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Pringle Enters Last Straightaway : Top Kennedy Running Back, Sprinter and Long Jumper in His Final Finals

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Times Staff Writer

Michael Pringle is running the anchor leg on Kennedy High’s 400-meter relay team this season, a switch from last year, when he was the leadoff man.

Given a preference, he would run the first leg because he likes to take the curves. The last runner on the relay team runs a straightaway.

“But it really doesn’t make a difference,” Pringle said. “I just like to run.”

And, oh, how Michael Pringle can run.

Last football season, Pringle the running back helped the Golden Cougars win a share of the Valley 4-A League championship with Granada Hills. He was named co-most valuable player of the league and earned a football scholarship to Washington State.

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In track, Pringle the sprinter and long jumper led Kennedy to an undefeated record this season in the Mid-Valley League. He is a favorite in three individual events during today’s league finals at Van Nuys High.

Pringle, 17, is the key to the Golden Cougars’ bid for the City’s team championship May 24.

“Without Michael Pringle,” Kennedy track Coach Warren Farlow said, “we’re not going to have a chance to win the City championship.”

The 5-10, 180-pound senior is expected to score points at the City finals in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes and the long jump. He is undefeated in league competition in the 100 and 200 and has lost just once--to Simi Valley’s Lawrence Nelson--in the long jump.

At most dual meets, Pringle collected 15 points from three individual wins and helped Kennedy earn five more with a relay win. It takes 64 points to win a meet.

“He is the fastest 100-meter man we have ever had at this school,” said Farlow, Kennedy’s track coach since the school opened in 1971.

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Pringle’s best time in the 100 is 10.61, bettering the school record of 10.7 held by several people. He ranks in the top four among City sprinters in the 100.

He didn’t start running the 200 until this season, but is unbeaten in two races. Pringle’s best time of 21.9 again puts him among the City’s best.

“Michael’s not the best 200 man we’ve had, but, of course, he’s only run it twice,” Farlow said. “He could be our fastest ever. We’ll find out.”

Farlow decided to move Pringle from the mile-relay team to the 200 because he felt could advance further there.

He is still on Kennedy’s 400-meter relay team, however. Last year, the team took second in the City and fifth in the State finals. With Pringle at anchor, the current Cougar 400 team has gone 42.5, second best in the City to Crenshaw (42.05).

While Pringle may be the Valley’s best sprinter, his top event is the long jump.

His best jump, 23-3, is nearly six inches better than the next jumper in the City. Pringle has finished third in the City the last two years. “We’re hoping this is his year,” Farlow said.

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The Arcadia Invitational was nearly Pringle’s last month. The meet, which featured some of the best prep athletes from the western United States, drew more than 9,000 spectators.

The long-jump competition came down to Pringle and Simi Valley’s Lawrence Nelson, the state’s best jumper this year.

Nelson led with a leap of 23-6, but decided to pass on his last two jumps. So it was left to Pringle, who had gone 23-3, to record an upset.

“The announcer called the attention to the long-jump pit,” Pringle said, “so everybody was watching. I was pumped up and I tried a little too hard. I fouled, but barely.”

Farlow said Pringle fouled by no more than three-quarters of an inch. Still, the infraction cost Pringle a jump of 24-6 1/2.

Pringle is hoping for better luck in the long jump at the State finals this year. As a sophomore, he pulled a groin muscle going down the runway on his first attempt and had to withdraw. Last year, he did not advance past the State preliminary meet.

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He has yet to compete in the 100 meters in the State finals. Pringle hasn’t advanced past the City semifinals, last year being edged out for the final spot in the finals by Manual Arts’ Steve Broussard.

Broussard, a star running back for the Toilers’ football team, will also attend Washington State next year.

“I’m really looking forward to racing him again,” Pringle said.

It is appropriate that one of Pringle’s toughest competitor should be a football player.

Football is his first love. It’s reflected in his running style.

“He’s not a gliding-type of runner,” Farlow said. “He’s more of a thrashing-type runner, like Bob Hayes in the Olympics.” (Hayes later was a star wide receiver with the Dallas Cowboys).

