Track and field: Locals head to Masters

Joseph Boo

NORWALK - A year after she won the girls 3,200 meters at the CIF

Southern Section Masters Meet, Newport Harbor High junior Amber Steen

returns Friday at Cerritos College to repeat that feat. The top five in

each event advance to next week’s CIF State preliminaries except for the

3,200, where the top five go directly to the state finals. The first race

is scheduled for 6 p.m., while the first field event is at 4:30 p.m.

Steen was the runner-up at this year’s CIF Division II finals. She ran

the eighth-fastest qualifying time for the Masters, but Steen owns Orange

County’s best mark with a 10:45.85 and she is one of the runners expected

to be in the state finals.

Steen will be one of the four runners competing in the 1,600 before the 3,200. She is the Division II champion and the ninth qualifier in that

event. Steen also owns the county’s fastest time with a 4:58.38. There

were only two sub-5:00 Masters qualifying times in her field.

Two seniors, Newport Harbor’s Trevor Jones and Corona del Mar’s Liz Morse

go into the Masters as favorites to win a state title.

Jones set this year’s best time in state for the boys 300 intermediate

hurdles when he won the Division II crown with a 37.08. That time beat

his old mark of 37.16. The 300 was thrown for a loop when Jones’ top

challenger, Littlerock High’s Marcus Raines, scratched after he was

arrested on murder charges.

That means Raines, the No. 2 qualifier, is also out of the 110 high

hurdles, which leaves that event to Jones and Katella’s Kenny Vinh. Jones

now has the second-fastest qualifying time, a 14.27. He was second in

Division II behind Vinh.

He is also the anchor for Newport’s 1,600 boys relay team. The Sailors’

team of Jones, John Peschelt, Dan Moyer and Richard Weber easily won the

Division II title and posted the seventh-fastest qualifying time.

Morse is only the No. 7 qualifier for the girls 800 after winning the

Division III crown in 2:14.14, but she has the most impressive resume in

the Masters field. Morse has yet to lose an 800 this year and her

personal best of 2:09.40 at Arcadia was the fastest in the nation this

year, though it has since been surpassed by San Lorenzo Valley’s

Alejandra Barrientos, whom she will most likely see in the state meet.

Morse also qualified for the 400 with a county best 55.89, but she will

skip that event to concentrate on the 800.

CdM junior Jenny Cummins qualified in the girls 800 with a personal best

of 2:16.01, the second-fastest time in the county and the eighth-best

mark in the Masters field. Her second-place finish behind teammate Morse

at the Division III finals was a big part in the Sea Kings’ team

championship run.

CdM’s girls 1,600 relay team of Morse, Cummins, Becky Cummins and Jaycee

Mahler won the Division III title with a 3:55.34, which shattered its own

county best and was the eighth-best qualifying mark.

Costa Mesa freshman Sharon Day won the Division III high jump with a PR

of 5-6, which equaled her own school record. That was tied for the

third-best mark among Masters qualifiers. Day also has a solid chance of

extending her first high school track season into the state meet.

Newport Harbor senior Krista Dill placed fifth in Division II girls

discus with a heave of 130-7, making her the seventh-best qualifier. Her

personal best is a 133-1, the third-best county mark.

After picking up the hurdles halfway through the dual-meet season, Mesa

senior Julie Kroening placed third in the Division III finals for the 300

low hurdles with a time of 45.33, a school record by almost two seconds.

She got into the Masters as the ninth qualifier.

MASTERS MEET SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

(at Cerritos College)

4:30 - Girls discus - Krista Dill, Newport Harbor

5:30 - Girls high jump - Sharon Day, Costa Mesa

6:17 - Girls 1,600 - Amber Steen, Newport Harbor

6:47 - Boys 110 high hurdles - Trevor Jones, Newport Harbor

7:22 - Girls 800 - Liz Morse, CdM; Jenny Cummins, CdM

7:38 - Girls 300 low hurdles - Julie Kroening, Costa Mesa

7:45 - Boys 300 intermediate hurdles - Trevor Jones, Newport Harbor

8:08 - Girls 3,200 - Amber Steen, Newport Harbor

8:40 - Girls 1,600 relay - Corona del Mar

8:50 - Boys 1,600 relay - Newport Harbor