Carroll Hits Her Stride at Pasadena

PASADENA —  Porchea Carroll’s decision to drop soccer from her athletic repertoire is paying big dividends in track and field.

That was clearly evident in the Pasadena Games at Pasadena City College on Saturday night when the Rio Mesa High junior posted large margins of victory in the girls’ 100 meters, 200 and long jump.

Carroll finished fourth in the 100 and eighth in the long jump in the state championships last year, but she’s in superior shape this season after training during the winter instead of playing soccer as she had in previous years.

“I miss it,” Carroll said of soccer. “But I just decided to focus on track.”

That focus led to career-best and times of 11.67 in the 100 and 24.15 in the 200 that are the best in the state this season, and a winning leap of 18-2 1/2 in the long jump on Saturday.

Carroll’s time in the 100 bested her previous best of 11.70, moved her into fourth on the all-time region list and gave her a .35-second margin of victory over runner-up Sierra Hauser-Price of Nortre Dame.

Her 200 clocking improved her previous best by .18, moved her to eighth on the all-time region and most importantly, gave her huge margin of victory over Tracee Thomas of Riverside North, who ran 24.58.

Thomas, a sophomore who finished second in the state championships last year, had a small lead on Carroll after the first 75 meters, but Carroll drew even with her coming out of the turn and powered away from her in the straightaway.

Chris Morgan of Taft edged fellow junior Marcus Raines of Littlerock in a thrilling 110-meter high-hurdle race in which they ran school records of 14.08 and 14.10, the two fastest times in the state this year.

Tony Herr, an L.A. Baptist senior, ran a career best of 1:56.16 in the 800 a week after being edged in a thrilling homestretch battle with Darren Quinn of Notre Dame in the Northridge-Alemany Relays at Cal State Northridge.

Jerrick Holmes, a Palmdale senior, set a meet record of 6-10 in the high jump after clearing a state-leading 7 feet at Northridge.

Rodney Woods, a Littlerock senior, won the triple jump in 46-9 1/4.

Swain, a freshman, won the girls’ 800 in 2:14.24 and placed second in the 400 in 55.91.

Other region winners were senior Brian Anderson of Burroughs in the boys’ 1,600 in 4:18.23, senior Tom Kubler of Viewpoint in the boys’ 3,200 in 9:32.74, junior Natalie Stein of North Hollywood in the girls’ 3,200 in a career-best 11:03.6 and senior Shelaine Larson of Buena in the girls’ discus in a career-best 135-2.