Menlo's Jenke runs No. 8 Menlo's Jenke runs No. 8 (April 14, 2004)time in the nation

She retakes state lead in the 800 meters with 2:11.66 at Arcadia meet

by Keith Peters

Menlo School junior Libby Jenke is setting herself up for some very fast times this season, if her performance last weekend is any indication.

Competing at the annual Arcadia Invitational, Jenke ran the fastest 800 meters of her life (2:11.66) while finishing fifth. Jenke's time ranks No. 8 in the United States this season.

"I'm very happy with my time," she said. "It's not unexpected. I'm hoping to run faster."

Jenke, who led the state earlier this season when she ran 2:14.26 at the West Valley Relays, lost that lead two weekends ago before regaining in Arcadia. The four runners who finished ahead of Jenke are all non-California runners.

Latavia Thomas of West Catholic High in Grand Rapids, Mich., won the race in a national outdoor-leading time of 2:07.51. Runnerup Heidi Magill (2:08.74) is from Orem, Utah, while Brie Felnagle (2:11.07) and Cori Moore (2:11.37) are both from Washington state.

Simply, Jenke's race was the fastest in the nation this season.

"It's definitely nice to be in the fastest heat, but I was running my own race," she said.

Jenke said she was third at 120 meters before Felnalge and Moore passed her with just 50 meters to go.

"It was a hard race," she said. "I gave it my all."

On her No. 8 national ranking?

"It's very exciting," Jenke said. "It's fun to be really high up in the rankings, but time is what matters. I just want to get better."

Jenke was among a number of local runners competing at the Arcadia Invitational, which produced nine U.S.-leading marks during the invitational portion of the meet Saturday night.

Menlo-Atherton senior Jeremy Mineau took second in the boys' 2-mile seeded race with a 9:12.16. The invitational race produced the nation's fastest time of 8:49.98.

Earlier in the day, M-A junior Evan Anderson won the first heat of the boys' 1,600 in 4:16.61. That broke his own school record of 4:17.99 set last year at the Central Coast Section finals. Anderson also took ninth in the 800 in 1:59.59.

Gunn's Derrick Brooks was sixth in the boys' non-invitational triple jump with a leap of 42-1 1/2.

For the local girls, M-A freshman Keianna Talton won the first heat of the girls' 200 in a season best of 25.14; Gunn junior Tori Tyler was fourth in the girls' 3,2000 in 11:02.82; Gunn's Orlie Kapitulnik ran a season best of 12.74 while taking fourth in the third heat of the girls' 100; and the M-A girls' 400 relay was fourth in 50.03 and 1,600 relay seventh in 4:10.74.
Baseball

Menlo (12-5) went 1-3 and finished sixth in the annual Southern Nevada Baseball Classic last weekend in Las Vegas.

The Knights' lone win came in their opener, a 9-4 victory over perennial Los Angeles city power San Fernando. Menlo junior lefty Andy Suiter improved to 7-0 with a complete-game six-hitter. He struck out 12. Senior Jesse Sweet homered and doubled.

Menlo followed that with a 7-6 loss to Basic (Nevada); a 9-5 loss to Riverton (Utah) and finally a 13-0 setback to Cimarron.

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