Whiteside comes through to qualify

NORWALK — Two strikes, and Newport Harbor High sophomore Cecil Whiteside was almost out.

Whiteside was in a precarious position Friday at Cerritos College. After foot faults on his first two discus throws at the CIF State Track & Field Championships qualifying, he needed a top-nine mark on his last throw or his season would be over.

But pressure is not something that Whiteside melts under. Instead, it only seems to make him thrive.

He got it done, his mark of 174 feet, 1 inch good enough to qualify eighth and advance to the finals today. Whiteside will be in the discus finals beginning at 5 p.m., before Sailors senior Rex Nelson competes in the 3,200-meter finals at 6:56 p.m.

Whiteside’s qualifying mark wasn’t too close to his personal-best, which is 176-9 achieved at this year’s Arcadia Invitational. But the CIF Southern Section Masters meet and Division II champion did enough to make it to the finals.

“Eventually it was going to come down to one throw,” Whiteside said of his last heave. “Me and my coach have been practicing all year. There was pressure, but not as much pressure as people think.”

He did make it interesting for Newport Harbor throwing coach Tony Ciarelli. Whiteside committed a foot fault on his first throw, which Ciarelli said went about 183 feet. The throw, if legal, would have been at least close to the sophomore state record of Bakersfield’s Jeff Buckey, who threw 182-5 in 1990.

“I was pretty happy knowing I could throw that far,” Whiteside said. “I was trying to mimic that throw throughout the rest of the throws.”

On Whiteside’s second throw, he was called for another foot fault, although both coach and runner disagreed with the ruling after Whiteside hopped around near the front of the circle.

“I didn’t go out,” Whiteside said to the official, to no avail.

On his third throw, he needed to beat the 170-11 mark of Clovis’ Niko Gomes. Whiteside said he didn’t know how close he was after the throw, but it became clear that he would be moving on.

It added to a good day for Ciarelli, whose daughter Katelyn, a senior at Long Beach State, also qualified for the discus finals at the NCAA West Regional at Cal State Northridge.

“It’s pretty amazing things that [Whiteside] does,” Ciarelli said. “For a sophomore to be calm like that, be able to compete and come up with a throw that you need to come up with ... It’s just his ability to compete. He gets it done.

“That’s usually a pretty good indicator of people who are able to compete, from high school through the Olympics. It’s the guys who are able to do what they have to do when they have to do it, the guys who don’t tend to let things bother them. It’s a good trait. That’s what you want in an athlete, to knuckle down and get it done when he has to. As a coach, it would be a lot easier to just get it done when you’re supposed to, instead if doing it when you have to.

“It’d take a little pressure off of me,” Ciarelli added with a laugh. “I don’t control my emotions quite as well as Cecil does.”

Whiteside may not be able to touch Foothill of Bakersfield senior Dayshan Ragans today. Ragans equaled his state-best mark of 203-7 in qualifying. Whiteside said his goal for today would be to beat Buckey’s state sophomore record.

The official announced the results after the qualifying. He said Whiteside qualified eighth, but instead called him “Cecil Whitehead,” which drew laughs from the Newport Harbor camp.

But unlike a whitehead, and despite the fact he’s just a sophomore, Whiteside isn’t likely to pop under pressure.

“Not that many sophomores participate in the state meet,” Whiteside said. “I’m pretty stoked about that.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.