Saddleback’s Robby Price Makes the Grade In, Out of Classroom : Track: Straight-A student is one of the state’s fastest distance runners. He’s favored to win the 3,200-meter final in the 3-A.

SANTA ANA —  Speaking with Robby Price--straight-A student, Alpine explorer, junior theologian, and heavy metal drummer--is always a pleasure.

The Saddleback High School distance runner, recently named Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the CIF, is so diverse and well-spoken that his athletic ability often is an afterthought.

Perhaps that shouldn’t be, as Price has proved to be the one of the state’s fastest distance runners this year.

As a result, Price will be among the favorites to win the 3-A division 3,200-meter final on Friday at the Southern Section track and field championships at Cerritos College.

With a best time of 9 minutes 6.66 seconds, Price, the top-ranked runner in the 3-A, is expected to be challenged by San Gabriel sophomore Angel Martinez, who had the fastest time of the day (9:24.84) in Saturday’s 3-A preliminaries. Martinez also has a career best of 9:16, run last year.

“The race is going to be weird,” Price said. “At prelims, Martinez ran 9:24 all alone, in the heat and wind, without any pressure. He and I will go out and really go for it. The (rest of the field) is going to be way back.”

Until his senior year, Price was among those in the back of the pack. Two years ago as a sophomore, he was a volunteer at the state track and field championships. It was his job to distribute race results to those in the press box.

“I remember looking down on the field from the press box and seeing (former Newport Harbor miler) Jim Geerlings being interviewed after his race,” Price said. “I remember thinking ‘I hope that’ll be me someday.’ ”

During an interview Tuesday, Price was his usual engaging self, making light of his CIF Scholar-Athlete of the Year award--”I don’t know, they had to give it to someone I guess”--as well as his grade-point average last semester.

“Oh, it was a 4.8--or something dumb like that,” he said.

Actually, Price, a National Merit Scholarship Finalist who currently is earning an A in Advanced Placement English, AP calculus, AP French, U.S. government and advanced Physics, has never received lower than an A on a semester report card in his four years at Saddleback.

His last B, he said, came from his eighth-grade reading teacher.

“She and I didn’t get along very well,” Price said. “She told us to write a paper, and to skip a line in between each line we wrote. I wrote mine, but forgot to skip a line so she gave me a B. The next day, I cut out all the lines from my paper then pasted them onto blank pieces of paper--skipping a line between each, of course.”

Price tells this story with a smirk, obviously enjoying the recollection of a mischievous moment. Although he has received numerous academic honors, Price does not want to be known as a schoolie --his term of choice for eggheads, nerds, bookworms . . .

“No one knows me for being a schoolie,” said Price, who scored 1,490 out of a possible 1,600 on his SAT. “I pretend like I’m not one of them. I don’t want people to think I’m a schoolie. I do do my work and I do study, but I know it takes a lot less work for me to learn, that’s all.”

When he’s not studying or running, Price often plays the drums, usually with heavy metal band AC/DC blasting for inspiration.

“I bang around, listen to heavy metal, pretend I’m a rebel,” Price said, smiling.

Other interests?

“Apologetics,” Price said. “That’s the defense of the Christian religion. I think a creationist theory is intellectually supportable. . . . I’m fascinated by morality and ethics and why people follow certain religions.”

Last summer, Price’s fascination was centered on Alpine glaciers.

As the only teen-ager invited to participate in an Earthwatch Society-sponsored research expedition to the Swiss Alps, Price spent two weeks studying and measuring glacial activity.

“We hiked for two weeks, running up and down the glaciers, jumping over crevices . . . All those dangerous things my parents would love to hear I was doing,” Price said. “We slept in sleeping bags in the snow and on top of rocks. It was hard, but it was fun, man.”

It was also a nice tune-up for the fall cross-country season. Having spent his junior track season injured with a stress fracture in his foot, Price started the cross-country season unsure of what to expect. He finished by helping Saddleback to its first Sea View League title, and its first trip to the Southern Section and state championships.

Now, as he puts the finishing touches on his high school career, Price says he’s trying to relax, enjoy the moment and figure out which way to go next. He has already taken trips to Stanford and Indiana--he’ll fly to Austin to visit Texas Sunday--and says UC Irvine is a definite possibility.

“I’m very happy with my running,” Price said. “But see, that’s not going to last. After it’s over, you have to ask yourself, ‘What are you going to do for people?’ To me, that’s the most important thing.”

Southern Section Finals notes

Esperanza is the defending team champion in the 3-A division. The Aztecs are led by Roshawn Sims, the defending champion at 400 meters, triple jumper Clayton Tharrington, hurdler Damon Richardson and shotputters Mark Parlin, Mark Kinney and Mike Burns. . . . The county’s top two sprinters, San Clemente’s Tim Martin (4-A) and Los Alamitos’ Erik Mitchell (3-A), are among the best in their division. The county’s top 800 runner, El Modena’s Mike Terry, will try to defend his title in the 3-A. Other top county athletes to compete include Magnolia’s Phouphet Singbandith, the national leader in the triple jump (51 feet 3/4 inches) and the county leader in the long jump (23-5 1/4); Katella’s Kevin Carlson, who last month tied the county high jump record at 6-11 3/4; Dana Hills’ Andy Marrone, the county leader in the discus (179-4), and Capistrano Valley’s Tyson Jacobson, the county pole vault leader (15-2). . . . The meet, in its 78th year, begins with the field events at 3 p.m. and the first running event, the girls’ 400 relay, at 4 p.m. . . . Athletes with the nine-best marks in each event will advance to the Masters Meet, May 25 at Cerritos College. The Masters meet also is the qualifying for the state championships, June 1-2.