Darren Bernard of Cal Lutheran was fifth in 48.50.