Date: Sat, 30 May 1998 13:50:52 -0700
From: karl steinhoff [email protected]
Subject: t-and-f: Southern Cal prep highlights

Doug may have already posted results of the Southern Section Masters Meet, but a few observations. (Note - I don't have all the official results, and I may have misheard a few marks on the not-nearly-loud-enough PA system.
Some of this is coming from memory, as I didn't write down any notes early in the meet.)

I should note that because the winds at Cerritos College typically reverse their direction after sundown, and because of the cooler temperatures, this meet has not traditionally produced sprint marks as fast as in the divisional meet. Also, this meet is run on a much more compressed schedule, which makes doubling and tripling much more difficult. So the sprints were slower but more competitively interesting, as the stars from last week all came together for a pre-state showdown.

Not a terribly exciting meet, compared to some of the Masters Meets of years past. Still, lots of great action. Most significant mark was LB Wilson's 3:37.97 in the femme 4x400. It was obviously an assault on their own NR, with splits of 53.7 (Latrice Borders), 54.0 (Lashinda Demus), 53.3 (Joni Smith), and 56.9 (Angelita Green, who tired in the final 100 and came up about 0.6 short). Lots of what-if potential next week at State, as Smith and Demus are both capable of about a second faster, and Kim Gildersleeve is waiting in the wings with a solid 55-second leg. It would not be too surprising if this bunch ran 3:35.2 or so at State.

Otherwise, proceeding chronologically -

W4x100 - St. Bernards with a state-leading 45.77. Meisha Withers came from third place to win it. Wilson and Poly very close, at right about 46.1x.

M4x100 - Poly's all junior team was much more aggressive this week, coming up with a school record 40.39 (#3 all-time California). Serra also sub-41.

(These two winning times I know are correct.)

W1600 - Tactical race, Elaine Chanchola of Nordhoff winning in 5:01.49

M1600 - Junior Chris Kemp of Mission Viejo overtakes his favored teammate Mark Gleason in the final 50m, both running 4:13.xx

W100H - Nicole Denby of J.W. North catches pentathlete Ashley Bethel in the last 20m for a 14.20-14.26 win.

M110H - St. Paul junior Marcel Almond continues to be the class of the section with a runaway win in 14.02.

W400 - A surprise, as Ayala junior Nakiya Johnson overtook frosh phenom Lashinda Demus in the final 50m for a 53.36-53.59(?) decision. Joni Smith third in 54.43.

M400 - Beverly Hills' Mike Ryan showed another very strong last 100, and romped to a 47.53 victory.

W100 - Into a 1.4 wind, Angela Williams appeared to running just to win.
Her 11.40 beat out Withers and Borders, who followed in 11.71 and 11.90.
Just a hunch - sub-11.10 for Williams next week.

M100 - Poly's Kareem Kelly (10.39 last week) DQ'ed on a false start.
Teammate Darrell Rideaux led the race wire-to-wire to beat out Justin Fargas 10.62-10.68 into a 2.8 wind. Miguel Fletcher (10.36 at divisionals) was never in the hunt, finishing third in 10.84.

Interesting to note that Fargas stands at his blocks after the first command, and then takes a three-point stance at "set" with his other arm in the air. This position is similar to what Valeriy Borzov began doing around

1974. I know that the IAAF later mandated that both hands must be on the ground at the start. Apparently this rule doesn't apply at the prep level.

W800 - Brea Olinda's Maika Nelson was out in just about 61.0. Kim Gildersleeve was more sensible, and continues to improve her time. Her 2:11.14 puts her about third on the national list. Crescenta Valley's Tara Gregory ran a smartly-paced race to come from far back and take third.

M800 - Simi Valley's Ryan Meuse, who scored at State last year, took a generally uninspiring race in the mid-to-high 1:54s

W300H - A race of attrition, with runners falling and missing steps and bashing hurdles the whole way. Detra King of LB Poly was the survivor, edging out Randi Smith of Beverly Hills 42.52-42.62. Lashinda Demus, perhaps not fully recovered after the 400, was out slow, then made a big move until she bashed the sixth hurdle and very nearly fell. She managed to hang onto the fifth and final qualifying spot for State, but running two 400s and a 300 in less than two hours may be a bit much to ask of a 9th grader. Then again, the Bruins want to win the team title, so I suspect the triple stays in.

M400H - Muir's Elmo Traylor is doing his best to salvage some of the Mustang's honor amidst a season of disaster. Traylor won in the high 37s over state leader Al Williams of Irvine.

W200 - Williams again, this time an eased-up 23.21 (National Leader) into a 1.2 wind. Withers and Borders again gave chase, in that order. I believe both were sub-24.

M200 - Into a wind of 0.3, Kelly made up for his DQ in the 100, with a runaway win in 20.98. Rideaux and Fletcher were 2-4, with Serra soph Warren Rodgers slipping in between them. Kelly looks to be a great 400 prospect in the Tommie Smith mold unless football gets to him. (Anyone know if he's a football player?)

Also, I gave you a bad stat last week when I said that Kelly's 20.53w last week equalled the fastest ever by a Californian. I forgot about Quincy Watts' 20.50 (legal) at the JO meet in Provo back in '87.

W3200 - A strong kick by Canyon's Lauren Fleshman brought her to within a minute of Kim Mortensen's meet record with a 10:46.6ish time.

M3200 - Poly is everywhere. Chad Durham set a new PR with his 9:11.32.
Sounds like a good mark, then I recall watching Eric Hulst's 8:44.6y on a dirt track in this meet back in 1976.

W4x400 - Wilson in a time trial, as already described. Poly second in 3:43.32.

M4x400 - Dominguez has no stars, but they have a solid lineup which gave them the win in a low-3:14. Poly was second in sub-3:15, though I don't think Kelly ran on this team. (WHY NOT?!) Notre Dame and Loyola represented the former Del Rey League well in third and fourth. Anchoring the Fighting Irish (I'm sure not their real mascot), Fargas is another who looks like a possible 400 talent, but football is clearly his ticket to fame and fortune.

I missed a lot of the field events, but I'll do what I can -

M HJ - The last height I saw was 6-10, and I don't think anyone cleared.

M PV - One clearance at 15-0. Not a strong event this year.


M LJ - Winning mark was about 22-9

M TJ & SP - no clue

M DT - National leader Reedus Thurman of Serra led the field with 200-4.

W HJ - Darnesha Griffith (a niece of Florence) cleared 5-9

W PV - Katie Rorem of Marina was the only one to clear 11-6. State champ Bridget Pearson is getting over some injuries and finished second at 11-0.

W LJ - Just moments after her 5-9 clearance, Griffith bounded down the runway and soared out to 19-4ish to win the event. Angela Williams third at 18-7ish. Griffith is a jumper, not a sprinter, as she was the highest of the long jumpers by far.

W TJ - La Mirada's Brianna Glenn (my neighbor) won, but no one was over 40 feet.

W SP - Stephanie Brown moved up on the national list with a lifetime best 49-5 1/2

W DT - No idea, but Brown had the best mark coming in by about 30 feet.

Next Friday afternoon will be the State prelims, again at Cerritos College (as God intended). Saturday afternoon will be the finals. Gates open Saturday at around 3 p.m.

If you've read this far, you're my kind of track fan. In that case, I'd be VERY interested in hearing what happened in other California sectional meets this weekend. Especially wondering what Monique Henderson as planning to do next week, and if Van Mounts is over 70 feet yet.

kes