Helix High junior Eric Parker is having an impressive track season and the best could still be yet to come.
Parker and the Highlanders’ 4×400 relay team won first-place medals at the Arcadia Invitational on April 6.
The Scotties’ Ty Sheridan, Denzel Mulligan, Nick White, and Parker clocked a section-best 3:23.19 time in winning at the major event. Parker ran his leg in 47.5 seconds.
Parker also had a 47.99 in the individual 400-meter event to finish fifth in a race that featured the fastest two times in the nation this season. He is the county-leader at the distance.
Parker and Sheridan are two of the top overall sprinters in the county, with top-five section clockings in the 100 and 200, as well.
The Grossmont Conference has somewhat of a stranglehold in the county in the 400.
In addition to Parker and Sheridan, West Hills’ Jordin Young, along with Grossmont senior Devin Anders and sophomore Xavier Bradford, give the locals five of the top eight competitors at the distance.
Grossmont senior Leyikun Soloman and Steele Canyon junior Jarel Sayles are the county’s top hurdlers.
Solomon is the county leader in the 300-meter race (38.45) while Sayles has the best mark at 110 hurdles (14.74). Both have top-three county marks in each event.
Cougar junior Chris Carter trails only Madison star Kenan Christon (23’1”) in the long jump with a personal best 22’6” at the Jaguar Invitational on Saturday.
West Hills’ Hunter Gauthier has the county’s top discus throw at 158’1” in one of the best dual meets of the local season when the Cougars edged the Wolf Pack, 69.66-66.33.
The Wolf Pack’s Nicholas Hammond, Joseph Gonzalez, Reese Wiltgen and Young rank second in the section behind Madison’s high-profile 4×100 team following their 42.9 clocking in last Thursday’s dual-meet win over El Capitan.
The Highlanders, coached by Rodney Van, are 4-0 for the Grossmont Hills League dual-meet season with one meet left against El Capitan this week.
The Foothillers, meanwhile, look to wrap up an undefeated Grossmont Valley League season when they go up against Mount Miguel in the local dual finale.
Christian High junior Simone James has the second-fastest county clocking this season in the 300-meter hurdles with a 44.71, set in her strong-finishing heat at the Arcadia invite, which is just .07 seconds behind the county leader.
James and her Patriots teammates – Madelynn Worley, Leah Kunde and Jasmyn Crawford – also brought home the second-best section time this season in the 4×100 relay with a 49.71 reading in Arcadia during their heat.
In addition to James, who is also a section medal contender in the triple jump, two other locals – Grossmont sophomore Madilyn Mayo and El Capitan senior Emily Ruff – have top-five county times in the 300-meter hurdles.
West Hills sophomore thrower Brandy Atutasi has second-best girls’ county mark in both disciplines. She threw a personal-best 135’10” in the discus at the Jaguar Invitational on Saturday.
The Steele Canyon Cougars look to wrap up an undefeated Grossmont Hills League dual-meet championship when they face Granite Hills in the finale.
The Cougars have county top-five relay units at both distances led by swing legs Toren Dunbar and Arionn Livingston.
Steele Junior Emilliah Vaught is a short-distance specialist with a county top-four clocking in the 110-meter hurdles.
Meanwhile, the Grossmont Foothillers are headed to an undefeated Grossmont Valley League dual-meet championship when the season concludes this week.
