Track and field: Harbor ready to take care of business on Saturday

Joseph Boo

CERRITOS - Before Newport Harbor High senior Trevor Jones heads off

to Westwood next year to run for UCLA, he still has some things left to

accomplish, among them, a CIF Southern Section Division II title.

A championship medal could very well be his Saturday when Jones and the

rest of Newport Harbor’s boys and girls track and field teams travel to

Cerritos College for the CIF Division II championships.

Jones boasts one of the state’s fastest times in the boys 300-meter

intermediate hurdles with a 37.16, and his qualifying time of 37.75 is

almost a second better than his closest rival.

Jones also has Orange County’s fastest time in the 110 high hurdles with

a 14.21. He’ll continue an interesting rivalry with Kenny Vinh of

Katella, who owns the prelims fastest time. Jones won both head-to-head

meetings this year.

He is also the fifth seed for the 100 and the anchor for the Sailors’

heavily-favored 1,600 relay squad. Also consisting of Dan Moyer, Richard

Weber and John Peschelt, the Sailors’ qualifying time of 3:21.27 at the

CIF prelims is almost three seconds better than the second-fastest mark.

Amber Steen returns in an attempt to top her achievements in last year’s

postseason. As a sophomore, Steen was second in the CIF finals in the

3,200, but she went on to win the Masters Meet and place fifth at the

state finals. She already set a high standard for herself this year at

the prelims, running a personal best 10:45.85, the top qualifying mark.

Steen is one of two Orange County runners in the 1,600 event, where she

is seeded fourth. And she is on Newport’s 1,600 girls relay squad with

Nadja Topalovic, Lauren Hanson and Natalie St. Andre. It is seeded third

after running a 4:07 at the prelims, its best time this year.

Newport’s April Ross and Krista Dill are in two events each. Ross, who

won a section title as a freshman in the girls high jump, was one of nine

athletes to jump 5-2 at the prelims to qualify for the event. Her mark of

5-6 is tied for the third-best mark in Orange County. She is also the

seventh seed in the triple jump.

Dill had the top qualifying mark in both the shot put and discus among

all county athletes. She tied for the second seed mark in the shot put

prelims, an event which she owns this year’s county’s best mark. Dill is

the fourth seed for the discus.

Newport freshman Valerie Day continues her surprising run as the sixth

seed in the girls 300 low hurdles after a personal best of 46.93 in the

prelims.

Peschelt is seeded third in the boys 800. He has the county’s

second-fastest mark behind Tustin’s Alonso Smith, who is also in the

Division II race.

Chris McMillen enters the 1,600 as the seventh seed, and Moyer joins

teammate Jones in the 300 intermediate hurdles as the eighth seed.