Burnham Again Honored as National Track Athlete of Year

For the second year in a row, sprinter Angela Burnham, formerly of Rio Mesa High, has been named Track and Field News magazine’s female high school Athlete of the Year.

A freshman at UCLA, Burnham garnered more votes than junior high jumper Tanya Hughes of Great Mills High in Maryland and sophomore triple jumper Juliana Yendork of Walnut High, her two closest competitors, in becoming only the second repeat winner of the award. Sprinter Denean Howard of Kennedy also was honored twice, in 1981-82.

In her senior season, Burnham won the 100 and 200 meters in the state track and field championships for the second consecutive year.

The double victory made her the first girl to win both sprints in consecutive seasons and, combined with her 100 title as a freshman, gave her an unprecedented five state sprint titles in her career.

Burnham, who set personal bests of 11.28 seconds in the 100 and 23.45 in the 200 as a junior, also topped this year’s national list in the 100 (11.52) and 200 (23.49) and was second in the 400 (personal best of 54.09).

In addition to the individual events, Burnham anchored the Spartans’ 400- (47.03) and 1,600-meter (3 minutes, 48.66 seconds) relay teams to school-record clockings and ninth and sixth place, respectively, on the national list.

In other events, high jumper Crissy Mills of Campbell Hall, distance runners Todd Lewis of Burbank, Bryan Dameworth and Deena Drossin of Agoura, and middle-distance runner Erick McBride of Palmdale all turned in performances that placed them among the top 10 in their events.

Mills, who won her second consecutive state title in the high jump with a personal best of 6 feet, was tied for fourth, and McBride was eighth in the 800 (1:51.52).

Lewis was ranked sixth in the 1,500 meters (3:53.7) and fifth in the mile (converted best of 4:10.48). Dameworth, runner-up in the 3,200 meters in the state meet, was sixth in the 3,000 (8:29.02) and fourth in the two mile (converted best of (9:03.43).

Drossin ranked ninth in the two mile with a converted best of 10:40.39.