State Prep Track Meet : County Athletes Fail to Win Titles

There was only one girl who was given a legitimate chance at beating the San Diego Section threesome in Saturday’s 800-meter dash.

And that girl, Kristen Dowell of Santa Teresa High Schoolin San Jose, is now the state champion in the event.

Dowell outdueled Grossmont’s Darcy Arreola down the stretch to win the 800 in 2:10.07 at the state track and field finals in front of a crowd of about 6,750 at Sacramento City College’s Hughes Stadium.

The San Diego contingent of Arreola (2:11.07), University City’s Laura Chapel (2:11.97) and Mount Carmel’s Lesley Noll (2:12.11) ran second, third and fourth, respectively.

Arreola went right to the lead on the backstretch of the first lap against the cold and windy conditions on the track. Arreola led a slow-paced, 65-second first lap. Dowell was a step back and Noll and Chapel ran together, another two steps back.

“I was planning on a 62 or 63 (first lap),” Arreola said. “I didn’t want the lead. It just happened.”

Arreola may have been the victim of a collective decision by the rest of the girls, who did not want to serve as a wind block on the first lap. Chapel agreed.

“Yeah, we were all aware of the wind,” Chapel said. “When they started to pull away from me on the third 200, I could feel the wind.”

It was at the 500 meter point that Arreola, Dowell and Noll opened 10 meters on Chapel. It appeared that Noll would make a move at the leaders in the final 200 meters, but it never happened. Dowell challenged Arreola at the top of the stretch and slowly pulled away in the stretch.

“I thought I was in good shape,” Arreola said. “I felt strong. She was just stronger.”

After Dowell gained the lead, Chapel made a late run at Noll and just got third place at the tape.

“I wasn’t about to finish fourth again,” Chapel said.

Chapel finished fourth last season at the state meet while running for Irvine High. Chapel and Arreola, both juniors, could lead another San Diego threesome here next year. Vista’s Robin Eager, also a junior, had the fifth fasted 800 in the state this season, but the fourth fastest in San Diego.

Arreola returned an hour later to finish third in the 1,600 in 4:56.35. Arreola, usually found close to the pace throughout the race, was the last of 10 runners after 600 meters and had to run down three runners on the last lap to finish third.

San Diego, which entered the meet with so many state title possibilities, was shut out Saturday. One of the other few bright spots was the second-place finish by Mount Miguel sophomore Jackie Anderson in the triple jump at 41-3 1/2.

Anderson set the San Diego Section record at 39-11 in winning the section final and entered the state final as the top qualifier after jumping 41-5 Friday. Both of her jumps in Sacramento were wind-aided. Sheila Hudson of Rio Linda High in Sacramento won the state title at 41-10.

The state meet represented a number of shattered hopes for other San Diego athletes.

The San Diego pole vaulters, Fallbrook’s Sean Hickey and Mount Carmel’s Scott Johnston, entered the meet with hopes of jumping 15-6 or higher. Both had been jumping well of late. Hickey set a section record (15-3) at the section final and Johnston went 15-1 at the Palomar League finals.

But the cold Sacramento evening was not conducive to any outstanding marks in the field events. Hickey jumped 14-8 to finish fourth. Johnston cleared the same height but finished seventh because of more misses at lower heights.

Hilltop’s Ellis del Sol entered the boys’ 3,200 with the best time in the state this season (9:03.5) and ran a 9:13.5 in winning the section title nine days ago.

Del Sol started well back in the pack and moved to as close as seventh place, 10 meters off the pace, with two laps to go. But when it came to making the final run, del Sol faded. He finished 16th in 9:25.24

Mount Carmel’s Jim Chapon, who was the top qualifier for the boys’ long jump final Friday at 23-8 1/2, jumped 22-8 in the final Saturday and finished 10th out of 10 jumpers. Chapon entered the state meet with the state’s second-best mark in 1985 at 24-3 3/4.

The Morse boys’ 1,600-meter relay team, running in the final event of the night, dropped the baton while handing off after 800 meters. Morse had a two-stride lead at the time. They entered the race with a top-qualifying time of 3:15.88.