Prep Review : Darron Norris Switches Into High Gear

It happens soon after football season ends. El Camino High School’s Darron Norris, known for his moves in the offensive backfield during the fall, begans working on his moves out of the starting block in preparation for the track and field season.

Norris, the defending San Diego CIF champion at 100 and 200 meters, will begin his senior track season in the Sunkist Indoor Invitational track meet at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on Friday. He will be running the 60-yard dash against Hawthorne’s Henry Thomas. Last season, Norris finished second to Thomas in the 200-meter dash at the state meet.

Norris began training two weeks after the El Camino football team’s San Diego 2-A Conference championship win against Chula Vista at San Diego Stadium.

Norris, who suffered a hamstring pull last spring, is in good shape after the football season.

The Sunkist girls half mile will feature four San Diego runners: Monte Vista’s Tracey Baker, University City’s Laura Chapel, Mount Carmel’s Lesley Noll and Torrey Pines’ Denise Upsher. Stats and more stats: Sweetwater (15-2) is San Diego County’s leading offensive prep basketball team with an average of 91.5 points per game. Monte Vista (13-1) has the best defense, allowing an average of 42.7 points per game. Poway (13-0), Patrick Henry (14-0) and El Camino (10-2) are the only teams ranked in the top 10 on both offense and defense.

Although better defensive teams often are considered to be better-coached teams, offensive-oriented teams have won more games this season. The top 10 offensive teams have a combined winning percentage of .826. The top 10 defensive teams, .736. One young senior: Patrick Henry’s Howard Wright has been facing older competition since he started playing basketball. He played against his brother Ernie, five years Howard’s senior, and Ernie’s friends. He started on the Patriot varsity as a 14-year-old sophomore and will graduate from high school at age 17.

“I don’t think about it that much,” Wright said. “But maybe when I’m 22 or 23 years old I’ll catch up to the competition.”

Averaging 19.0 points per game and consistently dominating the boards, Wright apparently is having few adjustment problems. Game of the week: Patrick Henry (14-0) and Morse (7-3) will play at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Patrick Henry. The Patriots opened City Eastern League play with a 77-37 win over Mira Mesa on Friday, and Morse beat Serra, 78-58. The biggest upset of the week was Madison’s 67-60 win over Point Loma on Friday. The Pointers entered the game 10-2; Madison was 6-5. Coupled with Point Loma and Serra’s losses, the winner of the Patrick Henry-Morse game will have an early lead in the City East. Six points shy: El Camino girls basketball standout Sharon Turner has scored 134 points in her last three games to raise her career point total to 1,976. She is six points shy of the all-time San Diego County career scoring record held by Paul Halupa of Bonita Vista High.

Turner scored 48 points on Friday, making 22 of 26 shots from the field. The 5-10 senior is averaging 31 points per game. El Camino is 13-1 and favored to capture the San Diego 2-A title.