Reggie Wyatt on his way to a national high school record in Clovis, USA (© Kirby Lee)
Reggie Wyatt set a national high school record of 35.02 sec in the 300m Hurdles in the California State high school championships at Buchanan High on Friday and Saturday (5-6 June).
Wyatt, a senior at La Sierra High, ran his record time in the prelims despite hitting the final barrier to break the record of 35.28 set by 2008 World Junior 400m Hurdles champion Jeshua Anderson.
Wyatt had been chasing the national record since placing second in Anderson’s national record race in the 2007 California State meet in a national sophomore record 35.90.
Last season, Wyatt was ineligible to compete as a junior after transferring from Riverside North to La Sierra. Wyatt, a USC signee, will get another shot at Anderson, who attends Pacific-10 Conference rival Washington State, next season. Wyatt was inspired by keeping tabs on Anderson’s progression in his first collegiate season in 2008 that culminated with an NCAA title and a World Junior gold medal.
“It just pumps me up on what I want to do,” said Wyatt. So does his sporting heritage. His father Reggie Wyatt Sr. was a minor league pitcher in the Kansas City Royals organization from 1981-84. His cousin Justin Wyatt was a cornerback at USC who was an All-Pac-10 honorable mention selection as a senior in 2004.
In Saturday’s finals, Wyatt won the 400m in 46.13 and doubled back to win the 300m Hurdles in 36.71 to lead La Sierra to a four-way tie for the team title.
Meet records in the Shot Put and Discus Throw for Jelmini
Wyatt was among five double winners in the 91st running of the California championships along with Anna Jelmini, Kori Carter and Randall Carroll.
Jelmini, a Shafter High senior who placed seventh in the women’s Discus in the 2008 World Junior Championships, set meet records of 16.35m in the Shot Put and 56.92m in the Discus Throw to win the events for the second year in a row. Jelmini's performance in the Discus broke the 1998 State meet record of 55.24 held by 2008 Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Brown-Trafton.
Alex Collatz, a Stockdale High sophomore, set a national 10th grade record of 53.94m in the prelims for the best age 17-and-under mark in the nation.
Carter, a Claremont High junior who competed in the women’s 400m Hurdles in Bydgoszcz last summer, won the 100m Hurdles in 13.59 and the 300m Hurdles in 41.26. Carroll, a Los Angeles Cathedral senior who will attend UCLA on a football scholarship, defended his 100m and 200m titles in 10.38 and 21.08.
Ashton Purvis, a junior at Oakland St. Elizabeth who reached the women’s 200m semi-finals in the 2008 World Junior Championships, rebounded from a false start in the 100m prelims to win the 200m in a PB 23.46.
University of Oregon-bound Jordan Hasay of San Luis Obispo Mission Prep, the fourth-place finisher in the women’s 1500m in the 2008 World Junior Championships, led from the start to win the 3200m for the fourth time in 10:05.29.
In the girls’ Triple Jump, Union City Logan sophomore and Moreau Catholic senior Alitta Boyd turned in the two times in the nation this season at 13.08m and 12.91m. Gardena Serra senior Turquoise Thompson outleaned Long Beach Poly sophomore Akawkaw Ndipagbor in the girls’ 400m, 53.10 to 53.12, for the state’s fastest times of the year.
Kirby Lee for the IAAF
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