Track and field: Extra ordinary performances

Joseph Boo

NORWALK - During a surprisingly strange CIF State preliminaries at

Cerritos College on Friday, four Newport-Mesa track and field athletes

turned in normal performances that were quite impressive when compared to

the rest of the field.

As expected, Newport Harbor High’s Trevor Jones and Amber Steen, Corona

del Mar’s Liz Morse and Costa Mesa’s Sharon Day all advanced to today’s

State Finals in their respective events. The first running event is

scheduled for 4 p.m. at Cerritos, while the first field event starts at

3.

Jones, a UCLA-bound senior, continued his dominance in the boys hurdles

events. He turned in the top qualifying time of 37.36 in the 300-meter

high hurdles. He was seventh in the 300 at last year’s state meet.

“It was a routine prelim,” said Jones, who has the state’s best time of

36.89.

In fact, Jones had just as much interest in Rancho Bernardo’s Bobby

Salimi, the San Diego Section champion, who had the second-fastest state

qualifying time at his section championships. Salimi had the next-best

time Friday with a 37.83.

“Yeah, he’s kind of my rival,” Jones said of Salimi. “He’s a very good

runner. He didn’t do so well in the 300 this year, but he’ll run a good

race (today).”

Jones, the Southern Section Division II champ in both hurdles, will see

Salimi in the 110 high hurdles. The Newport senior burst out of his block

to win his heat in 14.28. That made him the second seed in the finals

behind Chris Morgan of Los Angeles-Taft .

CdM senior Morse had the top time in her event, the girls 800. She won

her heat rather comfortably with a 2:11.23.

“Last week, the time mattered,” said Morse, the Division III champion in

the 400 and 800. “In this race, I just ran to get the best place possible

while trying to save myself for (today’s) finals.”

This sets up today’s intriguing 800 battle with Vallejo’s Spring Dawson.

Dawson has the nation’s second-fastest time with a 2:09.36, while Morse’s

2:09.40 is the third-fastest.

But Morse has yet to lose an 800 this year, and she is undefeated against

Dawson in her lifetime. Last year, Morse was third at state while Dawson

was seventh. And Morse beat Dawson this year at the Arcadia Invitational.

Steen, a junior, qualified in the girls 1,600 with a time of 5:01.66. She

was third in her heat, which guaranteed her a spot in the finals.

“I just wanted to get in the top three and qualify,” Steen said. “Last

year, I was fourth and just missed out, so I wanted to make sure I got in

the top three.”

The entire 1,600 field was thrown for a loop when defending state

champions Alejandra Barrientos of San Lorenzo Valley pulled out on the

second lap. Barrientos suffered a pinched nerve in her calf during the

Central Coast Section finals. She almost scratched from the prelims

before her coach convinced Barrientos to give it a shot.

“When she went out, that slowed down the pace a lot,” Steen said.

That accounted for a slow heat where the winning time was 5:01.10 by

Maria Carillo’s Jenny Aldridge. But Steen’s time is expected to pick up

at the finals. Her 4:50.75 at the Masters is the school record and the

third-best state qualifying time.

Barrientos is also out of the 3,200, and she has the nation’s best time

in that event. Steen, who was 10th last year in the 3,200, is one of only

three runners left competing in both events. Montgomery of Santa Rosa’s

Sara Bei, who won state titles in both events as a freshman two years

ago, and North Hollywood’s Natalie Stein are the other two.

“Mainly, I like the 1,600 more than the 3,200,” Steen said, “and I’ll be

running that first. So I’m going to go all out on that one, and I’m going

to run the 3,200 for fun.”

The girls high jump was literally a prelim event. After nine girls

successfully leaped 5-7 to move onto the finals, the event was stopped.

Day, a Mesa freshman, cleared all but one attempt and was seeded third.

She tied the state’s second-best mark with a 5-9 last week at the

Masters.

Before she raced off to the Orange County Volleyball All-Star match at

Edison, Newport senior Krista Dill threw a 131-9 in the girls discus for

12th place, the best showing by an Orange County athlete in that event.