Williams Shares Spotlight at Arcadia

Angela Williams of Chino High, the reigning queen of high school track and field in the United States, was regarded as the headline performer entering the Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High on Saturday night.

But she had to share the spotlight with seniors Reedus Thurmond of Gardena Serra and Van Mounts of Bakersfield and freshman Monique Henderson of San Diego Morse who turned in national-leading marks in their respective events in the meet that had been postponed two weeks earlier because of heavy rains.

Williams, Track & Field News magazine’s 1997 female high school athlete of the year, easily won the 100 meters in a nation-leading time of 11.32 seconds and the 200 in 23.48.

The 100 time bettered the 11.50 that Williams ran in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on April 18.

Her 200 time moved her to second on the national list behind the 23.29 of freshman Angela Whipple of Suncoast High in Riviera Beach, Fla.

Thurmond, runner-up in the 1997 state championships, won the discus with a national-leading mark of 209 feet.

Thurmond entered the meet with a personal best of 192-10, but he took advantage of ideal wind conditions to throw 194-9 in the second round, 209-0 in the third and 203-3 in the sixth--and final--one.

The 209-0 moved Thurmond to 15th on the all-time national performer list and to fifth on the all-time state list.

Mounts, the defending state champion in the shotput, won that event at 69-3 1/2 to add an inch to his nation-leading mark entering the meet.

Mounts opened up with a 66-5 1/2-effort in the first round and fouled his second attempt before hitting 69-3 1/2 in round three to move to 17th on the all-time national list and to fourth on the all-time state list.

For their efforts, Thurmond and Mounts were named boys’ co-athletes of the meet.

Henderson, like Thurmond and Mounts, entered the meet as the national leader in her respective event, the girls’ 400, and like them she turned in a national-leading time as her 52.93 clocking bettered her previous best of 53.72.

Henderson’s time moved her to ninth on the all-time state list in the event, just behind the 52.91 that Marion Jones ran as an Oxnard Rio Mesa sophomore in 1991.

The Long Beach Wilson 1,600-relay team was selected as the girls’ athletes of the meet after clocking 3:39.48, the ninth-fastest time ever run by a U.S. high school team.