Boys’ Player of the Week : Carter Makes Believers With His Achievements

Two months ago, Kaleaph Carter stretched out beside the shotput ring at Edison High School and detailed his goal for his final prep track and field season.

“This year I’m out to prove I’m a champion,” said Carter, a senior. “For the last two years, I’ve finished second in the (state) shotput, and it still haunts me. I’m not going to settle for second this year.”

Saturday at the state track and field championships at Cerritos College, Carter proved that he not only believes but achieves.

Carter, The Times’ player of the week, won the state shotput title with a mark of 64-feet 1/2-inch--a personal record by almost a foot. That mark bettered the second-place performer, Joe Hicks of Hollister San Benito, by nearly two feet.

Carter also placed second in the discus with a throw of 186-2, a personal record by six feet. John Wirtz of San Jose Leland, the nation’s top-ranked discus thrower this season at 199-10, won the event at 192-10.

Though Carter didn’t quite reach his season’s highest goal--66 feet or better in the shotput--he surprised himself by easily surpassing his preseason discus goal of 175 feet. Carter improved more than 20 feet in three weeks’ time.

This season, Carter won the shotput in almost every meet he entered.

That included titles at the National High School Indoor Championships at Yale University (61-8); the Arcadia Invitational (63-2 3/4); the Southern Section 4-A finals (62-0 3/4); the Southern Section Masters (62-5 1/2) and the state meet.

So what’s he going to do now?

“Continue,” he said.

Carter will compete Saturday at the Golden West Invitational at Sacramento City College; the next Saturday at the Keebler Invitational at Elmhurst, Ill., and, possibly, The Athletic Congress-sponsored Junior Olympics at Tallahassee, Fla., in June 24-25.

All three meets are invitationals, but these days, Carter, the nation’s fourth-ranked high school shotputter, is on just about everybody’s party list.

“High school was a big part of my life,” said Carter, who will attend UCLA this fall. “I had some great experiences that I’ll never forget.”

Especially the one that led to a long-sought state shotput title.

TOP PERFORMERS

Adam Brass of El Toro went 2 for 3 with 2 stolen bases and 2 runs in a 10-7 semifinal victory over Saddleback Tuesday. Brass went 2 for 2 with a stolen base and a run in the Chargers’ 8-4 loss to La Mirada in the Southern Section 3-A final Saturday.

Jim Geerlings of Newport Harbor finished second in the 1,600 meters at the state track and field meet Saturday in 4:11.28.

Anthony Hale of Garden Grove ran the county’s fastest time this season in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, 37.37, in placing sixth at the state track and field meet Saturday.

Jimmy Rodriguez of Santa Ana Valley was the top county performer in the 3,200-meters at the state track and field meet. Rodriguez placed third in 9:10.10.

Doug Saunders of Esperanza went 2 for 3 with a double and 2 runs scored Tuesday in a 12-3 semifinal victory over Beverly Hills. Saturday, in the Southern Section 5-A final, Saunders went 2 for 4 and struck out 4 of 6 batters he faced in a 3-2 loss to Diamond Bar.

Kaleaph Carter

Edison High School

Position: Shotput and discus.

Height, Weight, Class: 6-1, 210, Sr.

Last Week: Carter won the state shotput title with a mark of 64-feet 1/2-inch--a personal record by almost a foot. Carter placed second in the discus with a throw of 186-2, a personal record by six feet.

Season: Along with the state meet, Carter won the shotput at the National High School Indoor Championships at Yale University (61-8), the Arcadia Invitational (63-2 3/4), the Southern Section 4-A finals (62-0 3/4) and the Southern Section Masters (62-5 1/2).