Burnham Dashes to 500 Win : Rio Mesa Sprinter, Alemany’s Borquez Excel in Sunkist

On an evening when several anticipated showdowns were averted by no-shows, Angela Burnham of Rio Mesa High and Tony Borquez of Alemany added some excitement to the Sunkist Invitational indoor track and field meet at the Sports Arena on Friday.

Both runners competed in the 500-yard dash and both came from behind in the final yards to win the girls’ and boys’ races.

Burnham’s victory affirmed her status as one of the top high school sprinters in the nation, and Borquez’s effort showed that the Alemany senior could be a force to be reckoned with outdoors this season.

Distance runner Deena Drossin of Agoura and long jumper Nikki Smith of Montclair Prep were also victorious.

Drossin pulled away from Rachel Lewis of Santa Catalina in the last 440 yards to win the 2-mile run in 11 minutes, 31.2 seconds, and Smith set a meet record of 16 feet, 10 inches.

The girls’ 500 was supposed to be a showdown between Burnham, the defending state champion in the 100 and 200 meters, and Angela Rolfe of Dorsey, the defending state champion in the 400, but it failed to materialize when Rolfe failed to show.

“I really didn’t expect her to show,” Burnham said. “I don’t know what the problem is, but she didn’t show last year, either.”

Even with Rolfe missing from the field, Burnham had her hands full as Debra Hamilton of Locke and Kesha Marvin of Hawthorne pushed her to the limit.

Marvin led for the first lap on the 160-yard track and then Hamilton took over. Burnham, meanwhile, was biding her time in third.,

“I wanted to get out and lead,” she said. “But when I saw I wasn’t going to be able to do that, I just dropped back and tried to stay comfortable.”

Burnham might have been too comfortable as Hamilton and Marvin appeared to have an insurmountable 3-yard lead coming off the last turn. But Burnham tapped into some of her 100-meter speed to nip both of them at the wire.

All 3 runners were given times of 1:09.3, 1.1 seconds slower than Burnham’s winning time in last year’s race.

Borquez, who placed eighth in the 400 meters at last year’s state championships, came from far back in the boys’ race.

After bumping into a photographer in the first 40 yards and then tangling arms with fellow competitor Rodney Burt of Birmingham, Borquez was 7 or 8 yards behind the lead pack and appeared to be hopelessly behind.

Borquez and Coach Jon Mack may have been the only ones in the Sports Arena who gave the Alemany runner a chance at winning, but when Joe White of Capistrano Valley and Chris Amos of Ironwood High in Glendale, Ariz., faded in the last 100 yards, Borquez swooped past them 5 yards before the finish to win in 60.1.

The boys’ seeded 2-mile run was billed as a showdown between Brian Grosso of Walled Lake, Mich., and Bryan Dameworth of Agoura, but Grosso took charge shortly after the 440-yard mark and won going away in 9:09.