Compton Dominguez Able to Realize Championship Dream

Talk of winning a Southern Section title is usually confined to the gymnasium at Compton Dominguez High, but this spring the boys’ track and field team began making its own predictions. At the Division II finals Saturday at Cerritos College, the Dons won the first section title for the school’s track program, finalizing a plan that was hatched in early March.

“We had our eyes on winning the championship early on,” said senior Justin Wyatt, who was part of the winning 1,600 relay team. “Since the first week of practice we’ve been talking about it.”

Lionel Larry, a sophomore at Dominguez, won the 100 and 200 meters and ran a leg on the winning 400 and 1,600 relay teams. Craig Woods had the other victory for the Dons, winning the 110 high hurdles in 14.67.

Long Beach Poly won the Division I title for the second consecutive season and fourth in five years. The Jackrabbits, who outscored runner-up Arroyo Grande, 79-34, won the 400 relay in a state-leading 40.78 and the 1,600 relay in 3:14.37. Poly’s Armand Goodin won the 110 hurdles in 14.36 and Derrick Jones won the 200 in 21.24, upsetting Matt Bruno of Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills (21.32).

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, runner-up in Division III the last two seasons, finally won the team title. Gardena Serra won Division IV, its sixth title in the last seven years and seventh in nine.

Noah Bryant of Carpinteria broke his own Division IV record in the shotput with a mark of 66-1/2, which bettered his state-leading mark of 65-11 and is fifth-best in the nation this year.

Randy Burgess of Edwards Air Force Base Desert broke the Division IV record in the long jump with a mark of 23-10 and Kyle Hammerquist, a sophomore at Claremont Webb, broke the Division IV record in the discus with a throw of 178-2.

The two state leaders in the long jump, seniors Chris McFoy of Chino and Ronald Hill of Walnut, went head to head in Division I. Hill won with a state-leading mark of 24-41/2, sixth-best in the nation. McFoy was second at 23-51/4.