San Diego Prep Track : Williams Trades Spikes for a County Best in 200

Southwest High School sprinter Vickie Williams was instructed by her coaches to run the 200-meter dash on Friday in tennis shoes rather than track spikes.

“Vickie’s had a touch of tendinitis,” Southwest Coach Fred Sills said. “And we were running on a good surface.”

Williams responded by running a county-best 25.49 on the all-weather Southwestern College track in the Metro South Bay preliminary track and field meet. Her time bettered Morse’s April Freow, who had led the county with a 25.71.

In other Metro South Bay preliminaries:

Williams, wearing spikes, had the second best qualifying mark to teammate Latonya Canada in the 100-meter dash. Canada, a sophomore, ran 12.37, and Williams ran 12.66. Canada had the day’s second best mark in the 200 (26.41).

Hilltop’s Kathy Stanley ran the county’s best time in the girls’ 100-meter low hurdles (14.34). Yvette Niles of Chula Vista finished second in 15.46. Southwest’s Miriam White broke the 2:20 barrier for the first time this season in the girls’ 800, running 2:19.52.

METRO MESA LEAGUE Sweetwater’s Terry Rodgers won the boys’ 100-meter dash in 10.81 in the only boys’ event run in the Mesa preliminaries at Southwestern College. The Mesa and South Bay League finals will be held together at Southwestern College. The field event finals will be at 3 p.m. on Thursday and the track finals at 3 p.m. on Friday.

PALOMAR LEAGUE San Dieguito’s Travis Knox ran a county-best 14.4 to highlight the Palomar preliminaries on the all-weather track at Mira Costa Junior College. Other boys’ leading qualifiers included Fallbrook’s Mike Robinson, who ran 10.9 in the 100-meter dash and 50.9 in the 400. Mount Carmel’s Jeff Pimentel won the 800 in 1:59. Orange Glen’s Jim Rinehart was the leading qualifier in the triple jump (44-3).

Mount Carmel’s Lesley Noll was the leading qualifier in the girls’ 400 (58.2) and 800 (2:15). Torrey Pines’ Lauren Miller was also a leader in two events, posting a 26.7 in the 200 and 18-0 in the long jump. Vista’s Robin Eager led a strong list of runners in the 1,600. Eager (5:09.2) leads Torrey Pines’ Nicole Nugent (5:14) and Poway’s Jennifer Sheflo (5:15).

The Palomar League finals will be Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Mira Costa.

CITY WESTERN LEAGUE Individual champions were crowned in five boys and five girls events at the City West preliminaries at University High. For the boys, La Jolla’s Chris Trowsdell won the triple jump (44-2), La Jolla’s Leonard Richardson won the long jump (21-0), University City’s Paul Macrenato won the discus (141-10), Mission Bay’s Doug Webster won the 3,200 (10:17) and Kearny’s Cam Luu won the high jump (6-4).

La Jolla’s Windy Palmer won the girls’ high jump (5-2), University City’s Katie Brannigan won the long jump (15-2 1/2), Mission Bay’s Barbara Madkins won the triple jump (34-6), University City’s Jill Newman won the 3,200 (12:10.9) and Mission Bay’s Adri Calderon won the discus (123-9).

Strong qualifying times were turned in by University City’s Stephanie Williams in the 300-meter low hurdles (48.0) and Williams’ University City teammate, Laura Chapel, in the 800 (2:19.5).

CITY EASTERN LEAGUE Individual champions decided in the City East preliminaries at Patrick Henry High included Serra’s Joe Bowser in the boys’ discus (158-6 1/2). Point Loma’s David Rees won the boys’ two mile (9:50.7) and Madison’s Kartsi Leppaluoto won the girls’ discus (131-5 1/2).

Bowser also threw the shot put 56-11 to qualify as the leader. Other top qualifying marks included Patrick Henry’s Mike Conway in the boys’ 100-meter dash (10.9) and 220-yard dash (22.3). Morse’s David Gayden and John Denny qualified one-two in the 440-yard dash, 49.5 and 49.9 respectively.

Leppaluoto was the leading qualifier in the girls’ shot put (38-10), and Point Loma’s Michelle Collum ran the girls’ 100-meter low hurdles in 14.9.

CITY CENTRAL LEAGUE In the preliminary meet at San Diego High, Lincoln’s Cindy Johnson won the girls’ high jump final at 5-2. San Diego’s Andrew Jackson won the boys’ high jump final at 6-2, and Lincoln’s Kenny King won the boys’ long jump final at 21-3.

The three City Leagues will hold the remainder of their finals together at 1 p.m. on Friday at Balboa Stadium.