Jones Probable Selection for National Track Athlete of Year

Marion Jones of Rio Mesa High is expected to be named the 1991 Gatorade national female high school track and field athlete of the year at an awards ceremony in Oxnard on Tuesday.

Gatorade announced the date, time and location of the banquet, and although it would not say who the winner was, it gave plenty of clues.

For starters, the press release said that a local athlete would be the recipient of the award.

Secondly, the release said that this would be the first time in the six-year history of the award that it would go to an underclassman. Jones is a sophomore.

Thirdly, the award will be presented at a hotel in Oxnard.

Rio Mesa High is in Oxnard.

Finally, Angela Burnham of UCLA, the winner of the award in 1989 as a Rio Mesa senior, will be on hand for the presentation.

“You know who it is and I know who it is, but I can’t say anything,” Rio Mesa co-Coach Brian FitzGerald said by telephone from his hotel room in Minneapolis, where he is staying for The Athletics Congress junior (19 and under) track championships. The meet runs today through Sunday.

Jones, the two-time defending state champion in the 100 and 200 meters, will run in those events at the TAC meet, and teammate Alycia Burnham will compete in the 100-meter low hurdles and the long jump.

Gatorade’s expected announcement of Jones as the athlete of the year should come as no surprise. She has the fastest girls’ times in the nation this year in the 100 (11.17 seconds), 200 (22.76) and 400 (52.91) meters.

The 200 time is a national high school record. The 100 time ties her for second on the all-time performer list, and the 400 time ranks 20th.

In May, Jones became the first girl to win Southern Section titles in the 100, 200 and 400 in the 3-A Division meet.

Finally, and perhaps most impressive, Jones finished fourth in the 200 and eighth in the 100 at The Athletics Congress championships at Randalls Island in New York last week.

The top three finishers in each event qualified for the U. S. team that will compete in the World Championships in Tokyo.