Southern Section Track and Field Championships : Cabrillo Hurdler, Muir Relay Team Set Records

Cabrillo High School hurdler George Porter and Muir High’s magnificent lady Mustangs blazed to National Federation records, highlighting Saturday’s Southern Section prep track and field championships at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.

Porter, a 6-5 senior who will attend USC in the fall, brought the crowd of 5,580 out of its seats when he opened the meet with a blistering 35.57 in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles.

Starting in lane four, Porter, stormed out of the blocks, overtook the field in the first straightaway and went on to score a 20-meter victory, crossing the wire a few ticks slower than the all-time prep best of 35.3 set by Arthur Blake of Haines City, Fla., during a post-season meet in 1984.

Muir’s talented 1,600-meter relay team of Lana Cantrell, Nikky Caddell, Carrie Franklin and Linetta Wilson closed the meet in equally impressive style by finishing in 3:37.69 to edge second-place Hawthorne.

The old national mark was 3:37.71 set by Kennedy of Granada Hills in 1981.

The victory propelled Muir to the 4-A girls’ championship as they bested arch-rival Hawthorne by 10 points, 90-80.

Porter, who also won the 1-A 200 and anchored Cabrillo’s winning 1,600-meter relay team, was involved in one of the more farcical of the day’s events--the 109-meter hurdles.

Porter and the other division winners--Terry Johnson of Katella, Derek Knight of Serra and Damon Thomas of Pasadena--all thought they had collected first-place medals in the 110. However, it was discovered that they had only covered 109 meters.

After a protest was lodged by Ganesha’s Kenny Hall, who finished ninth, (only the top eight finishers regardless of division advance to next Saturday night’s Masters meet to be run on the same track) Earl Engman, the meet manager, ruled that all four 110-meter hurdle races would be rerun on Wednesday at Cerritos College.

That left the boys’ final team scores up in the air, although barring a stumble or disqualification, Hawthorne (4-A), Ganesha (3-A), Centennial (2-A) and Cabrillo (1-A) will end up the winners.

Distance also proved to be a problem in the first two heats of the girls’ 100 when officials discovered that the distance covered was actually 110 meters. After a rest, the two heats were rerun. Fortunately, the winners stayed the same.

Engman said the problem was due to a misunderstanding of where the starting lines was located.

Hawthorne Coach Kye Courtney’s team suffered a serious loss Thursday when sprinter Henry Thomas, the defending State champion in the 100 and 200, underwent an emergency appendectomy. Nevertheless, Hawthorne still had the depth to virtually assure itself its second straight boys’ 4-A title and its fourth straight Southern Section title.

Hawthorne senior Sean Kelly won the 800, finished second in the 400 and anchored the winning 1,600-meter relay team.

Janeene Vickers led 3-A girls’ champion Pomona, winning the 100 low hurdles, the open 400 and finishing second in the 200.

The other girls’ champions were Arroyo Grande, led by Donya Howard, in 2-A, and Santa Ynez, sparked by Monica Ostertag and Kersten Bringard, in 1-A.