Rancho Alamitos Boys, Garden Grove Girls Earn Titles

GARDEN GROVE — Rancho Alamitos, led by Ulysses Trammell’s 9.91-second victory in the 100-yard dash, successfully defended its boys’ team championship, and the Garden Grove girls beat defending champion La Quinta in the Garden Grove League track and field championships Thursday at Bolsa Grande.

The Rancho Alamitos boys, which have won 23 of their past 24 dual meets, finished first in four events to outscore their closest competitor, Garden Grove, 82-37. The Garden Grove girls took first in nine events to outpoint Kennedy, 86-41.

“We knew coming in that this year’s team would be strong,” said Rancho Alamitos boys’ Coach Tom Julian. “We had four juniors coming back and we were frosh-soph champions last year, so that’s a big plus.”

In the triple jump, Kennedy’s Vince Church tied the league record he set last year, leaping 46 feet 3 1/2 inches. Church also placed second in the long jump.

Linh Le of Los Amigos finished the mile in 4 minutes 23.91 seconds, the best time since a 4:20.4 in 1975. He also won the two-mile, and ran the first leg of the mile relay, which placed second.

No one had broken the 10-second barrier in the 100 since a 9.8 in 1974, until Trammell did it Thursday. He finished a close third in the 440 (51.61) behind Lamot Jackson of Kennedy and Jesse Fausto of Los Amigos. The videotape had to be reviewed to determine that Jackson edged Fausto in 51.41.