HIGH SCHOOL TRACK / CITY SECTION CHAMPIONSHIPS : Locke Wins Boys’ Title, but Girls Are Second

Behind the depth of its sprinters, the Locke High boys’ track and field team won its first City title since 1979, but its girls’ team lost for the first time in eight years at the City finals Thursday night at Birmingham High in Van Nuys.

Locke clinched the boys’ team title with a second-place finish in the meet’s final event--the 1,600-meter relay--to finish with 55 points to Birmingham’s 50.

The big scorers for the Saints were Orlando Bustamante, who won the 800 meters in 1 minute, 56.98 seconds; Kyhaunn Woods, who won the long jump at 23 feet 4 inches, and Amado Coleman, who finished second in the 400 meters in 48.55 and third in the 200 in 21.78.

“We knew that we needed to at least place in the mile relay,” Locke Coach E.C. Robinson said. “We thought that we had a good chance to win the team title after the long jump.”

Defending champion Washington’s hopes of repeating were dashed when hurdler Raven Manager and sprinter Kevin Griffin were ruled ineligible for academic reasons this week. Sprinter John Carter was the Generals’ top scorer in winning the 200 meters in 21.26, finishing second in the 100 in 10.76, and anchoring the winning 400-meter relay team in 41.69.

Dorsey’s Lamont Warren, who will attend Colorado in the fall on a football scholarship, won his second consecutive 400-meter title in 48.35 and ran an impressive third leg on the Dons’ winning 1,600-meter relay team.

Other top boys’ performers included: Ben Mesfen of Venice, who won the 1,600 meters in 4:17.32; Leonice Brown of San Fernando, who won the 100 meters in 10.73 and finished second in the 200 in 21.56; and Damon Fox of Fremont, who won the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 38.38.

In the girls’ competition, Banning ended Locke’s seven-year domination to win the team title with 57 points to the Saints’ 54.

Banning was led by first-place finishes by Sonya Bryant, who won her second consecutive long jump title with a leap of 18-8 1/4, and Tiffany McLeod, who won the triple jump in a City record of 37-6.

Danielle Frost was Locke’s standout. She won the 100 (12.10) and 200 (25.04).

The top four finishers in each event qualified for the State meet May 31-June 1 at Cerritos College.