Girls track and field: Quite a Day for Mesa junior

Richard Dunn

LONG BEACH - Along with success come expectations, and, for Costa

Mesa High junior girls track and field sensation Sharon Day, Saturday’s

CIF Southern Section Division III Preliminaries at Long Beach City

College were really nothing more than a glorified dress rehearsal for the

state meet.

And that’s where the expectations come into play. “Sharon’s going to

go to the state meet in the high jump again, I can’t lie to you,” Costa

Mesa Coach George Greenwalt said. “She’s already gone (5-foot-10) this

year.”

While Day doesn’t want to get ahead of herself, the defending CIF

Division III high jump champion and third-place state finisher last year

can’t helped but think about her future in sports.

“That’s the one I focus on,” Day said of the high jump, in which she

easily qualified No. 1 (at 5-2 on her only attempt) for the CIF Finals

next Saturday at Cerritos College. “That’s the one I do the best in, and

go the farthest and the (event) I like the best, too.”

Day, coached by her father, Eugene, is expected to repeat as CIF

Division III champion. She cleared 5-10 this year at the prestigious

Arcadia Invitational, where she placed third. No competitor in Saturday’s

field entered with a jump better than 5-6.

“It didn’t take much energy out of me in the high jump,” said Day, who

also qualified No. 5 in the 400 meters (59.74) after winning her heat,

which was contested shortly after her one high jump.

Corona del Mar’s Allison Brawner qualified No. 2 in the high jump at

5-2. CdM’s Stephanie Kendrich did not qualify at 5-0.

Day, who also competed in the 200 (26.04) and placed a nonqualifying

12th and ran on Mesa’s nonqualifying 1,600 relay, clocked a personal-best

57.6 in the 400 at the Pacific Coast League Finals. She finished third

last year in the CIF Division III Finals and missed the Masters Meet by

two spots.

“Every week I’ve been getting better in the 400 ... and this year I

started faster than I ended last year,” said Day, also a soccer standout.

Another top-notch effort Saturday came from Corona del Mar senior

distance standout and Stanford-bound Julie Allen, who qualified No. 1 in

the 3,200 (10:55.70) and No. 2 in the 1,600 (5:12.55). Costa Mesa

sophomore Christine Bjelland qualified third in the 1,600 (5:15.79) and

won her heat. Lindsay Flacks of Harvard-Westlake posted the quickest

1,600 time (5:08.06).

“She just wanted to get some work done and get home,” Corona del Mar

Coach Bill Sumner said of Allen, who opted not to run the 800. “We pulled

her out of the 800 (prior to the prelims), and, honestly, the mile and

two mile are pretty easy wins for her. Without sounding too egotistical,

for Julie it was just a day at the office.”

Bjelland also qualified sixth in the 3,200 in 11:29.58, while two more

Newport-Mesa District athletes advanced to the finals in that event --

eighth qualifier Becky Cummins of CdM (11:40.88) and ninth qualifier

Diana Rosete of Estancia (11:43.01).

Also half the field in the 3,200 finals next Saturday will be

comprised of district runners.

Bjelland added a third individual qualifying time in the 800

(2:24.13), in which she was fifth and won her heat, but Greenwalt said

she will scratch that event and concentrate on the 1,600 and 3,200.

“Those are her races,” Greenwalt said of his sophomore star. “I

honestly knew she’d qualify in the 1,600, because she was second to Julie

Allen at the Pacific Coast League Finals and Julie’s world class, so I

knew she could do it.”

Estancia’s Hanni Geider qualified sixth in the 800 in 2:23.76, after

placing second in her heat, and CdM’s Melissa Swigert qualified ninth in

the 400 (1:00.11).

In other field events, CdM’s Krisserin Canary finished tied for second

in the pole vault at 11-0 to advance to the finals, while Costa Mesa

junior Beverly Aina qualified seventh in the shot put (33-3 1/2).

Corona del Mar’s 1,600 relay team of sophomore Kinzie Kramer,

sophomore Sara Claster, senior Kat Morse and anchor Swigert, a freshman,

qualified ninth in 4:09.67.