Girls track and field: Steen tops the country in 1,600

Tony Altobelli

NORWALK - Just when you thought Amber Steen couldn’t get any

faster, she goes and tops herself once again.

At the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet Friday night, the Newport

Harbor High standout did a lot more than just qualify for next week’s

state preliminaries in Sacramento in the 1,600 meters.

She placed first with a mind-boggling 4:43.75, shattering her

personal-best 4:47.72 and topping the nation’s best time of the season.

“I’m not one for superlatives, but Amber’s 1,600 was amazing,” Newport

Coach Eric Tweit said. “It wasn’t about qualifying for her tonight. Her

confidence is higher than ever. Whatever she does at state next week will

not surprise me one bit.”

Steen and Hoover’s Anita Siraki were neck and neck for the first 1,300

meters before the Division II champion turned on the jets and pulled

ahead. Siraki came in with a very respectable 4:44.75.

Joining Steen at next week’s state prelims in the 1,600 is Corona del

Mar’s Diana Hossfeld, who placed sixth with a 4:58.17, bettering the

automatic qualifying time of 5:02.82 comfortably.

Hossfeld trailed the pack for the first 1,000 meters but made her move

and jumped from ninth to fifth before finishing sixth, bettering her

personal-best time for the second week in a row.

“That’s usually when I start to go,” Hossfeld said. “From there, it

was a matter of just hanging on at the end.”

“All I thought about during the run was getting to state,” Hossfeld

said.

CdM Coach Bill Sumner was pleased with Hossfeld’s race from start to

finish.

“She was very patient out there,” Sumner said. “Some kids, when they

get to the Masters, they go for it right away and they burn themselves

out. Diana waited for mistakes to be made and she moved up. It was a

great race for her.”

Steen also put together a solid run in the 3,200, where she placed

second behind Siraki with a 10:26.45, bettering her school record time of

10:27.20 she set two weeks ago at the Division II preliminaries.

“Her opening 1,600 (5:04.7) was faster than she’s ever gone before,”

Tweit said. “She was in an area where she’d never been before so she

definitely got a great workout tonight.”

CdM’s Julie Allen hung tough with Steen and Siraki for the first six

laps, before finishing fifth with a 10:50.07, good enough for next week’s

state preliminaries.

Another Sacramento-bound local is Costa Mesa sophomore sensation

Sharon Day, who finished tied for second in the high jump with a mark of

5-foot-8, easily surpassing the 5-6 1/4 qualifying mark.

Riverside North’s Chante Howard cleared 5-10 to win the event, while

Day and Crescenta Valley’s Emily Forsythe tied for second.

“She’s peaking at just the right time,” Sharon’s father and jumping

coach Eugene Day said. “We’ve been working on the ground-level stuff this

week because she’s got the hops already.”

Before the running events began, CdM senior Jaycee Mahler was one of

two athletes from Southern California honored with the Earl Engleman

Award for her achievements and her ability to overcome obstacles, both in

and out of the sporting world.

“To me, that’s better than a state championship,” Sumner said. “She’s

come a long way.”