Farlow further described Pringle as “a mass of muscles” running down the track.

“Take a kid like (Hawthorne’s) Henry Thomas, one of the premier prep runners in the nation,” the coach said. “He’s powerful, but he glides. There’s nothing pretty about Michael when he runs.”

Said Pringle: “Some of my teammates say I run like a bull. I’m not the smoothest runner. Mainly, I run like a football player carrying the ball.”

He added, with a laugh: “Before, I didn’t run as smoothly as now, which means it was a lot worse.”

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But Farlow has worked with Pringle for three years on his style. The coach is also constantly trying to get Pringle to relax when he runs.

“When someone passes him in a race, with his competitive instincts, he wants to fight him instead of relaxing,” Farlow said. “If he doesn’t run relaxed, he doesn’t run to his maximum potential.”

His track potential may never be realized. He will emphasize football at Washington State.

“I plan on continuing in track at Washington State,” Pringle said. “I’m gonna do the long jump. And if I’m fast enough and healthy, I’ll try the same events that I’m doing now.”

Competing in track serves a purpose, Pringle said.

“It keeps me in condition year-round. It keeps me busy. There’s never a long time where I’m doing nothing, just eating and getting fat.”

Pringle has been playing football since he was 8. He was a middle linebacker until the ninth grade, when his junior high school team’s tailback broke an arm and Pringle moved into the position.

He hasn’t been replaced since.

As a 10th-grader on Kennedy’s B team, Pringle rushed for 997 yards. He then started for the varsity as a junior.

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“It wasn’t my best year,” he said, frankly. “I changed my style of running. I shouldn’t have done that.

“When I was on the B team, I loved contact. I loved to hit people on the field. When I went to the varsity I figured I was moving up in rank so I tried to ease in and out of people.”

Instead of running straight toward the hole, Pringle tried to fake his way through defenders.

“I had the speed and power,” he said, “but I didn’t have much catching ability and grace. My friends started telling me to make more flashy moves. I guess I started to listen to them.”

As a result, Pringle rushed for just over 500 yards that year.

But 277 of them came in one game against Chatsworth late in the season. Pringle stopped listening to others’ advice and decided to go back to the power game.

“After my junior year,” he said, “I told Coach (John) Haynes that I was a better running back than I had shown him as a junior.”

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These are the numbers he showed as a senior: 1,186 yards, 186 carries, 13 touchdowns. He was named to the All-City and The Times’ All-Valley teams.

“He’s the top back we’ve ever had here,” said Haynes, Kennedy’s football coach since 1971. “I’ve had guys with (Pringle’s) inside running ability and strength and guys with his outside speed, but never one with both.”

Pringle flashed that speed several times this year, most notably in a game against San Fernando. Kennedy led 7-0 in the fourth quarter when it got the ball at its own 14-yard line.

One play and 86 yards later, Pringle was in the end zone. Once he broke the line of scrimmage, he raced downfield untouched.

Despite his fleet feet, Pringle couldn’t catch up to many college scouts.

He was recruited, but not heavily. Among those interested were Nevada Las Vegas, Northern Arizona and New Mexico.

Washington State was the only Pacific 10 school to offer him a scholarship.

“It came down to the University of New Mexico and Washington State,” Pringle said. He decided to go from the Cougars of Kennedy to the Cougars of Washington State because he felt he had a better chance to play up there.

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But he’ll have to make several adjustments. One will be dealing with the weather.

During his recruiting visit up north, the California native went to a party. “When we left later that night,” Pringle said, “it was 23 degrees.”

The Best of Michael Pringle

Football

Year Carries Yards Average TDs 1984 186 1,186 6.4 13

Track

Year 100m 200m Long Jump 400m Relay 1985 10.61 21.9 23-3 42.5*

Pringle is 5-10, weighs 180 pounds and will play football next season at Washington State. He is undefeated in league this season in the 100 and 200. Says Kennedy Coach Warren Farlow: “He is the fastest 100-meter man we have ever had at this school.”

* Other members of relay team: John Diggs, Boris Gurarie, Clyde Smith.

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