Track and field: Babcock does it again in 1,600

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Christine Babcock of Woodbridge just lowered her National Federation of High School Assns. record in the girls’ 1,600 meters, winning the four-lap race in 4 minutes 33.82 seconds.

Babcock came up a fraction of a second short of breaking the national high school record, as Polly Plumer of Irvine University won the mile in 4:35.24 in 1982, which converts to 4:33.65 over 1,600 meters. Plumer set that mark in an open race at UCLA, thus it’s not a NHSF record.

Babcock, who set the previous NHSF record of 4:36.57 at the Masters meet on this same track last week, came through the first lap in 1:05.09, the halfway point in 2:16 and 800 meters in 3:27.

Her effort pretty much made everyone forget about the great come-from-behind victory by Long Beach Poly in the boys’ 400 relay. Dominguez took the handoff with about a five-meter lead, but the Jackrabbits’ anchor, Evant Orange, switched gears and outleaned Manoah Wesson at the finish line. Their time of 41.26 wasn’t even their best time of the season, but the close finish made it more than exciting. Dominguez finished runner-up in 41.27.

-- Dan Arritt

Note: For up-to-the-minute results of the CIF state championship meet, check here.