Prep boys and girls track: Sea Kings start with lesson

Steve Virgen

CORONA DEL MAR - Extra credit or an extra class period came in the

form of a nonleague tri-meet for the Corona del Mar High boys and girls

track teams at the Sea Kings’ track Wednesday.

The nonscoring tri-meet, that included Fountain Valley and Dana Hills,

proved to be a new lesson for most of the runners at CdM. Nearly 1,000

runners from the schools came together to learn.

“I call this, ‘Introduction to track,’ ” CdM Coach Bill Sumner said.

“(Wednesday) was all about getting around 1,000 people out here, so

people understand what track is about. There’s so many people that don’t

understand that this is the place where everyone competes. We have jumps,

throws, and we have the falls, when people fall from the pole vaults. We

have everything here.”

Though the meet was a new experience for most of the runners, the

girls 1,600 featured a couple of veterans renewing their competitive

relationship in Fountain Valley’s Bethany Nickless and CdM senior Julie

Allen, who ran for Fountain Valley as a sophomore.

Nickless, who tripled, winning the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meters, took

advantage of a sick Allen, and finished ahead of her former teammate in

the 1,600 in 5:15.2. Allen finished in 5:21.6.

“She’s been sick for about five days,” Sumner said. “But you know

Julie. She just came in and said, ‘Hey, we’ll try and see what happens.’

She just had no spunk (Wednesday). She got through it. Her stomach got

upset during the race. I didn’t want her to run anymore.”

Meanwhile, the victory provided much confidence for Nickless.

“This win is a big thing for me,” said Nickless, who had never

finished ahead of Allen in a race. “I was so excited.”

Allen said she thought about sitting out of the meet, but because this

is her senior year, she could not put aside her excitement for the first

meet of the season.

“I was really excited for this meet,” Allen said. “But this meet isn’t

where it stops. This is hardly a learning experience. But I do learn from

every race.”

CdM freshman Melissa Swigert was also learning from her races in the

200 and 400. The former Harbor Day Intermediate standout won the 400

(1:02.5) and finished second in the 200 (27.1). Stephanie Kendine also

grabbed a first place for CdM with a 5-foot clearance in the high jump,

while Joe Barber led the Sea Kings boys team with a double, posting a

first in the shot put (45-1) and discus (133-8).

CdM sparkled in the 400 as the Sea Kings took the top three spots with

Swigert leading the way and Sarah Claster (1:04.0) and Whitney Weidner

(1:06.5) following.

Sea King sophomore Beth Nelson came in second in the 100 (13.6), just .6 of a second behind first place.