High School Track and Field : Double Winners May Be Plentiful in Section Finals

With the arrival of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the NBA, success for top all-around players came to be measured in triple-doubles.

No such trend has swept high school track and field; a single-double, as in winning two individual events, is still a pretty impressive feat at a big meet.

Eleven athletes have good chances to win at least twice at this year’s section finals, which begin at 11 a.m. today at Balboa Stadium.

The 11:

Kira Jorgensen, Rancho Buena Vista: For a while this season, it looked as if Jorgensen, a junior, was off her stride. She lost twice in the 1,600 meters, the event she won at the state meet last year, to girls she had always beaten.

But Jorgensen, who won the 1,600 and 3,200 last year, appeared to have regained her form at the Avocado League championships. She won the 1,600 (4 minutes 58.3 seconds) and ran a state-leading 10:36.0 in the 3,200, in which she finished second in the state.

Jorgensen, the top qualifier by 13 seconds, seems certain to win the 1,600. But to win the 3,200, Jorgensen must beat . . .

Kristi Bache, USDHS: Bache has decided to run a rare double, the 800 and 3,200. Although no one has ever done it, Bache has a chance in both.

She hasn’t run against Jorgensen in the 3,200 this season, but Bache beat her for the first time, winning the 1,500 at the Mt. San Antonio Relays.

Bache had beaten Kristina Hand of Fallbrook two weeks earlier in the 800 with her best time (2:13.41). She’ll have to do that again--Hand has run a state-leading 2:12.0--in the finals, where she has lost to Hand three consecutive times.

Francis O’Neill, San Pasqual: O’Neill may be the only one with a solid chance to win three. He has qualified in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 and has not decided which, if any, he will drop. O’Neill qualified first (4:19.96) in his favorite race, the 1,600, which is first today. After that, O’Neill will decide if he will drop either the 800, which is about 45 minutes later, or the 3,200, about an hour after that.

O’Neill’s toughest race would be the 800. He has run 1:53.9, second in the county behind Mark Senior of Mt. Miguel (1:53.09).

Said San Pasqual Coach Will Wester: “We’ll just play it by ear and see how he feels after the 1,600. If we didn’t think it were possible for him to win all three, we would have made a decision before now.”

Brent Noon, Fallbrook: Noon, a sophomore, is probably the only one who has a lock on a double, barring injury. His best in the shotput (62-feet 3 1/2-inches) is 8 feet better than the next best competitor. No one has come within 12 feet of his best in the discus (177-4), either.

Charles Huff, La Jolla: Huff missed seven weeks because of a hamstring injury. But he tied for the state lead when he leaped 49-6 in the triple jump at the preliminaries. To win, he will have to beat junior Lenny McGill of Orange Glen, who once held the county lead at 48-8.

To win the long jump, in which he qualified second (23-3), he’ll have to beat . . .

Glen Reyes, Orange Glen: Reyes has jumped almost 8 inches farther (23-10 3/4) than anyone else in the county and qualified first at 23-4 3/4. It will be harder for Reyes, a junior, to win in the 100 and 200. But he has run the fastest 100 meters in the county (10.93) and a wind-aided 10.5.

Michael Stevenson, Morse: Stevenson has dominated the 400 meters, running the fastest in section history (47.22) at the Sundevil Invitational in April. No one else has run under 48 seconds this season.

Stevenson also ran a county-best 21.4 to win his 200 heat in the preliminaries, although a mistake at the finish line credited him with 21.8.

LaFrania West, Grossmont: West won the girls’ triple jump as a sophomore two years ago but took second last year. West has jumped a state-leading 39-8 3/4 and backed it up with a 39-8 1/2 last week. She was also the second qualifier in the long jump (17-6 1/2) and the 200 (25.41).

Sorii Epps, Patrick Henry: Epps was the top qualifier in 100 (12.37) and she dominated the 200. Her 24.81 was 3 tenths better than West’s previous county-best of 25.10. Epps also qualified third in the long jump.

Laura Hughes, Orange Glen, and Jennifer Viavia, Madison: They have been trading places leading the section in the discus and shotput all year, so why not mention them together? Right now, Hughes is the leader in the discus 131-10 to Viavia’s 131-3. But Viavia has gone an inch better than Hughes (43-0) in the shotput.