Locals take off in rainy first day at Taco Bell Classic track meet

The Taco Bell Classic track and field meet opened at Spring Valley High on Friday with Westwood’s Richie Finch winning silver in the high jump.

“This was really interesting, especially with the rain, it was way more challenging than jumping in dry weather. And the competition today was amazing and really pushed me beyond my limits,” said Finch, who cleared 6-feet, 4-inches.

Christopher Garrick, of Marvin Ridge, won the event with a jump of 6 feet, 10 inches.

“I’m definitely not afraid of anything anymore, and I expect to win state,” Finch said.

In the girls’ 200 trials, Ridge View’s Arlicia Bush and Hillcrest’s Riley Egbula earned slots in Saturday’s 6 p.m. final. Bush, who anchored the Blazers’ state-record setting, gold-medal winning 1,600-relay team in 2014, posted a 24.87 second finish in the preliminary race. Egbula had the seventh-best time in the race at 24.63.

The top seed in the final belongs to Rockdale (Ga.) County’s Candace Hill, who posted a 23.49, the second fastest in the nation this season, according to milesplit.com. Hill, the 2014 New Balance Nationals Outdoor champion, has a personal best time of 23.12.

In the boys’ 200 trials, Ryan Clark, of Banneker, notched a national-best time of 20.70, well ahead of DeMatha Catholic’s Daryl Haraway, who posted a 21.54 finish to seed second. Dutch Fork’s Austin Connor won his heat with a time of 21.93 to seed fifth, behind sprinters from Greer and Goose Creek. The boys’ 200 finals race is slated for 6:15 p.m.

Saint Xavier won the boys 3,200 relay with a 7:54.72 finish. Cary’s (N.C.) girls posted a 9:21.64 time for their win.

The meet resumes at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

This story was originally published April 10, 2015 at 11:42 PM with the headline "Locals take off in rainy first day at Taco Bell Classic track meet."