SOUTH PASADENA >> Cravon Gillespie climbed the three steps up to the top of the South Pasadena High School podium for the third and final time.
“I’m tired,” the Monrovia said to no one in particular.
He had every right to be. Gillespie set meet records in the 100 and 200 meters in the Rio Hondo League finals on Friday night.
“I knew coming in I had to prepare,” Gillespie said. “I had to show I could beat both records.”
Wearing neon shoes and a neon sweatband, he broke one record and tied another held by Monrovia’s Ervie Barnes. He tied the meet record in the 100 in the league preliminary meet earlier in the week and then ran a 10.67 on Friday to break the 27-year-old record by 0.27 seconds.
He then tied Barnes’ 30-year-old 200 mark with a 21.84 run in the 200. He is still chasing school records.
“I had to beat those records,” Gillespie said. “It’s my senior year. This is something I want to look back on.”
He also ran the anchor leg on the Wildcats’ meet-record winning 4×100 relay, teaming up with Aubrey Mosley, Seth Raines and Octavius Spencer. The quartet ran a 42.01, breaking the 1999 South Pasadena time of 42.90.
“He’s had a little bit more dedication,” Monrovia co-coach Mike Knowles said of his improvement this season. “He did not really understand track. He did not think weight lifting went with it or running 400s would help with his speed. Last year he could not finish races. Now he can finish races.”
In her final home meet, South Pasadena’s Claire Kieffer-Wright raised her own meet record to 5-feet-9 in the high jump.
“The feeling is so great,” she said of the meet. “This track and field holds so many memories of the last four years. To be a league champion four years in-a-row is pretty phenomenal. This is kind of bittersweet.”
South Pasadena’s Josh Wilson won three events, taking the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 (2:00.45, 4:35.42, 10:01.05). The UCLA-bound senior’s aim, he said, was to help his teammates qualify in the 800 and 1,600. Wilson said he will concentrate in the 3,200 in the CIF-Southern Section meets.
“I’m going to the plan of the 3,200 and hopefully improve each week and make it to state,” he said.
Monrovia’s Sydney Mosley won the 100 meters in 12.45 and 100-meter hurdles. The hurdles win, in 14.48, was the most painful. Her trail leg hit the fourth hurdle.
“I got a swollen knee and had to maneuver through it,” she said.
But she still managed to win the 100.
“I had to deep real deep for that one.”
The junior also anchored the winning 4×100 relay.
Monrovia won four other events and South Pasadena won five other events. Temple City and San Marino each had three wins.
