RUNNING : USC’s Bush Says Watts More Than Measures Up to Greats in 400

Quincy Watts of USC could be the greatest 400-meter sprinter who ever lived.

That is the opinion of Jim Bush, trainer of a slew of standout one-lap sprinters during his illustrious 21-year career at UCLA and USC but who has never coached an athlete with the combination of strength and speed that Watts possesses.

“I’ve coached some of the greatest quarter-milers in history,” said Bush, who coached Wayne Collett, the 1972 Olympic silver medalist, and John Smith, the 1971 Pan American Games champion. “Quincy is bigger and has more speed than either of them.”

Watts, a 1988 graduate of Taft and three-time state sprint champion while at that school, timed 45.58 seconds to finish second in the 400 in the NCAA Division I championships in Eugene, Ore., Saturday.

Bush, USC’s first-year coach, called Watts’ performance superb because the 6-foot-3, 195-pound junior had suffered a severe case of dehydration in the Pacific 10 Conference championships in Tempe, Ariz., in mid-May, collapsing after his qualifying heat in the 400.

“He was running again, but he was sore still,” Bush said of Watts, who ran a personal best of 45.49 in a semifinal in the NCAA meet. “What happened to him at the Pac-10 meet is kind of like what happens to a car when you drive it with no oil.”

Although Bush expects Watts to be firing on all cylinders shortly, he would prefer that his protege hang up his spikes for this season and not run in The Athletics Congress championships in Randalls Island, N. Y., next week, or in Europe later this summer.

“This is the first time in four years that Quincy has gone through a season without an injury,” Bush said. “I think he should stop while he is ahead. . . . I’d just like to see him start training for next year. I think he’s got a great chance at making the Olympic team and winning a couple of medals (400 and 1,600-meter relay) in Barcelona.”

To accomplish that, however, Watts needs to drop football, which he played in 1990, and concentrate on the 400 year-round, according to Bush.

“I told him, ‘Do what you want, but you need to get your priorities in order,’ ” Bush said. “He needs to train for the 400 in the fall if he wants to make the Olympic team.

“He needs to pay the price and I’m not sure if he’s willing to do that.”

Nervous time: Darcy Arreola’s victory in the women’s 1,500 meters in the Division I meet was the biggest win of her career, but the Cal State Northridge senior felt as much relief as exhilaration after becoming the first Matador to win a major college track title since 1980.

“It feels OK,” said Arreola, who ran a personal-best and school-record time of 4 minutes 11.46 seconds. “It feels great, actually. But . . . it’s just a big relief to have it over with.

“After the race, I just wanted to get out of (the stadium) and find a place to cry, I was so nervous.”

Northridge Coach Don Strametz, who has coached Arreola since the fall of 1986, allowed that his protege was “as nervous as I’ve seen her since the 1988 Olympic Trials” but added that her anxiety was not evident on her victory lap.

“It really looked like she didn’t want to be there when she was running that,” Strametz said sarcastically. “She had an ear-to-ear smile the entire time.”

Honor roll: The Division I meet marked the end of the Northridge careers of Arreola, Kevin Hendrix and Tyrone Jeffries.

Arreola was a nine-time Division II All-American in cross-country and track and a three-time Division I All-American in those sports. In addition to last Saturday’s Division I title in the 1,500, she won Division II track titles in the 1,500 meters (1988) and 3,000 (88 and 89). She also won the 1989 Division II cross-country title.

Hendrix, a five-time Division II All-American in the sprints and relays, won the 1990 title in the 100.

Jeffries earned seven Division II All-American certificates in the hurdles and relays. His highest finish was a third in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 1989.

Although the NCAA meet officially concluded the collegiate season, Arreola and Co. will be considered collegians until Aug. 1. and can set school records until then.

Compare and contrast: Granted, Marion Jones of Rio Mesa High had to run only one heat instead of two, but based on her winning times in the state track and field championships at Cerritos College on Saturday, she would have finished fourth in the finals of the 100 and third in the 200 in the NCAA Division I championships.

Jones, a sophomore, ran a personal best of 11.17 (tied for second on the all-time U. S. high school girls’ list) in the 100 and a wind-aided 22.91 in the 200.

Carlette Guidry of Texas had winning wind-aided times of 10.91 in the 100 and 22.44 in the 200 in the Division I meet.

Statwatch: Dave Hartman of Canyon High moved to sixth on the all-time region performer list in the two-mile run when he won the boys’ 3,200 meters in 8:58.38 in the state meet.

Hartman’s time, which converts to a 9:01.52 two-mile clocking, trails Jeff Nelson of Burbank (national record of 8:36.3 in 1979), Eric Reynolds of Camarillo (8:44.0 in ‘83), Don Moses of Crescenta Valley (8:52.6 in ‘76), Bryan Dameworth of Agoura (8:56.38 in ‘90) and Guy Arbogast of Crespi (9:00.6 in ‘74) on the all-time area list.

Keeping track: Tamika Bradfield of Dominguez High, Nicole Logan of Novato and Teresa Stricklin of Arroyo Grande, all of whom have signed letters of intent with Cal State Northridge, scored points in the state meet.

Bradfield placed second in the 100 (personal best of 11.71 seconds) and 200 (wind-aided 23.94), and Logan finished third in the shotput with a personal best of 45 feet 0 1/2 inch.

Stricklin placed fourth in the shotput (43-3 1/2) and sixth (136-1) in the discus.

Akua Sutherland of Pasadena Muir, who also has signed with Northridge, qualified for the final in the girls’ triple jump but did not compete because of an injury.